2026 Major League Baseball season

The 2026 Major League Baseball season began on March 25 with a single night game featuring the San Francisco Giants hosting the New York Yankees before the regular season proper runs from March 26 to September 27. The postseason will begin on September 29. The World Series will begin on October 23 and will end with Game 7 if necessary on October 31. The 96th All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Major League Baseball released its 2026 schedule on August 26, 2025. Each team will play 162 regular-season games. As has been the case since 2025, each team was scheduled to play 13 games against their division rivals, totaling 52 games. Each team would play six games against eight opponents and seven games against two opponents in the same league for a total of 62 games. Each team would also play 48 interleague games, including a six-game home-and-home series against their designated interleague rival. The regular season started on March 25, with a standalone night game featuring the San Francisco Giants hosting the New York Yankees. The slate of Opening Day games then took place on March 26, the earliest that it has been scheduled in MLB history. This season's "Rivalry Weekend" is planned on May 15–17, again 11 series featuring prime "interleague" rivals and the matches reversed from the previous year.

The MLB Mexico City Series returns when the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres will play a two-game series at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium in Mexico City on April 25–26. The scheduled return of the London Series was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts at London Stadium and Fox's availability due to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup also affects schedules of the Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, whose home stadiums are located near World Cup venues.

The 96th All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The game will be part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.

The MLB at Field of Dreams game returns on August 13 after a three-season absence, with the Minnesota Twins hosting the Philadelphia Phillies. The MLB Little League Classic at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, will be played on August 23 with the Atlanta Braves taking on the Milwaukee Brewers.

A Subway Series matchup between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees will be played at Yankee Stadium on September 11–13 to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The two teams squared off at Citi Field for the 20th anniversary.

On September 23, 2025, MLB's competition committee approved use of the semi-Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS), beginning with the 2026 season. Under the approved plan, batters, pitchers, and catchers are allowed to request challenges by tapping on their helmet or cap. Each team starts with two challenges, retains a challenge if it is successful, and receives additional challenges in extra innings.

The Athletics will play their June 8–14 homestand at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin South, Nevada, the home of their Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators, as a preview for their eventual relocation to Las Vegas.

The Tampa Bay Rays will return to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, which had been damaged by Hurricane Milton, forcing the team to play their 2025 home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida.

The Los Angeles Dodgers sold naming rights to its field to fashion company Uniqlo on March 16, renaming the stadium to Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. It is the first time in the stadium's 64-year history that it has had a naming rights sponsor.

• The Athletics unveiled a new gold alternate uniform, featuring a "Sacramento" script across the chest. This jersey replaces the existing gold alternate jersey with the "A's" logo featured on the chest.
• The Brewers tweaked their primary road uniform, swapping the gray base on the jersey in favor of powder blue. The Brewers become the third team since 2024 to wear colored jerseys as a primary road option following the Seattle Mariners and the Tampa Bay Rays, and the first to wear powder blue as a primary road uniform color since the Kansas City Royals and Montreal Expos in 1991.
• The Orioles add a new alternate cap, featuring an orange "B" script lettering from their road uniform inside a black cap with orange brim.
• The Marlins unveiled a new teal alternate uniform, harkening back to the team's inaugural color scheme.
• The Mariners replaced their retro-inspired cream alternate uniform in favor of a white home uniform based on the uniforms worn by the Negro league Seattle Steelheads.
• The Twins changed their navy alternate uniform, replacing "MINNESOTA" with the "Twins" script on the chest along with the Minnesota outline replacing the "TC" insignia on the sleeve.
• The Tigers unveiled two new alternate uniforms. The home orange alternate featured the white-trimmed navy Old English "D" logo on the left chest, while the road navy alternate featured the white and navy-trimmed orange script "Detroit" wordmark that appears on their primary road uniform. Both uniforms are paired with a navy cap with orange brim featuring the orange Old English "D" logo. These alternates marked the first time since 1995 that the Tigers wore an official alternate uniform (which they only wore for one game), excluding City Connect and one-off themed uniforms.
• The Giants updated their black alternate uniform, featuring "GIGANTES" (the Spanish translation of the team name) on the chest, gray accents and a step fret design.

The 2026 season marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the National League. Two of the eight charter members of the National League are still playing: the Atlanta Braves (formerly of Boston) and the Chicago Cubs.

This also marks the American League's 125th anniversary as a major league. Seven of the league's 15 current franchises date back to 1901.

