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NBC Sports is sticking with what’s worked all year for this week’s MLB wild-card playoffs.
The Comcast-owned network will have exclusive rights to the postseason’s first round, beginning Tuesday. The postseason presence, the first for NBC since the 2000 American League Championship Series, marks the initial high point of a three-year rights deal signed late last year, which is worth roughly $600 million. Coverage will be spread across the NBC broadcast network, the reconstituted NBCSN on cable, and the Peacock streaming service. The broadcast plan includes maintaining its local, team-based color analysts in each of the four wild-card series, pairing them with NBC’s national play-by-play announcers.
“To have analysts embedded with the team next to us is No. 1, an honor, but No. 2, a godsend informationally,” said Jason Benetti, NBC Sports play-by-play voice, on a Monday conference call. Benetti will work with NESN’s Lou Merloni and YES Network’s Joe Girardi during the Red Sox–Yankees series. “The fans know these people as dedicated craftsmen. … There’s also a trust factor in the homes of everybody watching these games.”
NBC, meanwhile, is also looking to extend its sizable viewership momentum from the 2026 regular season. The network averaged 2.7 million viewers for its 14 primetime editions of Sunday Night Baseball, marking the largest audience for that series since 2007. ESPN previously aired the primetime showcase.
Over-the-air television will be a fundamental part of that audience counting as NBC is set to have as many as six wild card games between Tuesday and Thursday, extending the core presence of SNB.
Still, the streaming on Peacock will also have a standard Nielsen measurement, similar to what NBC Sports is now doing for its NFL broadcasts.
Team Positioning
Not surprisingly, the Red Sox–Yankees series will have the featured primetime slot for each of the potential three games. The Cubs-Padres series will have the second-most-prominent broadcast position, with those games starting at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
The Phillies-Braves and White Sox–Astros series, meanwhile, will air in afternoon slots.
The Boston–New York series could see an even bigger boost if Yankees captain Aaron Judge is activated from the injured list, as has been his hope.
“Aaron Judge standing in the batter’s box is Aaron Judge standing in the batter’s box,” said NBC Sports analyst and former Yankee Anthony Rizzo. “It doesn’t matter if he’s on one leg. It doesn’t matter if he has one arm. He is a threat and he will be respected by every pitcher facing him. Him being in there will be a game changer.”
