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 is scheduled to open on March 25, with a standalone night game featuring theSan Francisco Giants hosting theNew York Yankees. The slate ofOpening Day games will then take 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.[1]
On September 23, 2025, MLB's competition committee approved use of theAutomated 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.[6]
On October 1, Bill Schmidt resigned after five years as the team's head of baseball operations.[7]
Paul DePodesta was named the new head of baseball operations on November 7. DePodesta, who had served in theCleveland Browns front office since 2016, has 20 years of baseball executive experience and this is his second major executive role. He was previously general manager of theLos Angeles Dodgers from 2004–2005.[8]
On July 6, Mike Rizzo was fired after 17 years as the team's president of baseball operations. The Nationals named assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo as the interim general manager.[9]
Ani Kilambi was named the new general manager on December 17. This is his first major executive role. He was previously the assistant general manager for thePhiladelphia Phillies until his hiring.[10]
On October 1, 2025, after a 76–86 (.469) 2025 season, the Braves and Brian Snitker mutually agreed to end his managerial tenure with the organization. He will be taking a front office role to remain with the Braves in an advisory capacity. Snitker finished his Braves career with a 811–668 (.548) record and seven postseason appearances, which resulted in a World Series title in2021. Snitker was named NL Manager of the Year in 2018, leading the Braves to their first NL East division title since 2013.[11] Weiss, the current bench coach, was promoted as the new manager on November 3. He was previously the manager of the Colorado Rockies from 2013–16.[12]
On May 17, 2025, after a 15–28 (.349) start to the season, the Orioles fired Brandon Hyde. Hyde finished his Orioles managerial career with a 421–492 (.461) record with two postseason appearances. Hyde was named AL Manager of the Year in 2023, leading the Orioles to a 100-win season (their first since the 1980 season) and their first AL East division title since 2014. Tony Mansolino was named the interim manager for the remainder of the season. This was Mansolino's first managerial position.[13] Albernaz was hired as the new manager on October 27. This will be his first managerial position.[14]
On May 11, 2025, after a 7–33 (.175) start to the season, the Rockies fired Bud Black. Black finished his Rockies managerial career with a 544–690 (.441) record with two postseason appearances. Warren Schaeffer was named the interim manager for the remainder of the season. This was Schaeffer's first managerial position.[15] On November 24, the Rockies removed the interim tag and named Schaeffer as the new Rockies manager.[citation needed]
On September 30, 2025, after a short 36–38 (.486) 2025 season due to being placed on medical leave on June 27 and undergoing a quadruple bypass heart surgery, the Angels announced that Ron Washington would not return in 2026. Washington finished his Angels career with a 109–137 (.443) record and no postseason appearances.[16] Suzuki was hired as the new manager on October 21. This will be his first managerial position.[17] He has previously served as special assistant to general managerPerry Minasian from 2023 to 2025 after finishing his playing career with the Angels from 2021 and 2022.
On September 29, 2025, after a 70–92 (.432) 2025 season, the Twins announced that Rocco Baldelli would not return in 2026. Baldelli finished his Twins career with a 527–505 (.511) record and three postseason appearances.[18] He won the American LeagueManager of the Year Award in 2019. Shelton was hired as the new manager on October 30. He was previously the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates for nearly six years from 2020–25.[19]
On October 13, 2025, after a 90–72 (.556) 2025 season, Shildt announced his retirement, citing the severe toll of the job. Shildt finished his Padres career with a 183–141 (.565) record and two postseason appearances. Shildt was named NL Manager of the Year in 2019, while managing the St. Louis Cardinals.[20] Stammen was hired as the new manager on November 6. He was previously in the Padres organization as an assistant to the major league coaching staff and baseball operations department from 2024 to 2025 after finishing his playing career with the Padres from 2017 to 2022.[21]
On September 29, 2025, after a 81–81 (.500) 2025 season, the Giants fired Bob Melvin. Melvin finished his Giants career with a 161–163 (.497) record and no postseason appearances.[22] Vitello, the coach atTennessee, was hired as the new manager on October 22. This will be his first managerial position. He is the first individual to transition directly from a college program to managing an MLB team without prior professional coaching experience.[23]
On September 29, 2025, after a 81–81 (.500) 2025 season, the Rangers and Bruce Bochy mutually agreed to end his managerial tenure with the organization. He has been offered a front office role to remain with the Rangers in an advisory capacity. Bochy finished his Rangers career with a 249–237 (.512) record and one postseason appearance, which resulted in a World Series title in2023.[24] Schumaker was hired as the new manager on October 13.[25] He previously served as the manager for theMiami Marlins from 2023–24 before leaving to become the special advisor to Texas Rangers general managerChris Young in 2025.
