Cardinals vs Cubs added to ESPN’s 25th Sunday Night Baseball schedule

Aug 17, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay (19) slides under the tag of Chicago Cubs catcher Welington Castillo (53) to score a run during the fifth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Pitchers and catchers report in just a couple of days ladies and gentlemen. That’s right, Spring Training is just around the corner. Now before we continue on with this article, I want each and everyone of us who just got excited, to just lean back in our chairs, take a deep breath and relax. I know I want these next few days to hurry up and end so I can either go visit the new Spring Training park to watch a couple games, or listen to them on the radio.

I live in Arizona, so I only have WGN America. Anyways, we may not be contenders this year, but it still makes me happy knowing that our beloved Cubbies will be taking the field very soon. Now every year there are games that we always have circled on our calendar. This year I have the games the Cubs are scheduled against Alfonso Soriano and the New York Yankees circled three times, plus our two big rivalries of the year. That being the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox.

Hopefully we can sweep the Sox again this year.

Now straight to the point. Rivalries are what make sports a whole lot better. They keep things interesting and have been around for a very long time. When you think of some of the greatest rivalries in sports, you think about the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees, Chicago Bears/Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys/Washington Redskins and of course the Chicago Cubs/St. Louis Cardinals.

With that being said, ESPN and their Sunday Night Baseball program are entering their 25th season. It’s huge milestone for this year, so they’re going to want to broadcast some of the biggest games of the year. Sunday Night Baseball first aired on April 15th, 1990 and aired some of the biggest games in Major League Baseball history. For example, Tom Glavine picked up his 300th win against our Chicago Cubs on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

Not really proud of that example, but it was a meaningful game for the recently announced Hall of Fame inductee Tom Glavine. One that we can definitely be proud of (even if you dislike the man) is Carlos Zambrano’s not hitter against the Houston Astros in Milwaukee after that Hurricane took a couple clean shots at Minute Maid Park.

This year ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball lineup looks very promising. Right now the schedule has the following games listed via ESPNMediaZone:

• March 30th – Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres
• April 6th – San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
• April 13th – Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
• April 20th – Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox
• April 27th – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees
• May 4th – St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs 
• May 11th – St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates
• May 18th – Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox
• May 25th – St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds
• July 13th – New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
• July 20th – Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals

Pretty stoked about that May 4th match up on against the Cardinals. That game should sell out pretty quick, so if you’re looking to be at the friendly confines on Sunday, May 4th, you’re going to need to buy a ticket as soon as they become available.

As of today, the Chicago Cubs lead the series 1,110–1,074. The first game between these two has been set for April 11th.