HOW MLB’S UPCOMING DEALS WILL CHANGE HOW YOU WATCH OUT-OF-MARKET, SUNDAY NIGHT AND WILD CARD GAMES
When ESPN opted out of its contract with Major League Baseball in February, the network was hoping to get a reworked package at a lower cost while Commissioner Rob Manfred thought the sport could optimize its rights in the short term for Home Run Derby and Wild Card round.
In the end, both parties may get what they want.
According to people familiar with negotiations, ESPN is nearing a deal to distribute out-of-market games while NBC/Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV are in talks for regular-season packages, the Wild Card round and the Home Run Derby.
All sides hope to have everything finalized by the end of the regular season next month, three people told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contracts have not been finalized or announced by either side.
The negotiations around the three-year deals is complicated due to the fact that MLB is also trying not to slight two of its other rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year under deals which expire after the 2028 season.
While ESPN would be losing the playoffs and Home Run Derby, it would be gaining something it considers more valuable — the MLB.TV streaming package of out-of-market games as part of the direct-to-consumer service that launched on Thursday. ESPN would also sell the in-market rights to the five teams whose games are produced by MLB — San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland and Minnesota.
“We are engaged. We are having healthy conversations with them. Nothing to announce today, but we’re very interested in baseball in general,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said on Tuesday during a presentation about the network’s DTC service.
ESPN, which has carried MLB games since 1990, opted out of the final three years of a seven-year deal in February. The package averaged $550 million per season and also included the Home Run Derby and Wild Card games.
Baseball would be the second league that would have its out-of-market digital package available in the U.S. on ESPN’s platform. The NHL moved its package to ESPN in 2021.
It would also be a win-win situation for MLB and ESPN. Manfred wrote in a memo to owners after ESPN opted out of its contract: “While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform, particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think its beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.”
The moves keep ESPN involved in baseball, but at a point where it can benefit while MLB could benefit from other partners in a short-term deal.
There is a possibility that ESPN would still air 30 regular-season games, but not Sunday nights. That package of games would go to NBC/Peacock, along with the Wild Card round.
NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and ’95 and then aired playoff games from 1996 through 2000.
Peacock had a Sunday streaming package of early-afternoon games in 2022 and ’23.
The addition of baseball games would give NBC a year-around night of sports on Sunday nights. It has had NFL games on Sunday night since 2006 and will debut an NBA Sunday night slate in February. NBC would likely do Sunday Night Baseball from May through Labor Day weekend.
Fox’s Saturday nights have been mainly sports the past couple years with a mix of baseball, college football, college basketball and motorsports.
Netflix is in discussions for the Home Run Derby, which would align with its strategy of going for a big event in a major sport. The streamer will have an NFL Christmas Day doubleheader this season for the second straight year.
Apple TV, which has had “Friday Night Baseball” since 2022, remains involved in negotiations.
The deals would also accomplish another of Manfred’s goals. He has said for three years that he would like to see MLB take a more national approach to its rights instead of a large percentage of its games being on regional sports networks.
“We’re blessed with a huge amount of content: 2,430 games. Because of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach needs to be more national,” he said during a panel discussion last September at the CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan event.
MLB ROUNDUP: JAYS’ SHANE BIEBER WINS IN LONG-AWAITED RETURN
Shane Bieber, pitching in the majors for the first time in 507 days, worked six strong innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-2 win over the host Miami Marlins on Friday night.
Daulton Varsho led Toronto’s offense, going 2-for-4 with a homer, a double and three RBIs.
Bieber (1-0), making his Blue Jays debut after being acquired from the Cleveland Guardians at the trade deadline on July 31, allowed just two hits, no walks and one run, striking out nine. He hadn’t pitched since April 2, 2024, his last appearance before undergoing elbow surgery.
The American League Cy Young Award winner in 2020, Bieber retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced over his 87-pitch outing after allowing his sole run on a solo homer by Javier Sanoja.