On July 6, 2025, after a 37–53 (.411) start to the season, the Nationals fired Dave Martinez. Martinez finished his Nationals career with a 500–622 (.446) record with one postseason appearance, which resulted in a World Series title in2019.[9] Miguel Cairo was named interim manager on July 7. This was Cairo's second stint as manager after leading theChicago White Sox in 2022 with a record of 18–16 (.529).[26] On October 31, Blake Butera was hired as the new permanent manager of the team, making this his first managerial position.[27]
TheAthletics 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.[32]
TheBrewers 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 theKansas City Royals andMontreal Expos in1991.[33]
TheOrioles add a new alternate cap, featuring an orange "B" script lettering from their road uniform inside a black cap with orange brim.[34]
TheMarlins unveiled a new teal alternate uniform, harkening back to the team's inaugural color scheme.[35]
TheTwins 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.[37]
The 2026 season marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of theNational League. Two of the eight charter members of the National League are still playing: theAtlanta Braves (formerly of Boston) and theChicago Cubs.[citation needed]
This also marks theAmerican League's 125th anniversary as a major league. Eight of the league's 15 current franchises date back to 1901.[citation needed]
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.[38][39] In November 2025, MLB reached new, three-year agreements with ESPN,NBC Sports, andNetflix to replace ESPN's previous deal.[40][41] NBC Sports will also regain theMLB Sunday Leadoff rights previously held byThe Roku Channel; NBC produced those games in 2022 and 2023 before Roku took over them in 2024 and 2025.[42]
This will also be the fifth year of the existing seven-year deals withFox,TBS, andApple TV.[43]
ESPN will exclusively broadcast 30 games this season, primarily on summer weeknights, including games onJackie Robinson Day, Memorial Day, and the second-half opener on July 16. The network also retains the rights to theMLB Little League Classic.[44][45] Three of the ESPN-produced weekend games will air onABC.[46][47]
Fox will airBaseball Night in America games on 23 Saturday nights this season from March 28 to September 5 (excluding June 27 and July 11 due to the2026 FIFA World Cup) and September 26, in addition to the2026 MLB All-Star Game, and a Thursday night game on September 17. Except for the nationally televised All-Star Game, Fox's telecasts will be regionalized with at least two games in each window.FS1 will also broadcast games on 14 Saturday afternoons, 17 Monday nights, two Wednesday nights, and five thursday Nights, which will be both non-exclusive and co-exist with regional broadcasts.[48][49]
NBC's schedule begins with a doubleheader onOpening Day. The broadcast network will then air 13Sunday Night Baseball games on April 12 and from May 31 to August 30 (excluding the All-Star break on July 12 and during the August 23 MLB Little League Classic). NBC will also broadcast three straight Sunday afternoon games from August 23 to September 6.NBCSN will air 11 additionalSunday Night Baseball games from March 29 to May 24 (except on April 12) and from September 6 to 20 due to the broadcast network'sSunday Night Basketball during theNBA season andSunday Night Football during theNFL season. NBCSN will also air 17MLB Sunday Leadoff games from May 3 to August 30, except for July 5 game, which will instead 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 broadcast network will also air theMLB draft,All-Star Futures Game and a primetime Labor Day game.[50][51][52]
TBS will haveMLB Tuesday with 14 games during the first half of the season from March 31 to June 30, 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.[53][54]
MLB Network will continue to broadcast a regular slate of games. While most games will be simulcasts of the teams' local broadcast, select games are produced by the network under itsMLB Network Showcase banner. All games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing.[55]
TheESPN DTC service,Fox One, andHBO Max will simulcast national games shown on ESPN networks (including ABC), Fox Sports (excluding out-of-market Fox games), and TBS respectively.[44][40]
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 theMLB at Field of Dreams game and theHome Run Derby.[40]
Peacock will simulcast NBC and NBCSN's games, along with exclusiveSunday Night Baseball andSunday Leadoff games not aired on those linear networks. Peacock will also carry supplemental programming, including awhiparound show that will air afterSunday 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.[40][50]
ESPN DTC and Peacock will each feature a non-exclusive "game of the day", blacked out in local markets.[40][44][50]
MLB+ will continue to stream a live stream of MLB Network and air the MLB Big Inning whiparound show.[58][59]
