Major League Baseball is returning to NBC.
MLB and NBC Sports on Wednesday announced a new, three-year media rights agreement beginning in the 2026 season that will bring exclusive games to NBC, Peacock and the newly formed NBC Sports Network.
The package includes 25 prime-time games on “Sunday Night Baseball” as well as the entire wild-card round of the playoffs.
Peacock and NBC Sports Network will also revive “MLB Sunday Leadoff,” an 18-game slate with late-morning starts that previously aired on Peacock in 2022 and 2023. (NBC News shares a parent company with NBC Sports and Peacock).
“NBC has demonstrated an outstanding combination of high production value and powerful athlete storytelling that makes MLB’s return to the network an exciting opportunity to continue the sport’s growth,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “With NBCUniversal showing great enthusiasm for baseball, we are looking forward to working together to continue the sport’s momentum by telling the stories of today’s talented players and capturing the excitement of our great game.”
The “Sunday Night Baseball” games will air on NBC and Peacock in all available broadcast windows, in addition to Peacock and NBC Sports Network exclusives. The addition of MLB’s Sunday night games to “Sunday Night Football” and the upcoming “Sunday Night Basketball” will make NBC the first broadcast network to offer year-round prime-time sports on the same night every week.
The deal will also create two new MLB traditions: NBC and Peacock will be the exclusive home of a prime-time game on the first full day of games every season, as well as the only prime-time game on Labor Day.
In 2027 and 2028, NBC will air the final game of the regular season.
Other highlights of the deal include one out-of-market game on Peacock every day of the season, special event games in 2027 and 2028, and a Sunday afternoon whip-around show on Peacock following the conclusion of “MLB Sunday Leadoff.”
NBC has been a home for MLB on three separate occasions, from 1947 through 1989, then again from 1996 through 2000, and then finally with the Peacock games earlier this decade.
