Major League Baseball announced its 2026 schedule on Tuesday, and for the first time in a decade, the season will start with a standalone primetime game.
The San Francisco Giants will host the New York Yankees in the Bay on Wednesday, March 25, to lead off the season. It is the first such standalone leadoff game as a primetime lead-in to Opening Day since 2015.
The next day, the other 28 teams will take the field and commence the season for what MLB is still formally calling Opening Day. March 26 will be the earliest Opening Day in MLB history.
More notably, MLB has not announced the network that will air the primetime game between New York and San Francisco. As Sports Media Watch noted, ESPN, which is rumored to be signed on for a “midweek” slate of regular-season games after opting out of its Sunday Night Baseball deal earlier this year, is already spoken for with an NBA doubleheader that night.
Under the previous deal, ESPN broadcasted a tripleheader on Opening Day.
Typically, TBS airs national MLB games on Tuesday nights and Fox does so on Thursdays. Most weeks, FS1 airs a Wednesday-night game. Given that these networks’ packages are not affected by MLB’s latest deals, Fox Sports appears to be the most likely candidate to air the Opening Night game from Oracle Park next march.
As commissioner Rob Manfred teases expansion and MLB pursues more national media revenue, many have pushed baseball to adopt a better national TV schedule. That could include more mid-day games, holiday specials, and more events like the Field of Dreams game, the Negro Leagues tribute at Rickwood Field, and the MLB Speedway Classic.
The league returning to a primetime start for the 2026 season would appear to be a step in that direction.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.