ESPN already makes business decision with Tigers after Sunday Night Baseball success

Move over, Yankees. Take a seat, Dodgers. Nobody cares about you, Mets. (Seriously, does anyone really care about the Mets?) While ESPN certainly isn't what it used to be — ah, for the good ole days — but the Worldwide Leader in Sports is still a mega-platform with millions of viewers and subscribers. That's why the latest news that the Detroit Tigers will back on Sunday Night Baseball later this month is so monumental.

ESPN has updated their Sunday Night Baseball schedule to get the Tigers matchup against the Texas Rangers on July 20 into primetime. This, of course, comes on the heels of Detroit's appearance on Sunday Night Baseball last month when the Tigers hosted their AL Central Division rival, the Minnesota Twins.

Tigers' ace and reigning AL Cy Young Award-winner Tarik Skubal was on the bump for Detroit and shut down the Twins' bats. The lefty logged seven innings and allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out 13 Minnesota batters. This schedule update reveals that ESPN would love to see more of the same from the Detroit in just a few weeks.

ESPN makes business decision to move Tigers vs. Rangers to Sunday Night Baseball

This could be the last year of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, though recent reports suggest there are some ongoing negotiations that may keep the weekly game on the network. MLB's viewership has been a point of contention for years, but the New York Yankees matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this season drew the largest viewership for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball since 2017. Viewership this season is already up over 12% from 2024.

Stars likes Skubal are a big reason for MLB's success this season. The Tigers' lefty is one of the hottest players in the sport and it'll be interesting to see if there's some behind-the-scenes negotiating that leads to Skubal starting that Sunday Night Baseball game against the Rangers. Perhaps Texas will be incentivized to keep former Cy Young Award-winner Jacob deGrom fresh for that game as well.

The Tigers may not be one of the biggest brands in baseball, but they're certainly gaining in popularity. ESPN's decision to switch out a Sunday Night Baseball matchup that features Detroit and Texas proves that Skubal and Co. are amassing quite the following this season.

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