The Cleveland Guardians will be on a new network for the 2026 MLB season.
On Wednesday, Nov. 19, it was announced that the Guardians television rights will now be with ESPN, who now holds the in-market rights for six major league sides. Those alongside the Guardians include the San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners.
This will be the fourth different network in the last four years that the Guardians have been on.
Back in 2025, the team was on Guardians TV, a team-owned channel. Fans could tune in and watch the Guardians on cable providers like Spectrum or clevelandguardians.tv. Prior to that, all Guardians action was found on the FanDuel Sports Network and Bally Sports Great Lakes.
ESPN will now hold the in-market rights for these six Major League teams under the league’s new TV rights agreement, per @AndrewMarchand:
-San Diego Padres
-Cleveland Guardians
-Minnesota Twins
-Arizona Diamondbacks
-Colorado Rockies
-Seattle Mariners pic.twitter.com/CIE77amsSN
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) November 19, 2025
According to the original report, which came from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, ESPN has not yet decided how it will sell MLB.TV this upcoming season.
He continued writing, “but it is expected to be at the same $150 per year that subscribers paid when it was under the league’s control. For at least the first year, subscribers will still be able to continue on the MLB app. T-Mobile is expected to continue, allowing fans to receive the service for free.”
Alongside this announcement regarding the Guardians and other five teams that will be covered in-market, a new agreement is currently in talks in regards to out-of-market games.
“The new agreements will give ESPN rights to out-of-market games for all 30 teams and six in-market clubs,” wrote Marchand. “NBC/Peacock will become the new home of the first round of the playoffs and Sunday Night Baseball, while Netflix will showcase the standalone Opening Day game in prime time, the Home Run Derby and the ‘Field of Dreams’ game.”
MLB will now also be able to join NBC’s Sunday Night Franchise, which already includes the NFL and NBA. These agreements are set to last for three years.
While it always seems that a way to visually watch the Guardians is up in question, or shifts to a new provider each season, the radio side has always remained relatively consistent with the Voice of Cleveland, Tom Hamilton, leading the charge.
The Flagship station continues to be WTAM in Cleveland on AM 1100 and 16.9 FM. A full list of all radio affiliates can be found online.
Cleveland is set to return to action in Spring Training, which will officially begin in late February.