The playoff format was bad. You never knew what channel each game was on and they would blackout games.
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ESPN and MLB ending 35 year partnership after 2025 season
- Thread starter Don CT
- Start date
We may be facing that situation again in 2026, depending on who gets the rights to the postseason games now carried by ESPN (wild-card round, IIRC). I can see some being on FS1 and others being on some non-sports-centric streaming service, like Amazon Prime or Apple+.
I can also see MLB asking that games played in Tampa (Rays) and Sacramento (A's), should those teams make the playoffs, be available to as few out-of-market viewers as possible, just to spare MLB the embarrassment of showing big league product in minor league ballparks.
TBS will get more games.
It will end after this season, along with the TV deal.
Can they afford it?
Maybe they just end SNB. The players don’t like playing the game late on travel days.
Meanwhile, ESPN says its Sunday Night Baseball game between the Yankees & Mets was most watched in 7 years:
barrettmedia.com
ESPN 'Sunday Night Baseball' Broadcast of Mets-Yankees Most-Viewed Since 2018
The Subway Series matchup was the most-watched broadcast of "Sunday Night Baseball" since August 2018, according to ESPN reporter Buster Olney.
barrettmedia.com
This is the problem. Baseball is a regional sport. Most of the country doesn’t care about Baltimore vs Detroit for a standalone game on Sunday night. There are only 4 teams with national flavor to draw a big audience.Meanwhile, ESPN says its Sunday Night Baseball game between the Yankees & Mets was most watched in 7 years:
ESPN 'Sunday Night Baseball' Broadcast of Mets-Yankees Most-Viewed Since 2018
The Subway Series matchup was the most-watched broadcast of "Sunday Night Baseball" since August 2018, according to ESPN reporter Buster Olney.
Next 2 weeks should be decent for SNB with Dodgers/Mets & the Yankees/Dodgers World Series rematch & both of these series will get the full-on nat'l TV treatment with Apple TV+ Friday, FOX Saturday, & ESPN Sunday, I'm sure much to the chagrin especially for Mets fans this weekend having a home series against the defending champs not having Gary, Keith, & Ron on the call for any of the games on SNY.
It will be interesting to see how the NBA fares with only one big-market team in the final four, the Knicks. Will the numbers for the Thunder-Timberwolves (Oklahoma City-Minn/StP) be disastrous, or do NBA fans now behave like NFL fans, watching whatever teams are on? Of course, gambling is a great motivation for NFL fans to watch all of its games, so it doesn't matter if Green Bay plays Cincinnati or Pittsburgh plays Indianapolis because hitting on a big parlay bet involving four smaller-market teams pays just as much as one on the two New York teams and the two Los Angeles teams. Will the gamblers boost ratings for the Oklahoma City-Minnesota series? Will fans with no rooting or betting interest in the Thunder or the Wolves be watching?
Baseball is an impossible sport to bet now, with every game a crapshoot after the fifth inning because starting pitchers are babied and the late innings belong to anywhere from four to seven relievers.
They've been nibbling at it with Peacock. That's probably what they'd do with it. The problem is that MLB already has its own streaming service.
Apple TV has Friday night games. I wonder if they put the Sunday night game on peacock or leave it to the network.
Definitely network until football season begins. Then football takes over.
They also have Sunday night NBA once football ends as well.
Great move for NBC. It’s interesting a network once known for producing Emmy winning dramas, and Seinfeld is essentially flipping to sports
Wonder if SNB happens to go to NBC if they'd consider pushing first pitch back to the old 8PM Eastern time, especially in this day in age where pace of play thanks to pitch clock has helped accelerate games. Not to mention I'm sure CBS (NBC could care less, but) don't want this to get in the way of 60 Minutes & rather have NBC do an ESPN Baseball Tonight-equivalent kinda pregame leading in.
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