Tampa Bay Rays television schedule for 2018 released

Fox Sports Sun, the statewide television home of the Tampa Bay Rays, announced today the network will produce and televise 159 Rays regular season games as part of the 2018 Major League Baseball season.

In addition to the 159 games on FOX Sports Sun, a trio of Rays games will be nationally televised on FS1 to round out the complete 162-game broadcast schedule: Thursday, June 14, at 7:05 p.m. vs. New York Yankees, Saturday, June 23, at 4:10 p.m. vs. New York Yankees and Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7:10 p.m. vs. Cleveland Indians.

Dewayne Staats returns this year for his 21^st season as play-by-play announcer for the Rays and will be joined in the booth by former MLB pitcher Brian Anderson. Staats enters his 41^st year broadcasting baseball, while Anderson enters his 10^th season providing color commentary on our network.

Opening Day coverage begins live from Tropicana Field with a special, one-hour pregame show, starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, when the Rays host the Boston Red Sox. All broadcasts throughout the season will feature half-hour Rays Live pregame shows along with extended post game coverage from site. Rays Live will originate from Tropicana Field for home games, while away games will air from the FOX Sports studio in Fort Lauderdale.

Orestes Destrade and former Rays pitcher Doug Waechter return as analysts, while Rich Hollenberg is back for his fifth season as host. Michelle Margaux rounds out the broadcast team as the new lead in-game reporter and host of select “Inside the Rays” episodes.

As was the case last season, Tampa Bay users will no longer be blacked out from local games. All 159 Rays games televised on FOX Sports Sun will also be streamed live on FOX Sports GO. You can download the mobile app from the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store and Windows Store.

FOX Sports Sun will also join the Rays in celebrating the team’s 20^th anniversary season throughout the summer by televising special in-game features looking back at the past two decades of baseball in Tampa Bay, welcoming former Rays players to join the broadcast during games and more.

Last week, the Rays were rumored to be nearing a fifteen year, $1.2 billion extension with Fox Sports that will finally give the Rays television revenue complementary to their peers. You can read more about that deal here.