MLB’s new media landscape has brought NBC back to baseball broadcasting in 2026, and part of that is taking over the Sunday Night Baseball franchise that’s been carried by ESPN for the last 35 years.
Friday, NBC announced their entire Sunday night schedule (and some of these games are afternoon contests, as you will see). This is a departure from ESPN’s practice over the last few years, which was to announce Sunday night broadcasts for the first couple of months of the season, then assign matchups
later on depending on pennant races and other factors.
The Cubs will be featured three times: Sunday, May 31 vs. the Cardinals at St. Louis (6 p.m. CT), Sunday, June 7 vs. the Giants at Wrigley Field (7 p.m. CT) and Sunday, Aug. 30 vs. the Reds at Wrigley Field (2 p.m. CT). All three of these games will be simulcast on NBC’s broadcast network and Peacock, so you should be able to watch them even if you don’t subscribe to Peacock.
Here’s the entire schedule. The games will be exclusively on Peacock through the end of May and then beginning in September, when NBC carries NBA and NFL games. Note that the times listed below are Eastern time.
There will also be full national broadcasts of every game played Sunday, July 5, which the network is calling “Star-Spangled Sunday.” The Cubs’ home game against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field will be carried on Peacock at 1:30 p.m. CT. The network says “most” of these games will be simulcast on NBC Sports Network. Here’s the full July 5 schedule (again, all times below are Eastern time):
NBC will also take over the “Sunday Leadoff” package in 2026, a selection of games that will be (generally) the first game of the day from May through August. These games will be exclusively on Peacock (except for July 5). Again, NBC says “most” Peacock exclusive games will be simulcast on NBC Sports Network. The Cubs aren’t involved in any of these games, but here’s the schedule for you (again, all times Eastern):
It’s a new day for national baseball broadcasts, so I present these to you to get accustomed to them. ESPN will also have a national broadcast schedule, mostly on Wednesdays. That schedule has yet to be announced; I’ll post info here when it’s available.
