ESPN revealed its full MLB schedule and will return to regular weeknight baseball games for the first time since 2021.

ESPN exercised an option in its contract to exit its agreement for Sunday Night Baseball last year. After months of negotiations, MLB reached a new agreement with ESPN for 30 exclusive games, in addition to the streaming rights to MLB.TV.

But the 30 ESPN games this season won’t be part of the long-running Sunday Night Baseball program. Instead, MLB reached an agreement with NBC and Peacock to air Sunday Night Baseball.

Sunday Night Baseball is not totally gone from ESPN, however. ESPN will get one Sunday night game on Sunday, August 23. The game is the MLB Little League Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.

Unlike the previous Sunday Night Baseball deal with games each week from April to September, 23 of the 30 games this season on ESPN will occur in June, July, and August.

When games are on ESPN, they will primarily be on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. ESPN long aired regular weeknight games on Monday and Wednesday nights until 2022.

ESPN unveils more #MLB game selections for its reimagined 2026 exclusive schedule ⚾️

In addition, fans can stream thousands of out-of-market MLB games all season long on the ESPN App

Details: https://t.co/RQ33ZPNlyh pic.twitter.com/LSbj4zds9A

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 19, 2026

There will be multiple weeks in the summer with ESPN games on two separate weeknights. In fact, only one week between June 22 and August 23 will not feature games on two nights. There will also be three weeks during this time when ESPN will feature three weeknight games, with one night being a 7 p.m./10 p.m. doubleheader.

Some, but not all, of the weeknight schedule is already set. The schedule will open on Wednesday, April 15 (Jackie Robinson Day) with a game between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. ESPN will also air a Yankees-Royals afternoon game on Memorial Day and a Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies game on Thursday, July 16, as the first game after the All-Star break.

However, much of the remaining schedule announced today only includes dates. This allows ESPN and Major League Baseball to choose games of more national interest. ESPN’s final games will be a doubleheader on Wednesday, September 23, the last week of the regular season. Flex scheduling ensures that doubleheader has the most meaningful games possible.

Outside of summer weeknights, three games will air in the afternoon on ABC. These games mark the most regular season games on ABC since 1995.

While ESPN’s schedule is certainly more fragmented than in previous years, the focus on summer makes sense for both MLB and ESPN. Baseball faces less competition during those months, and ESPN has the most programming flexibility to feature it. With flex scheduling and multiple games per week in the heart of the season, the network is clearly making an effort to better showcase the sport.

That being said, a recent report by Forbes suggests little is expected to change on the broadcast side. There’s still more work to be done before ESPN’s MLB coverage truly matches the increased emphasis it is placing on the sport.