NBC takes over baseball's wild-card round as four series start 29 September
Baseball's postseason starts on NBC this year, with four playoff series stacked across three days from 29 September.
NBC Sports has exclusive coverage of the wild-card round, the opening stage of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 29 September, with first pitch to follow, according to NBC Sports.
The round is organised as four best-of-three series, meaning the first team to two wins goes through. All four are scheduled to start on Tuesday, MLB.com said.
Tuesday and Wednesday are double-headers squared. Four games per day will be played at 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET, Deadline reported.
Two games on each of those days, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET, will air on broadcast network NBC. The other two will air on NBCSN, the cable sports channel. If any series needs a deciding third game on Thursday, 1 October, between one and four games will be played.
NBC will carry between one and three games that day if required. MLB has set 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock as the slot if only one decider is needed, MLB.com said. The full wild-card window runs 29 September to 1 October.
The match-ups include two storied rivals. The Boston Red Sox will face the New York Yankees in one series, available on NBC. The Philadelphia Phillies will face the Atlanta Braves, also on NBC, with Game 1 set for 29 September.
The Chicago White Sox will face the Houston Astros. The Chicago Cubs will also take part in the round, NBC Sports said.
It is a change of channel for viewers. The wild-card round aired on ESPN and ABC from 2022 to 2025. All series have used the best-of-three format since 2022.
NBCUniversal reached a three-year rights deal in November 2025 worth a reported $600 million, Deadline reported. Later playoff rounds after the wild card will shift to Turner and Fox. NBC Sports' wild-card coverage is presented by AbbVie, the sponsor named in the title.
For fans, this means one place to find every game. Peacock will stream every inning of the round, totalling between eight and 12 games depending on how quickly series finish. All games will be available on Peacock Premium or Premium Plus, the service's paid tiers, MLB.com said.
Games carried by NBC and Peacock will not be available for live viewing on MLB.TV, the league's out-of-market streaming service.
The baseball deal lands as Peacock has momentum. Peacock ended June with 48 million subscribers after adding 2 million in the second quarter, and turned a profit in that quarter six years after launch, Deadline reported.
Baseball also has momentum. Last year's World Series between the L.A. Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays averaged 15.71 million viewers per game, the best for any World Series since 2017, Deadline reported.
