If you're a baseball fan, I've got big news for you: Major League Baseball games are coming to Netflix and Peacock. Back in February, ESPN exercised its option to opt out of its deal with MLB. That made a ton of baseball games suddenly available for streaming services and networks to scoop up, and in the end, Netflix and NBCUniversal (which owns Peacock) ended up taking parts of ESPN's old MLB games package.
MLB announced today (Nov. 20) that it had reached an agreement that will cover the 2026-2028 MLB seasons. In that agreement, Netflix will get a small selection of marquee events and ESPN will retain a midweek nationally televised game, as well as the ability to sell MLB.TV directly to consumers. Meanwhile, the current deals for Fox, TBS and Apple TV will remain unchanged, despite some reports earlier in the year that Apple might want out of the MLB business.
Netflix: Opening Night and Home Run Derby
Netflix's deal with MLB is clearly about quality over quantity. Here's what MLB events will air on Netflix starting in 2026:
- Opening Night: This will be a primetime game to start the season, the evening before MLB's Opening Day games. In 2026, this will be a previously announced Yankees vs. Giants game on March 25, 2026.
- Home Run Derby: Perhaps the best part of the All-Star break, Netflix will now air the Home Run Derby, which is the day before the MLB All-Star Game and pits the league's best sluggers against each other to see who can hit the most dingers.
- Field of Dreams game: This is a marquee regular-season game that takes place at the iconic baseball stadium from the movie "Field of Dreams." In 2026, this game will be Twins v.s Phillies and take place on Aug. 13
- World Baseball Classic: Netflix will livestream all 47 games of the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Japan. The games will also be available to stream on demand.
NBCUniversal: Sunday Night Baseball comes to Peacock
As I already mentioned, the big change in this new MLB rights agreement is that NBCUniversal is taking over Sunday Night Baseball from ESPN. Sunday Night Baseball will be simulcast on Peacock and NBC, though some games will be on the newly-revived NBCSN cable channel when there is a scheduling conflict with content already slated for NBC in other deals.
Aside from Sunday Night Baseball, here's what else NBCUniversal gets in the new MLB deal:
- Wild Card Series: A Wild Card Series to be named later will air on NBC, and possibly be simulcast on Peacock.
- Opening Day game: NBC will get an Opening Day game each year of the deal. In 2026, it's a primetime Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers game.
- Select special event games: This will include a game on Labor Day each year of the deal.
- MLB Draft Day 1: The MLB Draft will now be the Saturday of All-Star Week and the first hour of Day 1 will air on NBC and Peacock. NBCSN will take over from NBC for the remainder of Day 1.
- All-Star Futures Game: NBC and Peacock will both air this annual game featuring rising stars from Minor League Baseball. The game broadcast will be followed by a new event on Peacock that will feature former players and celebrities.
- Sunday Leadoff game: A package of 18 games that start before or around noon ET on Peacock on Sundays. These games will be followed by MLB Network-produced studio coverage of the full day of games.
- Game of the day: This will be a frequently recurring broadcast of an MLB game (games still TBD) that will be available to out-of-market subscribers.
ESPN: MLB.TV joins the ESPN app
ESPN's new deal with MLB seems to get ESPN what it wanted. It's dropped a lot of its existing MLB obligations, but is still keeping a midweek game that it will televise nationally.
The big news for ESPN, though, is that it can now offer MLB.TV directly to subscribers as a standalone service or as part of a bundle with ESPN Unlimited. Similar to NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB.TV is a streaming service that offers livestreams of every non-primetime out-of-market MLB game to subscribers. ESPN will now be able not only to sell this service to consumers through the ESPN app, but subscribers through ESPN will also be able to watch select in-market games.
For next season, you'll still be able to get MLB.TV from MLB directly. You'll still be able to watch MLB Network via MLB.TV, regardless of where you buy your subscription, and MLB Network will remain available through linear TV packages from cable, satellite and live TV streaming services, and remain available as a standalone direct-to-consumer offering.
No changeups from Apple TV, TBS or Fox
While those are some big changes, some things will remain the same under this new deal.
Apple TV will continue to offer "Friday Night Baseball" doubleheaders to its subscribers. TBS will still air MLB postseason games in the Division Series and League Championship Series, as well as continue to offer a weekly Tuesday night game during the regular season (you can stream these on HBO Max with Standard plans or higher). Finally, Fox will continue to air the All-Star game, a slate of regular-season games and MLB postseason games in the Division Series and League Championship Series. Fox will also remain the home of the World Series. Fox's broadcasts are available to stream via its Fox ONE streaming service.
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