Red Sox 1, Yankees 0
Brayan Bello pitched seven stellar innings as Boston continued its dominance of host New York. The Red Sox lead the season series 7-1 and clinched it should the teams finish tied in the standings.
Bello (10-6) allowed three singles, struck out five and walked one. It was his third scoreless outing this season and second against the Yankees; he also allowed three hits in seven innings against them June 15 in Boston. The Red Sox had six hits and pushed across a run in the seventh off Mark Leiter Jr. (5-7) when Nathaniel Lowe trotted home on a double down the left field line by Connor Wong.
New York’s Max Fried allowed four hits in six innings. The lefty struck out seven and walked three, marking the fourth time in seven starts he issued three walks.
Padres 2, Dodgers 1
Yu Darvish outdueled Blake Snell as San Diego prevailed and pulled level with visiting Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West.
Darvish (3-3) allowed one run on one hit and one walk over six innings, striking out five. Robert Suarez got the final three outs for his big-league-high 34th save. The Padres scored twice in the fourth inning, on a Manny Machado single and a Xander Bogaerts sacrifice fly.
Snell (3-2) gave up two runs on six hits over seven innings. He walked two and fanned five. Alex Freeland hit his first major league homer in the third inning
Brewers 5, Giants 4
William Contreras launched a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to lift Milwaukee past visiting San Francisco as the Brewers picked up their league-leading 81st win.
Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill (5-2) allowed the tying run to score on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth. After Randy Rodriguez (3-5) retired Andruw Monasterio and Brice Turang to begin the bottom of the frame, Contreras hit his 14th homer of the season.
Willy Adames, who spent the previous 3 1/2 seasons with Milwaukee, had a pair of solo homers for the Giants, who dropped their fourth consecutive game.
Mets 12, Braves 7
Rookie Nolan McLean pitched seven strong innings and Juan Soto homered and drove in four runs to help New York defeat host Atlanta.
McLean (2-0), making his second major league start, allowed two runs on four hits and no walks while striking out seven. He allowed a home run for the first time in his brief career when Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a solo shot in the fourth inning.
Soto ended an 0-for-9 streak by going 3-for-4, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning, his 32nd of the year. That was the only long ball among the season-high-tying 21 hits the Mets produced.
Diamondbacks 6, Reds 5 (11 innings)
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a walk-off single in the 11th inning and Gabriel Moreno hit a three-run homer in his return to the Arizona lineup as the Diamondbacks beat Cincinnati in Phoenix.
Gurriel’s single to center field against Scott Barlow (6-2) scored automatic runner Corbin Carroll from second base after Jalen Beeks (4-1) held Cincinnati scoreless in the top of the 11th inning. Gurriel had two RBIs for Arizona, which won its third straight game following a four-game losing streak.
Moreno had two hits and made an immediate impact in his first game back from the 60-day injury list. He suffered a hairline fracture injury to his right index finger while catching against the Reds in June. His three-run homer in the third put Arizona up 4-2.
Rays 10, Cardinals 6
Top Tampa Bay prospect Carson Williams had two hits, including a two-run homer, in his major league debut, and the Rays defeated visiting St. Louis.
Jake Mangum went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs and Brandon Lowe, Tristan Gray and Junior Caminero homered as the Rays snapped a four-game losing streak. Adrian Houser (7-4) tossed 6 1/3 innings and permitted four runs.
Nathan Church and Willson Contreras homered for the Cardinals, who had won three of four. Miles Mikolas (6-10) was pounded for five runs (four earned) on 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Twins 9, White Sox 7
Royce Lewis went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and Byron Buxton, Luke Keaschall and Edouard Julien each had two hits and an RBI to lift Minnesota over host Chicago.
Minnesota stopped a three-game losing streak while winning for just the second time in eight games. Kody Funderburk (3-1) earned the victory with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Justin Topa got the final five outs for his third save, working around two hits and a walk as the Twins improved to 5-2 against Chicago this season.
