| 2026 MLB season | |
|---|---|
| League | Major League Baseball |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | March 25 – September 27, 2026 |
| Number of games | 162 |
| Number of teams | 30 |
| TV partner(s) | Fox/FS1 TBS MLB Network |
| Streaming partner(s) | Max Apple TV+ |
| Draft | |
| Regular season | |
| Postseason | |
| World Series | |
The 2026 Major League Baseball season is scheduled to begin on March 25 with a single night game featuring the San Francisco Giants hosting the New York Yankees before the regular season proper runs from March 26 to September 27. The 96th All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. [1]
Major League Baseball released its 2026 schedule on August 26, 2025. Each team will play 162 regular season games. The regular season is scheduled to open on March 25, with a standalone night game featuring the San Francisco Giants hosting the New York Yankees. The slate of Opening 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. [1]
The 96th All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The game will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. [1]
A Subway Series matchup between the two New York City baseball teams, the Mets and the Yankees will be played Yankee Stadium on September 11–13 to mark the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001. [1] [2] The two teams squared off at Citi Field for the 20th anniversary. [2]
The Athletics will play their June 8–14 homestand at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin South, Nevada, the home of their Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators, as a preview for their eventual relocation to Las Vegas. [1]
It is expected that the Tampa Bay Rays will return to Tropicana Field, which had been damaged by Hurricane Milton, forcing the team to play their 2025 home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field. [3]
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. ESPN's contract was originally going to expire after the 2028 season. [4] MLB has yet to finalize deals with any broadcasters that will take over ESPN's previous rights through 2028, including Sunday night games, the Home Run Derby, and the Wild Card Series. [5]
MLB is also considering changes to league owned MLB Network or MLB.tv. [5]
This will be the fifth year of the existing seven-year deals with Fox, TBS, and Apple TV+; [6] and the third and final year of the agreement with The Roku Channel: [7]
The aforementioned ESPN-MLB mutual opt-out included the ending of ESPN Radio's deal to air All-Star Weekend and the entire postseason. [4] MLB has yet to finalize any deals with any broadcasters that will take over these rights.
This will be the third season of the league's five-year deal with SiriusXM and SiriusXM Canada to simulcast all 30 teams' local regular season and postseason broadcasts. [11]
[Apple TV+] would not be losing its existing package of Friday night games, which runs through 2028 ... Roku's package for Sunday morning/early afternoon games runs through next season