The 2022 World Series is set to start this Friday, Oct. 28th at 7:03 St. Louis time, and will feature the NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies facing the AL Champ Houston Astros.
The Fall Classic opens at Houston’s Minute Maid Park on Friday night, and will be exclusively on FOX Sports, which will call its 25th World Series in its 27th season as the official network broadcaster of MLB, including FOX Deportes, and on ESPN Radio. All games of the 118th Fall Classic will have a scheduled first pitch time of 8:03 p.m. (ET), with the FOX pregame show slated for 7:00 p.m. (ET) for Games 1-6 and 6:30 p.m. (ET) for a potential Game 7.
All World Series games telecast on FOX will be available to MLB.TV subscribers who are authenticated subscribers to the applicable network through a participating pay TV provider. MLB Network will provide comprehensive pregame and postgame coverage throughout the Fall Classic. ESPN Radio will provide live national coverage of all 2022 World Series games for English language radio. Univision has World Series coverage on the Spanish language radio side.
NATIONAL ANTHEM PERFORMANCES:
- Eric Burton – The six-time Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and Black Pumas co-founder will sing the National Anthem for Game One at Minute Maid Park. In addition to his numerous GRAMMY nominations, Burton has performed at the 2021 Biden-Harris Inauguration, and brought his incredible live performance to audiences all over the world alongside appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Good Morning America and Ellen
- Little Big Town – Grammy, ACM, CMA, AMA and Emmy Award-winning group Little Big Town will perform the National Anthem before Game Two. Consisting of members Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook, the group first entered the music scene over 20 years ago with hit songs “Boondocks,” “Bring It On Home,” “Good As Gone” the GRAMMY-nominated “Little White Church,” and the history-making, GRAMMY-winning, best-selling country single of the year “Girl Crush,” (2015). Their highly anticipated, self-produced 10th studio album Mr. Sun was released on September 16 and debuted as the Top Country Album by a group in 2022 in addition to marking the band’s seventh debut in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart. The album has received both fan and critical praise, including the New York Times hailing it a “sweeping record.”
CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCHES: In celebration of 60 years of baseball in Houston, several Astros Legends will participate in ceremonial first pitches, including:
- Game One – Terry Puhl, a key contributor in the 1980 NLCS vs. the Philadelphia Phillies and 2022 inductee into the Astros Hall of Fame
- Game Two – Hall of Famer Craig Biggio will throw the ceremonial first pitch to fellow Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell
The 2022 Postseason schedule, subject to change, can be viewed in its entirety at MLB.com/postseason.
Schedule: Times listed are Eastern Time. Games will start at 7:03 Central.
With the festivities of the 2022 World Series in full gear and tickets to see the games live costing hundreds to thousands of dollars, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on Best Baseball Cities, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary, to go along with its World Series Facts – Astros vs. Phillies infographic.
St. Louis made it to second place in their eyes and judging from their criteria.
To determine the best places to be a fan of America’s third most followed sport, WalletHub compared over 330 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional baseball team across 31 key metrics. They range from performance level of team(s) to average ticket price to stadium accessibility.
| Top 20 Baseball Cities | |
| 1. New York, NY | 11. Cleveland, OH |
| 2. St. Louis, MO | 12. Pittsburgh, PA |
| 3. Los Angeles, CA | 13. Arlington, TX |
| 4. Atlanta, GA | 14. St. Petersburg, FL |
| 5. Boston, MA | 15. Milwaukee, WI |
| 6. Chicago, IL | 16. San Diego, CA |
| 7. Cincinnati, OH | 17. Houston, TX |
| 8. San Francisco, CA | 18. Philadelphia, PA |
| 9. Minneapolis, MN | 19. Baltimore, MD |
| 10. Oakland, CA | 20. Kansas City, MO |
2022 World Series Facts
- $2,829 vs. $1,135: Average ticket prices for 2022 World Series games in Philadelphia and Houston, respectively.
- $1.98 Million: Amount the Houston Astros spent on each regular season win, compared to the Philadelphia Phillies’ $3.1 million.
- 11.7 Million: Average viewership for the 2021 Series (up 20% over 2020).
- $235 Million: Total ad revenue generated by the World Series in 2021 compared to $481 Million in ad revenue generated by the Super Bowl in 2021.
- $1.14 Billion: Estimated amount MLB teams lost during the past two seasons combined.
UMPIRES FOR THE 118th FALL CLASSIC ANNOUNCED
Iassogna to Serve as Crew Chief in the World Series Presented by Capital One
Major League Baseball today announced the Major League Umpires who have been assigned to the 2022 World Series presented by Capital One between the American League Champion Houston Astros and the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. In his third career Fall Classic assignment, 21-year Major League Umpire Dan Iassogna will serve as the World Series crew chief for the first time. The World Series will begin with Game One on Friday at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, with exclusive coverage on FOX, FOX Deportes and ESPN Radio.
Iassogna worked the World Series in 2012 and 2017. Iassogna’s crew will include Jordan Baker, Lance Barksdale, Tripp Gibson, Pat Hoberg, James Hoye and Alan Porter. It is the second career World Series for Barksdale, Hoye and Porter, all of whom worked the 2019 Fall Classic; and the first for Baker, Gibson and Hoberg. All seven World Series umpires were on the field during the 2022 Division Series (Iassogna, Baker and Porter were on NYY-CLE; Hoberg and Hoye were on HOU-SEA; and Barksdale and Gibson were on LAD-SD).
Each of the seven umpires assigned to the Fall Classic could receive one plate assignment during the series. Each umpire will be in reserve during the game prior to their scheduled plate duties. Hoberg will not be on the field in Game One of the World Series and will then have the plate in Game Two. When Iassogna is off the field in Game Two, Hoye will serve as crew chief. Major League Umpires Chad Fairchild and Carlos Torres will serve as the World Series Replay Officials. A complete listing of the rotation for the World Series accompanies this press release.
All World Series games telecast on FOX will be available to MLB.TV subscribers who are authenticated subscribers to the applicable network through a participating pay TV provider. MLB Network will provide comprehensive pregame and postgame coverage throughout the entire World Series. ESPN Radio will provide live national coverage of all 2022 World Series games for English language radio. Univision has World Series coverage on the Spanish language radio side. The 2022 World Series schedule, subject to change, can be viewed in its entirety at MLB.com/postseason.
