ESPN's 2013 Sunday Night Baseball Schedule - A measured and unbiased breakdown

ESPN released their Sunday Night Baseball schedule for 2013 yesterday. Let's see how they did:

3/31 - Texas Rangers at Houston Astros

The worst team in baseball last year gets a home game! Wait, this must be a misprint because this says 3/31, which is before the Reds play on 4/1. Moving on.

4/7 - Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers

The vaunted Josh Hamilton Classic. I don't mind watching this one, but I'm already tired of the Rangers getting on every Sunday night game.

4/14 - Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees

Yankees! Drink! Still though, the top two teams in the AL East from last year, that's fine with me. What did the NL do to get in the doghouse?

4/21 - St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies

The second placed team in the NL Central against the third placed team in the NL East from last year. RIVETING FUCKING BASEBALL!

4/28 - Atlanta Braves at Detroit Tigers

Interleague action! This is the only interleague game of the night, and isn't the worst choice you can make. A 94-win team against an 88-win team. Then again... if you have the winner of the NL East against the winner of the NL Central, and a 97-win team against a 98-win team... maybe that's a good choice, too.

5/5 - Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants

Division rivals! This isn't too bad, either. The NLC alternative is Reds/Chubs, and the Chubs shouldn't get a game because they finished 5th in the division last year, right?

5/12 - Los Angeles Angels at Chicago White Sox

ESPN's counteracting their famed New England bias with a new LA bias for 2013, aren't they? Either way, the only game on this date better than this one would be Braves/Giants, and you can't do them two weeks in a row.

5/19 - Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers

Tigers with their 2nd game so far and the Rangers with their 3rd. Spare me. Then again, the alternatives aren't great here either. Reds play the Phillies.

5/26 - Atlanta Braves at New York Mets

Division rivalry, I guess? The Mets were gawd-awful last year, and traded their best player. If you have to show a NY team here, why not Yanks/Rays? I'd rather watch that.

7/14 - St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

What in the actual fuck? ESPN, you are the worst. Last game before the all-star break, they picked this game over plenty of other worthy challengers. A 2nd vs. 5th divisional game? In terms of competitiveness, this is the same to another game on this date... Rockies/Dodgers. Yeah, I don't want to watch that game, either. Rangers/Tigers would have been fine here, as would Reds/Braves. Or, half of the games on this date. Oh well.

7/21 - New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

If you're a Sawkx fan, how much do you hate ESPN right now? Insisting on televising every shellacking the Yanks give Boston is like torture. I have to think that this is in the terms of Bill Simmons' TV contract. Actually, this is usually a pretty good game, so I don't have a problem with it being here, until you remember that ESPN is going to show the other 17 games of these two teams playing each other.