In February 2025, ESPN and MLB announced that both parties had exercised a mutual opt-out to end their media agreement following the previous 2025 season; this contract was originally going to expire after the 2028 season. In November 2025, MLB reached new, three-year agreements with ESPN, NBC Sports, and Netflix to replace ESPN's previous deal. NBC Sports will also regain the MLB Sunday Leadoff rights previously held by The Roku Channel; NBC produced those games in 2022 and 2023 before Roku took over them in 2024 and 2025.

This will also be the fifth year of the existing seven-year deals with Fox, TBS, and Apple TV.

• ESPN will exclusively broadcast 30 games this season, with the network's schedule beginning with a Jackie Robinson Day game before airing a doubleheader on May 7 and then a Memorial Day afternoon game. ESPN then has weeknight games between June and August on select Mondays (nine games, at least one game every week from June 15 to August 17, excluding August 10), Wednesdays (six games), and Thursdays (four games), one of these games is the second-half opener on July 16. The network will also have a single game on the penultimate Wednesday night of the regular season, September 16, and a doubleheader on the final Wednesday night, September 23. Most of ESPN's summer weeknight games, as well as those on the final two Wednesdays of the season, will have teams to be announced at a later date. The network also retains the rights to the MLB Little League Classic.

  • ESPN-produced weekend afternoon games will also air on ABC on June 14, June 27, and August 16.

• Fox will continue to air regional Saturday night Baseball Night in America games throughout the regular season, excluding June 27 and July 11 this year due to the network's coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and September 12 and 19 in deference to college football coverage. The broadcast network will also air the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, and regional Thursday night games on September 17.

• FS1 will additionally broadcast games on Saturday afternoons (14 games, with at least one game every week from March 28 to May 30, July 11, and from July 25 to August 22, excluding April 18 and from June 6 to July 4 (due to the 2026 FIFA World Cup) and 18 and August 29 to September 26 (in deference to college football coverage), Monday nights (17 games, with at least one game in every week from March 30 to June 8, excluding Memorial Day), Wednesday nights (two games), and Thursday nights (five games), all of which will be both non-exclusive and co-exist with regional broadcasts.

• NBC Sports took over the rights to Sunday Night Baseball and MLB Sunday Leadoff from ESPN and The Roku Channel, respectively. While most Sunday Night Baseball contests will be on the NBC broadcast network, NBCSN will instead have those games on March 29, April 5, and from April 19 to May 24 due to Sunday Night Basketball; and from September 6 to September 20 due to Sunday Night Football; no Sunday night games will air during the All-Star break on July 12 or during the MLB Little League Classic on August 23. NBCSN will also air MLB Sunday Leadoff games from May 3 to August 30, except on July 5 when it will air on the NBC broadcast network as part of a special event known as "Star-Spangled Sunday" in which all games played that day will air exclusively on NBC Sports platforms. The NBC broadcast network also has the Opening Day doubleheader, the first round of the 2026 MLB draft, the All-Star Futures Game, Sunday mid-afternoon games from August 23 to September 6, and a primetime Labor Day game.

• TBS will continue to have MLB Tuesday games throughout the regular season, with the first-half schedule from March 31 to June 30 announced before the season, and the second-half schedule to be announced at a later date. Most games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing; however, TBS is allowed to co-exist once with a team's local broadcast.

• MLB Network will continue to broadcast a regular slate of games when the other national broadcasters are not airing games. While most games will be simulcasts of the teams' local broadcast, select games are produced by the network under its MLB Network Showcase banner. All games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing.

• UniMás and TUDN will air the weekly whiparound show MLB En Vivo (lit. 'MLB Live') on Tuesday nights throughout the season, the weekly studio show MLB Esta Semana (lit. 'MLB This Week') on Saturday nights, and postseason coverage.

• Apple TV will continue to air Friday Night Baseball, two games will air every week throughout the season.

• The ESPN app's Unlimited plan, Fox One, and HBO Max's ad-free tiers will simulcast national games shown on ESPN networks (including ABC), Fox Sports (excluding out-of-market Fox games), and TBS respectively.

• Netflix will air a game on Opening Night, the evening prior to the traditional slate of Opening Day games. The streaming service will also have the MLB at Field of Dreams game and the Home Run Derby.

