The new era of baseball on NBC will begin in New York and Los Angeles on Opening Day.
NBCUniversal will carry 61 Major League Baseball games in the coming 2026 season, starting with an Opening Day doubleheader of Pirates-Mets at 1 PM ET and Diamondbacks-Dodgers in primetime, it was announced Friday. Those will be the first of 20 total games on the NBC broadcast network, which is airing a full-time MLB schedule for the first time since 1989. (NBC carried a handful of regular season windows as part of “The Baseball Network” in 1994 and 1995, aired only the playoffs and All-Star Game from 1996-2000, and simulcast a pair of Peacock games in 2022 and 2023.)
The schedule includes 27 primetime games, primarily on Sunday nights as part of the “Sunday Night Baseball” package that previously belonged to ESPN.
“Sunday Night Baseball” will debut March 29 with Guardians-Mariners on Peacock and NBCSN. Because of its NBA commitments, NBC will carry “Sunday Night Baseball” only once before May 31 — Guardians-Braves on April 12. (NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” package is off that week because it is the final night of the NBA season, which contractually belongs to ESPN.) The MLB schedule confirms that NBC will air Sunday night NBA games through the conference finals.
In the event that there are no NBA games on a certain Sunday night during the playoffs, “Sunday Night Baseball” would move up to NBC.
Starting May 31, “Sunday Night Baseball” will air on NBC in all-but-two weeks until the start of the NFL season. MLB will again skip the Sunday night preceding All-Star Weekend on July 12, and ESPN has the MLB Little League Classic in its traditional Sunday night slot on August 23, leaving NBC with a Sunday afternoon window that week (Giants-Red Sox at 3 PM ET).
In addition to “Sunday Night Baseball,” NBCU also acquired the “MLB Sunday Leadoff” package of Sunday afternoon games as part of its new rights deal. Those games will air exclusively on Peacock (with most of those simulcast on NBCSN) — except for Mets-Braves on July 5, which will also air on NBC as part of a day-long marathon of MLB on NBC and Peacock.
Beyond Opening Day and the weekly Sunday games, NBC will also carry a primetime game on Labor Day as part of its deal. That game will pit the Cardinals against the Giants.
“Sunday Night Baseball” will usually start at 7 PM ET, with a couple of games set for 8 PM — Giants-Cubs on June 7 and Astros-Padres on August 9. The “Sunday Leadoff” games will all begin at Noon ET or later, eliminating the morning start times that had been common for the package.
NBC will also air coverage of the MLB Draft on Saturday, July 11, which will take place at 1:30 PM ET. NBCU will not carry games on the final day of the regular season this year, but will do so starting in 2027. For this season, the final day will feature whiparound coverage on NBCSN and Peacock.
NBC’s announcement of its full “Sunday Night Baseball” schedule is a stark contrast from the norm when the package aired on ESPN. Sunday night game selections were typically made as the season progressed. But it is in keeping with the practice of fellow broadcast network FOX, which usually releases its full schedule at the start of the season.
Additional game selections for the new season include the Yankees-Giants Opening Night game on Netflix March 25 and a Mets-Dodgers game on ESPN April 15.
