The Wild Card Series opens Tuesday with the postseason’s first short sprint: four potential best-of-three matchups, four games on the first day, four more scheduled for Wednesday and a possible deciding slate on Thursday. Start times and pairings will be set once the final bracket is in place.
How to watch
Every game in the Wild Card round will be carried by NBC’s family of platforms. Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus will have the full set of games, including contests also selected for NBC’s over-the-air broadcast.
Games not placed on the NBC broadcast network will air on Peacock and NBC Sports Network. NBCSN is available through YouTube TV, Fubo and Xfinity. Peacock can be accessed through its app on supported devices or through a Peacock account online.
- Tuesday: four Wild Card Series games are scheduled.
- Wednesday: four more games are scheduled.
- Thursday: up to four Game 3s could be played if the series require them.
- Format: each matchup is a best-of-three series.
A familiar October home
Baseball’s return to NBC platforms carries a long broadcast history. The network’s predecessor station, W2XBS in New York, aired the first televised Major League Baseball game in 1939, a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers.
NBC Sports later aired the first World Series telecast in 1947 and the first nationally televised All-Star Game in 1952. Its 39 World Series broadcasts are more than any other network.
From 1957 through 2000, the network’s baseball schedule included Game of the Week, Monday Night Baseball, more than 30 All-Star Games and a deep collection of October nights. Its current slate also includes MLB Sunday Leadoff, the Sunday morning presentation led by play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti and a three-person booth that brings in an analyst associated with each club. The program returned this season after earlier Peacock runs in 2022 and 2023.
For now, the board remains unfinished. Once the matchups are locked in, the Wild Card round will supply the first four game windows of the postseason—and, for some clubs, a quick two-day path either into the Division Series or home for the winter.