• Peacock will simulcast NBC and NBCSN's games, along with exclusive Sunday Night Baseball and Sunday Leadoff games not aired on those linear networks. Peacock will also carry supplemental programming, including a whiparound show that will air after Sunday Leadoff and on the final day of the regular season. On July 5, Peacock will participate in "Star-Spangled Sunday", in which all games played that day will be exclusive to NBC Sports.

• The ESPN app's Unlimited plan and Peacock will each feature a non-exclusive "game of the day", blacked out in local markets.

• MLB+ will continue to stream a live stream of MLB Network and air the MLB Big Inning whiparound show.

• MLB.tv will stream everything on MLB+, along with all out-of-market non-nationally televised games (including out-of-market regional Fox games). Beginning this season, new subscribers to MLB.tv must subscribe through the ESPN app. All subscriptions through the ESPN app will include a free month trial of its Unlimited plan. Existing ESPN Unlimited subscribers get a $15 discount for a yearly MLB.tv subscription.

During the postseason, NBC Sports (NBC and NBCSN, with Spanish–language simulcasts on Universo) will air all four Wild Card Series. TNT Sports (TBS and truTV) will then broadcast the American League Division Series and the American League Championship Series, and Fox Sports (Fox and FS1, with Spanish-language simulcasts on Fox Deportes) will broadcast the National League Division Series, the National League Championship Series and the World Series.

• NBC's studio team will feature Ahmed Fareed and long-time announcer Bob Costas as hosts alongside analysts Clayton Kershaw, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Votto. On March 4, NBC announced that Jason Benetti will become the lead announcer for Sunday Night Baseball, and will be paired with each local team's analyst during each broadcast. Then on March 11, NBC appointed Matt Vasgersian as the lead announcer for MLB Sunday Leadoff, and will also call NBC's Opening Day game between the Pirates and the Mets.

• While the aforementioned ESPN-MLB deal included ESPN assuming the streaming rights to MLB Local Media, these in-market feeds will not be fully integrated into the ESPN app this season and thus viewers will still need to access them directly through MLB's platforms.

• On March 3, 2025, the Orioles and Nationals reached a settlement to end the teams' dispute over television rights fee payments. MASN, which is owned and operated by the Orioles but airs both teams' games, pays rights fees to the Nationals. Through the settlement, the Nationals' agreement with the Orioles and MASN concluded following the 2025 season. On January 14, 2026, the Nationals announced that they would move to MLB Local Media.

• On September 8, 2025, the Mets and SNY renewed its agreement with WPIX and Nexstar Media Group to air 30 games per-season on broadcast television, including five spring training games. Outside of New York City, the games will move to Nexstar stations in Albany, Binghamton, Syracuse, Utica, and Hartford.

• Root Sports, the television home of the Mariners since 1993, announced it would shut down following the 2025 season. MLB Local Media, which produced Mariners games for Root Sports in 2025, will replace Root as the Mariners local broadcaster.

• Prior to the season, Space City Home Network, the television home of the Astros, announced the launch of SCHN+, a direct-to-consumer streaming service costing $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually. The launch means that 2026 will be the first season that every Major League Baseball team has a direct-to-consumer streaming option.

• The Atlanta Braves renewed its agreement with Gray Media to air games on its broadcast television stations (with WPCH-TV as flagship), with Gray producing a package of 15 spring training games, and airing an unspecified number of regular season games.

• Blue Jays television announcer Buck Martinez announced his retirement on February 6, 2026. Martinez called Blue Jays games as both a play-by-play and color commentator across two stints from 1987 to 2000, and from 2010 to 2025. He also called local television games for the Orioles from 2003 to 2009, and worked national broadcasts on ESPN and TBS, as well as global broadcasts of the World Series on MLB International. On March 14, the Blue Jays announced that Joe Siddall will serve as their primary television analyst, replacing Martinez.

• Marlins television analyst Tommy Hutton announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2026 season. Hutton first joined the Marlins broadcast team in 1997, and remained with the team until 2015. He rejoined the Marlins in 2018, initially as a studio analyst, before resuming as a part-time game analyst in 2022. Prior to the Marlins, Hutton also worked for the Montreal Expos, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays local broadcasts starting in 1982, while also appearing nationally for ESPN, ABC and NBC.

• The Nationals promote Dan Kolko to lead television play-by-play following the retirement of Bob Carpenter. Kolko had previously served as a host and on-field reporter while also occasionally doing play-by-play in Carpenter's absence.

