Dodgers-Padres named ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball Season Opener

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

San Diego,CA- The San Diego Padres will being next season in Prime Time as ESPN announced Thursday afternoon that it will broadcast the San Diego Padres season-opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park at 5 p.m on March 30 as its kickoff “Sunday Night Baseball” game. The season-opener for the San Diego Padres was originally scheduled for March 31 against the Los Angeles Dodgers as the start of the three game series.

The Padres will now have an off-day on March 31 before resuming their season-opening, three-game series against their NL West rivals and last year’s division champs on April 1st. The Dodgers officially open their season with a two-game set against the Diamondbacks on March 22 in Sydney, Australia as Major League Baseball opens up the season for the second straight year outside the U.S.

It as assumed that unless otherwise Andrew Cashner should be the Padres Opening Day Starter, as Cashner had a solid season for the Padres last year, going 10-9 with a 3.09 earned run average in 26 starts. Despite his 5-4 record in 11 starts after the all-star break last season, Cashener was dominant with a 2.14 ERA and only allowed 53 hits in 75 2/3 innings with 61 strikeouts and only 18 walks. Cashner held opposing batters to only a .194 average against him in the second half of the season and .233 overall.

For the Dodgers expect returning Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw to take the mound in the season opener. Kershaw struggled against the Padres last season going 1-3 in his four starts against the Padres. Overall, the Padres were 8-11 against the rival Dodgers.