Regular-season MLB games will return to ABC for the first time since 2021 through ESPN’s new broadcast agreement with the league. The announcement also means that the number of channels and streaming services needed to watch baseball continues to grow.
ESPN announced that three games will air on ABC this season. ABC will air Cubs-Giants on Sunday, June 14, Yankees-Red Sox on Saturday, June 27, and Cardinals-Cubs on Sunday, August 16. The two June games will face competition from the FIFA World Cup.
ABC has aired afternoon games from the MLB Wild Card Series since 2021, though those games will belong to NBC beginning this year. The last time a regular-season MLB game aired on the network was a one-off Sunday Night Baseball game in August 2021. That game was so long ago that Matt Vasgersian was the play-by-play commentator. Prior to that game, the last time regular-season MLB aired on the network was in 1995 through The Baseball Network.
In some ways, this is good news for the casual baseball fan. This year, regular season baseball will be available on three different over-the-air networks, which are theoretically available with a $20 antenna.
But it also means another slightly different platform or network viewers will need to know to turn to in order to find baseball games. An in-market baseball fan could need seven different channels or services to watch all of their team’s games (Apple TV, Peacock, NBC, FOX, ESPN, ABC, and Netflix). Unlike other sports leagues, games on all of these platforms will not air locally.
ESPN has also not given any indication yet of who will call these games. David Cone, last year’s lead ESPN color commentator, has already announced that he will not be with the network in 2026. These ABC games seem very likely to feature the network’s top MLB commentary team, whoever that might be.
These new baseball games also come at a time when ABC is continuing to gain sports rights. After a period of siphoning to ESPN in the late 2000s and 2010s, ABC has added live games from the NFL, SEC, and NHL, along with Major League Baseball, in addition to major events like Wimbledon and, beginning next season, the College Football National Championship.
Sports is one of the few things that continues to keep over-the-air television going, and there is no sign of that stopping anytime soon.
About Manny Soloway
Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.