Anthony Rieber: Do you miss 'Sunday Night Baseball' on ESPN?
From left, Eduardo Perez, David Cone and Karl Ravech in ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast booth at Yankee Stadium in 2024; NBC's "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcaster Jason Benetti. Credit: Marcus Stevens/ESPN Images; NBC Sports
By now, you’ve probably noticed the absence of “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN after 36 seasons.
Was there ever a regularly scheduled sports product that drew more derision from fans? But it’s odd to pass by the Worldwide Leader on Sunday nights and not see a baseball game — even a poorly presented one.
Everyone had an opinion about “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN.
That was because of the non-local, polarizing announcers (Joe Morgan, Jessica Mendoza, Alex Rodriguez, to name a few); the ESPN-ification of the broadcast (think of in-game, on-field player interviews that no one asked for); and the fact that for many years ESPN seemed to be taking every good Sunday game from the Yankees and moving them with little notice from daytime to prime time (inconveniencing fans who bought tickets thinking they were getting a 1 p.m. start).
But people tuned in, especially in 2025, when “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN saw a 21% increase over the previous season.
Sometimes, ESPN’s broadcast was unwatchable. Other times, it was capable of such excess that it was difficult to look away. Many of you watched with the sound off and/or tried to sync up the Yankees or Mets radio broadcast when they were on. You know who you are.
But are viewers better off with “Sunday Night Baseball” now in the streaming witness protection program after a move to NBC?
Yes, they eventually will be. But be honest — did you even know “Sunday Night Baseball” was now an NBC product?
ESPN opted out of its contract with MLB before the season. NBC swooped in and picked up the rights to add to its longtime NFL and new-for-this-season NBA Sunday night showcases.
NBC is now the unquestioned king of Sunday night sports. And its production and announcers are top notch across the board.
But with the NBA playoffs in full gear, MLB early season games, with the exception of an April 12 Cleveland-Atlanta contest, have not been shown on NBC. They have been carried on the streaming channel Peacock and NBC Sports Network, a once-defunct cable channel that was relaunched in November by NBC to handle its growing inventory of sports.
“Sunday Night Baseball” will remain on those platforms until May 31, when over-the-air NBC will join them in carrying a Cubs-Cardinals game. That will continue until the NFL season opens in September, when it’s back to Peacock and NBCSN for MLB.
The good news for fans, at least the ones who buy tickets? The schedule for NBC’s Sunday night games was set before the season so there won’t be any late switcheroos. NBC even passed on the two Sunday Subway Series games this season, something ESPN never seemed to do even though the rest of the country didn’t seem as jazzed up by Yankees-Mets as we were.
The Yankees this season will make three prime-time appearances on NBC; the Mets will make two. The Yankees will visit the Red Sox on June 28, host the Dodgers on July 19 and visit the Phillies on July 26. The Mets will visit the Phillies on June 21 and host the Astros on Aug. 30. The Mets also have a 12:30 NBC game at Atlanta on July 5, which the network is calling “Star-Spangled Sunday” with games all day and night.
Overall, the NBC experience should be better for viewers than the ESPN one — once the games get on the main network. NBC’s early baseball broadcasts have focused on the game on the field, which is nice for fans who don’t want to be dazzled, and the use of local analysts with ties to the two teams alongside play-by-play man Jason Benetti is a nice touch.
The good vibes should carry over once a wider audience is able to tune in.
As for ESPN, this Sunday night there will be a prime-time NBA playoff game. On May 10, it’ll be a Stanley Cup playoff game. So there is life after baseball.
When the winter sports finish their ESPN run, the network will debut what it is calling “Women’s Sports Sundays.”
ESPN will, in prime time, show nine consecutive weeks of WNBA and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) games starting on June 21 with the Liberty visiting the Los Angeles Sparks in a rematch of the first WNBA game from 30 years ago.
“More than a programming block,” ESPN said in a Feb. 19 news release, “Women’s Sports Sundays represents a bold commitment to incomparable competition, consistency and storytelling, establishing women’s sports as the main event on Sunday nights.”
MLB going up against the WNBA and NWSL. That sounds like something for everyone, actually, and should be a good thing for viewers.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
