ESPN's Dan Shulman is "stepping down" as the play-by-play voice for "Sunday Night Baseball" next season to "get a better work-life balance," according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. Shulman said that he is "getting remarried next year and wanted a schedule to better fit being at home more in Toronto." He repeated that this was "entirely his decision and not prompted by ESPN management." Shulman will "still have a full college basketball schedule" for the net, and he also will "call the entire MLB postseason on ESPN Radio and do a limited number of weeknight MLB television games for ESPN." He said that he will "continue calling a small package of Blue Jays games for Sportsnet." Deitsch noted based on that schedule, he will "probably be down to about 60 dates per year for ESPN." He and his agent, IF Management's Steve Herz, had to "restructure his contract to make it work." This is Shulman's 20th year "calling baseball for ESPN," and he has been the voice of "SNB" since '11. ESPN execs said that it was "too early to speculate" about Shulman's replacement. Shulman himself said that he has "no interest in making suggestions" on his successor (SI.com, 7/4). Blue Jays broadcaster Mike Wilner tweeted, "Good for @DShulman_ESPN and for ESPN for working with him - work-life balance is so important" (TWITTER.com, 7/3).
