NBC makes first flex scheduling changes to ‘Sunday Night Baseball’

NBC is introducing flex scheduling to Sunday Night Baseball, marking what appears to be the first time the long-running package has changed its nationally televised matchups after the schedule was announced.

On Sunday, Aug. 30, rather than replacing the matchup entirely, NBC is simply swapping the time slots of its two nationally televised games. Cincinnati Reds-Chicago Cubs, previously scheduled to air at 3 p.m., will now air at 7 p.m. Houston Astros-New York Mets, originally announced for primetime, will move to 3 p.m.

A week later, on Sunday, Sept. 6, NBC has flexed out Toronto Blue Jays-Kansas City Royals in favor of Chicago White Sox-Minnesota Twins. The new game will air at 6 p.m. on NBCSN and Peacock, with Blue Jays-Royals returning to each team’s local networks.

The changes also represent a departure from how ESPN handled the package during its 35-year run. ESPN held the rights to Sunday Night Baseball from 1990 to 2025. Under ESPN, especially in recent years, the network would announce games the month before they were scheduled to be played. July games, for example, would be announced in June.

NBC took a different approach, announcing its full schedule before the season began. That has led to some duds, especially later in the season. On Labor Day, for example, NBC will air the St. Louis Cardinals-San Francisco Giants game. That seemed like a great matchup entering the season, but the Cardinals are currently a game under .500, and the Giants are 17 games under .500.

Still, Sunday Night Baseball has been a strong draw for NBC overall. Last week’s New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies matchup averaged 3.2 million viewers on NBC. That is the fifth game this season on NBC to average more than 3 million viewers. On ESPN, from 2021 to 2025, not a single regular-season game averaged more than 3 million viewers. Yankees-Washington Nationals on Opening Day in 2020, which averaged 4.1 million viewers, was the last regular-season game to reach that mark.

So even though NBC has scheduled some late-season duds, its overall strategy for Sunday Night Baseball appears to be paying off.