The first game of the 2017 Major League Baseball season is upon us, with the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays getting things started on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field.
Yankees vs. Rays 2017 live stream: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch online
Chris Archer faces Masahiro Tanaka in the opening game of the regular season.
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Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images
ESPN will nationally televise the 1 p.m. ET game, though the broadcast will be blacked out in the Yankees home market. Online streaming will be available through WatchESPN.
Jon Sciambi has play-by-play duties for ESPN, joined in the booth by analysts Rick Sutcliffe and Doug Glanville.
This is the first of three MLB games scheduled for Sunday, with the traditional Opening Day of Monday waiting with 12 games on the docket. Following Yankees-Rays on Sunday is the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks at 4 p.m. ET, then the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Chicago Cubs at 8:30 p.m.
Masahiro Tanaka will start the season opener for New York, facing Chris Archer for the Rays. It is the third consecutive Opening Day start for both pitchers.
Both the Yankees and Rays are trying to rebound in 2017, though that is a relative term. Tampa Bay made the playoffs four times from 2008-2013 and averaged 92 wins per season for those six years but has missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, including 2016 when the Rays went 68-94.
New York has just one wild-card appearance in the last four seasons, though the Yankees have averaged 85 wins during that span. The 84-win Yankees finished in fourth place in the American League East in 2016, marking their lowest division finish in 24 years.
The Yankees won 11 of 19 games against the Rays in 2016, though Tampa Bay won five of the nine meetings at Tropicana Field.
Yankees vs. Rays info
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Time: 1 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Online: WatchESPN
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