Major League Baseball on Fox Sports Networks refers toMajor League Baseballtelevision coverage on the former chain ofFox Sports regional networks.

Beginning in1997, as part of the contract^[1] with Major League Baseball it had signed the year before.Fox entered a four-year joint venture withLiberty Media Cable^[2] worth $172 million.^[3] Its recently launched the cable sports network,Fox Sports Net and was given rights to two Thursday night games per week, one for theEastern andCentral time zones and one for theMountain andPacific time zones with no exclusivity.

For the2000 and2001 seasons, the Fox network's then-sister cable channel, Fox Family (later ABC Family, nowFreeform) carried a weekly Major League Baseball game onThursday nights (a game that had previously aired nationwide onFox Sports Net from 1997 to 1999), as well as select postseason games from theDivision Series.

AfterThe Walt Disney Company's$2.9 billion acquisition of Fox Family in October 2001, the Thursday nightcable television rights went toESPN. Fox Sports Net's affiliates would however, continue to broadcast Major League Baseball games on a local basis until2020. Come the start of the2021 season, Fox Sports Networks were rebranded toBally Sports following theSinclair Broadcast Group's purchase of theFox Corporation's regional sports channels.

From 2006 to 2006, Fox Sports Net also airedThe FSN Baseball Report, which was a daily baseball analysis program aired during the Major League Baseball season.

For the first year of its exclusive six-year contract (2001), Fox did a split telecast (which had not been attempted since the ill-fated "Baseball Network" arrangement existed) for the League Championship Series. This meant that two games were played simultaneously on the same night, with one game airing on the Fox network and the other on the regionalFox Sports Net cable channel (depending on market, as some markets did not have aregional sports network with a relationship to FSN). The rationale behind the split-telecast was that because of theSeptember 11 attacks, the entire post-season schedule was delayed by a week. Because of this, two Sunday LCS games came in conflict with aFox NFL doubleheader. Fans and sports journalists were unimpressed with the situation and MLB commissioner Bud Selig vowed that it was a one-time deal necessitated by circumstance. However, in later years, Fox used split telecasts on a few occasions to keep the playoffs "on schedule" and maximize its prime time advertising revenue, and aired the second game on FX, which has virtually nationwide distribution on cable and satellite. This ensured that Fox did not have to air an LCS game on a weekday afternoon, when many viewers are unable to watch.

In2001, Game 5 of theNLCS and Game 4 of theALCS were split betweenFox andFox Sports Net. This came off the heels of Fox airing anNFLdoubleheader that particular day (October 21). In2002, Game 1 of theNLCS and Game 2 of theALCS were split between Fox and Fox Sports Net. The regional split was done in order for Fox to avoid televising a weekday afternoon game. In2004, Game 1 of theNLCS and Game 2 of theALCS were split between Fox and Fox Sports Net.

NJJ Music composed the originalMLB on Fox theme music in 1996. This theme music was used exclusively from June 1996 until early May 2007. In mid-May 2007, an updated version was unveiled, featuring a more jazzy feel and implementing a full orchestra instead of the synth elements used by the 1996 theme. For the 2007 postseason, a Jochen Flach-composed slow orchestral theme was unveiled, and was used alongside the new orchestral theme for the All-Star Game and postseason from the 2007 ALCS until the 2010 All-Star Game.Fox Saturday Baseball, including the prime time games starting in 2010, still used the 2007 version of the regular theme song exclusively.

During the 2009 season, some Fox Sports regional affiliates switched to the 2007 theme while others continued using the original 1996 theme. However, all regional affiliates began using the 2007 theme starting with the 2011 season.

Beginning with the 2010 postseason, both the 2007 theme and the Flach theme were replaced by the longtimeNFL on Fox theme music, which began to be used for all Fox sporting events. However, starting in 2011 and continuing to today, various songs from the albumHeroes: The Olympic Collection were used when going into commercial breaks during the All-Star Game, postseason, and other marquee games such as Red Sox-Yankees games.

In 2014, the 2007–2010 jazz theme was brought back for regular seasonMLB on FS1. The NFL theme was retained forMLB on Fox, includingFox Saturday Baseball,Baseball Night in America, the All-Star Game and all coverage of the postseason. However, occasionally one of the two themes was heard on telecasts that were designated for the other, implying that the designations are slightly fluid.

In 2020,MLB on Fox reintroduced the original 1996-2007 theme; Fox Sports regional affiliates continued to use the 2007-2010 theme until the network was rebranded toBally Sports in 2021. As of the2021 season, the original theme is now used for coverage of all games across both Fox and FS1.

Play-by-play announcers for the FSN/Fox Family coverage includedKenny Albert,Thom Brennaman,Chip Caray,Josh Lewin, andSteve Physioc. Color analysts includedBob Brenly,Kevin Kennedy,Steve Lyons, andJeff Torborg. Occasionally, FSN wouldsimulcast a local-team feed of a game from one of its affiliatedregional sports networks in lieu of a dedicated national production.

After21st Century Fox became acquired by the Walt Disney Company, the Fox Sports Networks were divested and were sold toDiamond Sports Group, a joint-venture betweenSinclair Broadcasting Group andEntertainment Studios. All of the Fox Sports Networks are now rebranded asBally Sports as of March 31, 2021.

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