:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49057895/GettyImages-166642023.0.jpg)
While less of a concern this year (with me working Mon-Fri), one of the irritants in previous seasons has been to have day off during the week, and fancy watching the Diamondbacks game, only to find it was not being televised. Typically, these were weekday matinee games at Chase Field, or improbably early ones in the Eastern zone. It wasn't Fox Sports' Arizona's fault: their contract covered only a fixed number of games per season, so they had to choose which ones deserved to be "dark" matches. But still: there was always this nagging feeling you were potentially going to miss out on a no-hitter or something.
I'm pleased that is now a thing of the past, with every single game now being broadcast locally. There will be 158 contests on Fox Sports Arizona or Fox Sports Arizona Plus, with the remainder getting shown on FS1 [April 26 vs. STL, May 21 @ STL, Sept. 19 @ SDP) or ESPN [July 10 @ SFG and Sept. 7 @ LAD - guess the Yankees have an off-day...] - one of the ESPN contests will also be on FSAZ, in case you wondered about the math! Fox Sports Arizona Plus will be the home for three early-season games, due to the channel having overlapping commitments, but the channel will, for the first time, also have 25 games broadcast in Spanish, by Oscar Soria and Rodrigo Lopez.
The format looks set to be more or less the same as in previous years, with a pre- and post-game show, wrapped around the actual contest itself. Most of the personnel will be familiar too, with Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenley handling the main broadcast, with Joe Borowski, Jody Jackson, Todd Walsh and Brandon Webb helping out. Also returning will be feature shows Diamondbacks 10th Inning, Cup of Coffee with Steve Berthiaume and The Local 9. One new program will be added, however: Los D-backs, which will have profiles of the Diamondbacks Hispanic players, etc. in their native language, with English subtitles.
It all gets under way three weeks on Monday, with a one-hour show on Fox Sports Arizona, beginning at 5:30pm local time, before we take on the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field. The 2016 season will be here before you know it, folks!