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 theESPN app. All subscriptions through the ESPN app will include a free month trial ofESPN Unlimited. Existing ESPN Unlimited subscribers get a $15 discount for a yearly MLB.tv subscription.[40][44]
During the postseason, NBC Sports (NBC and NBCSN, with Spanish–language simulcasts on Universo) will air all four Wild Card Series.[40][50] TNT Sports (TBS and truTV) will then broadcast the American League Division Series and the American League Championship Series,[53] 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.[48]
While the aforementioned ESPN-MLB deal included ESPN assuming the streaming rights toMLB 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.[60][61]
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.[62] On January 14, 2026, the Nationals announced that they would move to MLB Local Media.[63]
On September 8, 2025, the Mets andSNY renewed its agreement withWPIX andNexstar 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.[64][65]
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.[66]
Prior to the season,Space City Home Network, the television home of the Astros, announced the launch of SCHN+, adirect-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.[67]
Blue Jays television announcerBuck 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 onMLB International.[68]
In December 2025,Main Street Sports Group, the owner of theFanDuel Sports Network (FDSN) regional sports networks, missed a scheduled payment to the St. Louis Cardinals.[69] That same week, theWall Street Journal reported thatDAZN 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.[70] 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.[71] 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.[72]
On January 8, 2026, all nine MLB teams with agreements with FDSN terminated their contracts with the company due to missed payments.[73] SBJ reported afterwards that the company would make new offers to all teams.[74] On February 2, 2026,Sports Business Journal and John Ourand ofPuck reported that most of FDSN's MLB teams were contemplating or preparing a move to MLB Local Media (with theDetroit Tigers considering a deal for the unit to also distribute games for the co-ownedDetroit Red Wings of the NHL). TheSt. Louis Cardinals,Miami Marlins,Tampa Bay Rays,Cincinnati Reds,Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers later confirmed that they would move to MLB Local Media for the 2026 season,[75][76][77][78][79][80] with the Tigers also confirming an agreement for MLB Local Media to provide production support and distribution for the Detroit Red Wings.[81]
It was reported that both the Angels and Braves were exploring forming team-owned networks. The Angels were reported to be considering buying out Main Street's stake inFDSN West to give it full ownership, and making rights offers to its remaining teams such as the NBA'sLos Angeles Clippers and NHL'sLos Angeles Kings.[82] In February 2026, the Braves renewed their broadcast television partnership withGray Media, with Gray producing a package of 15 spring training games; theThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested Gray as a potential partner for regular season games if they choose to employ an FTA-centric arrangement.[83][84] On February 10, 2026, the Angels announced a direct-to-consumer streaming option throughMLB.tv, but did not announce details on production or distribution.[85]
ESPN will additionally air its slate of games in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and the Netherlands, and will air games throughDisney+ in select markets in Asia and Europe.[86]
TNT Sports will additionally air its slate of games in Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.[86]
Fox Sports will additionally air its slate of games in Argentina, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.[86]
MLB Network International will air select games worldwide.
While ESPN's aforementioned opt-out also includedESPN Radio's national radio rights to Major League Baseball, ESPN renegotiated with the league to maintain its existing rights, includingSunday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, and postseason games.[44][38]
This will be the third season of the league's five-year deal withSiriusXM andSiriusXM Canada to simulcast all 30 teams' local regular season and postseason broadcasts.[87]
Randy Johnson will have his #51 retired by theSeattle 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 afterIchiro Suzuki was given the same honor the previous season.[90]
Evan Longoria will have his #3 retired by theTampa Bay Rays on July 12. He will become the third number retired by the team.[91]
Jeff Kent will have his #21 retired by theSan Francisco Giants on August 29. He will become the twelfth number retired by the team.[92]
^Karp, Austin (August 24, 2025)."MLB short-term media plan coming into focus".Sports Business Journal.[Apple TV+] would not be losing its existing package of Friday night games, which runs through 2028