Chicago drew to within 8-7 behind a three-run eighth inning that featured three hits and three walks. The rally ended when Lewis gunned down Miguel Vargas at the plate as the runner tried to tag up and score on Colson Montgomery’s foul popup behind third base.
Pirates 9, Rockies 0
Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler limited Colorado to three hits as host Pittsburgh won for the third time in four games.
Ashcraft (4-2) permitted one run in five innings. Chandler then threw four innings of two-hit ball, becoming the fourth pitcher ever to log a four-inning save in his major league debut.
Tommy Pham homered and doubled while driving in two and scoring three times, and Andrew McCutchen drove in four on a pair of doubles as the Pirates piled up 10 extra-base hits.
Nationals 5, Phillies 4
Daylen Lile hit a game-tying RBI single in the ninth inning and then scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error, lifting visiting Washington over Philadelphia in the opener of a three-game series.
Riley Adams opened the scoring with a three-run homer while Lile and Dylan Crews each had two hits and a run for the Nationals, who have won three in a row.
Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto homered, and Nick Castellanos had three hits and scored twice for the Phillies, who had won four in a row.
Tigers 7, Royals 5
Riley Greene hit his 30th homer, a two-run shot, and host Detroit rallied past Kansas City.
Zach McKinstry supplied a solo homer, a triple and a single, while Gleyber Torres contributed two hits, two runs and an RBI as Detroit won its fourth straight. Kyle Finnegan (3-4) threw two innings of scoreless relief.
Vinnie Pasquantino tied a Kansas City record by homering for his fifth straight game, a two-run shot in the ninth. Reliever Bailey Falter (7-7) yielded four runs in two innings.
Cubs 3, Angels 2
Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a go-ahead solo home run in top of the ninth inning, powering Chicago to a victory over Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.
Kyle Tucker also homered and Dansby Swanson doubled, walked and scored a run for the Cubs. Brad Keller (4-1) tossed a hitless inning of relief, and Daniel Palencia threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his 19th save.
Yoan Moncada hit two home runs, his first multi-homer game with the Angels. Tyler Anderson extended his team record with his 21st consecutive winless start, allowing two runs on three hits in five innings. Kenley Jansen (5-4) served up Crow-Armstrong’s homer.
Rangers 4, Guardians 3
Joc Pederson doubled home Corey Seager with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as Texas edged Cleveland in Arlington, Texas.
Wyatt Langford opened the frame with a double off Cade Smith (5-5), and Seager followed with a game-tying single. Pederson then pulled the next pitch into the right field corner, making a winner of Robert Garcia (2-7), who threw one scoreless inning.
The Rangers got homers from Rowdy Tellez and Langford. Jose Ramirez hit a two-run double that gave the Guardians a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning.
Astros 10, Orioles 7
Both Jeremy Pena and Christian Walker drilled three-run homers, and Houston held on to defeat host Baltimore in the second game of a four-game series.
Pena’s 14th homer capped off a four-run first for the Astros while Walker’s 18th homer extended the lead to 7-3 in the fifth.
Colton Cowser and Vimael Machin homered and Jeremiah Jackson drove in three runs for the Orioles, who stranded 11 runners and cut the deficit to 7-6 before allowing three runs in the eighth.
Mariners 3, Athletics 2
Josh Naylor’s 100th career home run broke a tie in the seventh inning as Seattle edged the visiting Athletics.
Eugenio Suarez and Jorge Polanco also went deep for the Mariners, who snapped a five-game skid. Bryan Woo (11-7) allowed just one run on one hit over seven innings. Andres Munoz earned his 30th save despite giving up a run in the ninth.
Brent Rooker homered for the A’s, whose three-game winning streak ended. Luis Morales threw six innings of one-run ball before Elvis Alvarado (1-1) served up two homers in the seventh.
