Following Major League Baseball in 2026 will be more confusing than ever

Watching your favorite baseball team on TV, or any team for that matter, used to be easy. Not so in 2026.

Be ready to bust open your wallet.

It used to be fairly easy to remember when MLB’s nationally televised game was on. You could make plans around watching whichever teams were picked for the weekly game. Turning on your TV, in whatever MLB market you lived in, you knew what channel to turn to for the local club(s). If you are of a certain age, and you had cable, thanks to the Atlanta Braves being “America’s Team”, Superstation WTBS brought a baseball game into your home nearly every night.

Those were the days, my friend.

Now, you truly need to construct some type of scorecard to know where to catch an MLB game, and a second job to be able to pay for it.

So many MLB rights holders, so many invoices coming to your mailbox.

So, if you want to see all MLB games (there are certain games “blacked out”, there’s MLB TV. This will run you about $150 for the season. Then, another option, direct from MLB, is MLB Network. Starting at $5.99 monthly, you get programming from their New Jersey studios, plus several games weekly, as well as coverage from Cooperstown, N.Y., each July of the annual National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Induction Weekend.

If you pay for MLB.TV, much of what appears on MLB Network can be seen on MLB.TV. So, purchasing both would be needlessly expensive.

Enter, Netflix, and its partnership with MLB. The streaming pay service is now a player among players. Armed with a new three-year deal with MLB, you will need to add Netflix to your scorecard to know what games will be shown and when. Just turning on your TV and hoping to catch a game is a thing of the past. Start your search.

Opening Night this coming season will be exclusively shown (exclusively is tossed around a lot these days) on Netflix – March 25, New York Yankees – San Francisco Giants. Netflix also snagged the Home Run Derby (July 13) during All-Star Week. You want to see the Field of Dreams game on August 13, featuring the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies from Iowa? If not already, you’ll need to subscribe to Netflix.

Baseball fans in Japan will need to subscribe to Netflix to watch all 47 games of the World Baseball Classic live.

ESPN and ABC are part of MLB’s TV party in 2026.

ABC will air three regular-season games. The Sunday game broadcasts are part of the ESPN package. June 14 at 3 p.m., it’s the Cubs –Giants, on June 27 at 1 p.m. - Yankees – Red Sox, and at 3 p.m. on August 16, you’ll see the Cardinals and Cubs.

ESPN will show 27 games in 2026. Starting off, on MLB’s Jackie Robinson Day, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET from Dodger Stadium. The New York Mets will be in Los Angeles for this game, which kicks off ESPN’s MLB 2026 schedule. On Memorial Day (May 25) the New York Yankees – Kansas City Royals are an exclusive game presented on ESPN.

ESPN continues to hold exclusive rights to the MLB Little League Classic from Williamsport, P.A. On August 23, at 7 p.m., it’s the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers appearing in Williamsport. ESPN also boasts of showing exclusively the July 16 (7 p.m.) New York Mets-Phillies “second-half opener”.

How’s your scorekeeping going?

Next – NBC and their streaming arm Peacock.

Hello, Sunday Night (and afternoon) Baseball.

On March 26 (Thursday) at 1 p.m., the Pittsburgh Pirates and Mets, are Game 1 of the season’s broadcast schedule. Later, at 8 p.m. from Los Angeles, it’s the Dodgers welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to sunny California.

Their Sunday afternoon games are branded as “Leadoff”. Included in the NBC/Peacock deal, the Wild Card Series are exclusively to be shown here. 31 games in total are promised to NBC’s audiences in 2026.

MLB this coming season on Peacock starts off with the Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota – May 3 at 12:30 p.m. NBC, on July 5, is labeling their MLB coverage as “Star-Spangled Sunday” - by (you guessed it) showing all 15 games exclusively (games will air on either NBC or Peacock).

Lest we forget FOX. Fox has the rights to the 96th MLB All-Star Game, this season being held in Philadelphia on July 13. FOX will continue its Baseball Night in America and Saturday Baseball. Fox Sports 1 will continue to carry MLB games, mainly on Saturday afternoons that aren’t in an exclusive deal with another network.

Confusing?

Plus, remember, if you want to see your home team’s full schedule, you will pay for the regional network. YES Network for the Yankees, SportsNet New York for the Mets, SportsNet Pittsburgh for the Pirates, and on and on.

Given what cable rates are and the rising streaming rates, throw in hundreds of dollars needed to attend one game for one family, and what merchandising could run you at the ballpark, being a fan isn’t cheap these days.

NBCUniversal’s MLB deal is said to be around $200 million annually. ESPN is paying $550 million per season to MLB. Throw in Netflix’s $50 million fee to show MLB programming, and you wonder why it’s so expensive to be a baseball, or any professional sports league fan, these days?

Owners don’t pay players’ contracts. You, the fan, are dishing the cash for their salaries. Team owners rarely show games on broadcast TV anymore. You want to see their product, pay me!

Along with the financial “investment” required to be a semi-informed fan of all things MLB, following who, when, where, and how much is it going to cost me is exhausting. Start drafting a scorecard. Days, times, teams, stadium locations, so much to know just to see a ballgame these days.