In December 2025, Main Street Sports Group, the owner of the FanDuel Sports Network (FDSN) regional sports networks, missed a scheduled payment to the St. Louis Cardinals. That same week, the Wall Street Journal reported that DAZN was in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Main Street. If the deal went through, DAZN and Main Street would integrate their live streaming platform in the United States and collaborate on programming. Additionally, Sports Business Journal reported that the company would be forced to dissolve operations at the end of the 2025–26 NBA and NHL regular seasons (mid-April) if the deal with DAZN did not go through by the end of January 2026. Days later, SBJ reported that talks with DAZN had stopped progressing and all MLB teams on FDSN except the Rays had not received payments on-time. On January 8, 2026, all nine MLB teams with agreements with Main Street Sports Group terminated their contracts with the company due to missed payments. SBJ reported afterwards that the company would make new offers to all teams.

On February 2, 2026, Sports Business Journal and John Ourand of Puck reported that nearly all of the teams were planning to move to MLB Local Media, but the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves were undecided and exploring in-house options:

• The Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers confirmed that they would move to MLB Local Media for the 2026 season.

  • The Tigers' agreement with MLB also includes the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL, who are also owned by the Tigers' parent company Ilitch Sports + Entertainment; unlike the Tigers, the Red Wings intend to produce their regional broadcasts in-house, but with MLB Local Media providing production support and distribution for continuity between the two co-owned teams. On March 2, it was announced that both teams' broadcasts would be carried on a joint platform known as Detroit SportsNet.

• On February 23, 2026, Sports Business Journal reported that the Atlanta Braves were considering a direct-to-distributor model for 2026, and the possibility of scaling the operation into a full-time RSN in partnership with other regional teams. On February 24, 2026, the Atlanta Braves announced a new in-house media operation known as BravesVision. Similarly to the Texas Rangers' Rangers Sports Network, it will distribute broadcasts to television providers within the Braves' regional footprint, and offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option via MLB.tv. It will also distribute a package of games on broadcast television via its agreement with Gray.

• On March 9, 2026, the Angels announced that they would acquire FanDuel Sports Network West from Main Street outright. The Angels plan to continue operating the channel as a team-owned RSN, and acquired rights to the NHL's Los Angeles Kings for at least the 2026–27 season.

• ESPN will additionally air its slate of games in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and the Netherlands, and will air games through Disney+ in select markets in Asia and Europe.

• TNT Sports will additionally air its slate of games in Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

• Fox Sports will additionally air its slate of games in Argentina, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

• MLB Network International will air select games worldwide.

While ESPN's aforementioned opt-out also included ESPN Radio's national radio rights to Major League Baseball, ESPN renegotiated with the league to maintain its existing rights, including Sunday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, and postseason games.

This will be the third season of the league's five-year deal with SiriusXM and SiriusXM Canada to simulcast all 30 teams' local regular season and postseason broadcasts.

• Mariners radio announcer Rick Rizzs announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2026 season. Rizzs has been the Mariners' radio announcer starting in 1983, and besides a stint with the Tigers from 1992 to 1994, remained with the Mariners during this period.
• Mets radio announcer Howie Rose announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2026 season. Rose has been with the Mets broadcast team since 1987, beginning as a studio host on Mets radio broadcasts before moving to play-by-play on television in 1996, then on radio in 2004. Aside from the Mets, Rose also called National Hockey League games with both the New York Rangers and New York Islanders between 1989 and 2016.

The following players and coaches retired during the 2026 season and before the start of the 2027 season:

• Miguel Rojas – October 9, 2025 (announced); will retire at the end of the 2026 season

• Jason Heyward – March 27

• Randy Johnson will have his No. 51 retired by the Seattle Mariners on May 2. Johnson will become the fourth Mariners player to have his number retired, and the second time #51 was retired by the team after Ichiro Suzuki was given the same honor the previous season.

• Evan Longoria will have his No. 3 retired by the Tampa Bay Rays on July 12. This will be the third number retired by the team.

• Jeff Kent will have his No. 21 retired by the San Francisco Giants on August 29. This will be the twelfth number retired by the team.

• CC Sabathia will have his No. 52 retired by the New York Yankees on September 26. This will be twenty-third number retired by the team.

• Carlos Beltrán will have his No. 15 retired by the New York Mets during the 2026 season. This will be the eleventh number retired by the team.

• 2026 in baseball

• 2026 Major League Baseball Schedule