ESPN announced the Opening Day matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants on Thursday drew 1,966,000 viewers, becoming the network’s most-watched, regular-season weekday MLB game in six years, per Nielsen.
The game also marked the debut of ESPN’s new Sunday Night Baseball team, with Matt Vasgersian, Alex Rodriguez and Jessica Mendoza on the call and Buster Olney reporting. The same crew will be in Los Angeles for the series finale on Sunday, with first pitch set for 5:37 p.m. PT.
The nearly two million viewers was the most since Opening Day in 2012, with ESPN televising more than 300 MLB regular-season weekday games since then. Unfortunately for the Dodgers fans that tuned it, the result was not a good one as the Giants came away with a 1-0 victory.
The lone run came on a homer by Joe Panik off Clayton Kershaw that hooked just inside the right-field foul pole. The Dodgers had plenty of opportunities to score but the break-through hit that happened so often in 2017 never came.
They finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The loss snapped the Dodgers’ Opening Day winning streak at seven games, which was tied for the longest active stretch.
Thursday was more than just about the game though, as Dodgers legend Kirk Gibson was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to celebrate the 30th anniversary season of his historic walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
A slew of celebrities, including George Lopez, Samuel L. Jackson and even retired broadcaster Vin Scully were involved in the video to introduce Gibson, who re-enacted stepping up to the plate for his World Series at-bat.
Gibson then threw out the first pitch to former teammate Orel Hershiser.
