Matthew Nethercott

Major League Baseball announced today that they have reached media deals for the 2026-2028 season with NBC, ESPN, and Netflix. The story was first reported by Sports Business Journal and The Athletic. ESPN Back in February, ESPN opted out of its contract with MLB, ending its run of carrying “Sunday Night Baseball” on its network. Both sides made clear they wanted to rework the deal, not end it entirely. ESPN will now receive the rights to all 30 teams’ out-of-market games, rather than being on the MLB app. ESPN will also host 30 exclusive weeknight games during the regular season. ESPN will also have the rights to six teams, Guardians, Padres, Twins, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Mariners, with full media rights. MLB took over these rights beginning in the 2024 season after its regional sports networks were absorbed. ESPN Radio will continue its coverage of “Sunday Night Baseball” and the World Series. NBC/Peacock NBC has officially completed its quest to conquer the Sports Day on Sunday. NBC now hosts the contracts of “Sunday Night Football”, “Sunday Night Basketball”, and now “Sunday Night Baseball”. NBC confirmed to The Athletic that the NFL and NBA will receive priority, and when those games are on, MLB games will be featured on Peacock. All MLB games on NBC will also be simulcast on Peacock for those without cable. NBC’s first game will take place on the second night of the MLB season from Chavez Ravine as the World Champion Dodgers will hoist their second consecutive banner before taking on the division rival Diamondbacks. The Wild Card round of the postseason will also be featured on NBC, after previously being on ESPN. Peacock will also feature Sunday morning games, which it did prior to the 2024 season, when Roku took over the contract. Netflix Netflix will be getting specialty games and events as part of its first contract with MLB. The 2025 season will open on Netflix with “MLB Opening Night” from the Bay Area, featuring the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. Netflix will also receive the “Field of Dreams” game, making a return for the first time since 2022, featuring the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins. The Home Run Derby will also make the transition to Netflix, which should be a nice change of pace from ESPN. Long-term Impact on Baseball The new media deal will be one of the biggest broadcast restructuring deals in MLB history, with a long-term impact. Commissioner Manfred has been very open about wanting to absorb the media rights deals of every team in the league. With ESPN taking over the six teams under MLB control, that is the first step towards achieving that goal. ESPN hosting these contracts is a pilot for things to come, and could be a good thing for smaller markets. Using a major platform like ESPN, which already has a following and its own promotion, will allow MLB to see how this works and potentially allow smaller-market teams to earn more revenue from this TV rights deal. Currently, the small-market teams don’t earn much from their TV rights deals because they don’t own them, as the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Mets, among others, do. The teams that own their RSNs get the direct revenue from viewership and subscriptions, while the small-market teams have to pay out and get very little revenue back. Manfred’s plan to move away from the RSNs entirely and host the new TV deals on a platform like ESPN would eliminate this disparity, and it would be the first step.

Left-hander Framber Valdez is exploring free agency for the first time in his career. Valdez is one of the best starters on the free agent market, but he won’t come without some concerns for those who sign him. Valdez's Career Thus Far Valdez debuted for the Astros in 2018 and quickly developed into one of Houston’s most dependable arms. A classic big-game pitcher during the Astros’ run of American League dominance, Valdez has been no stranger to the postseason spotlight — although his playoff results have been uneven compared to his regular-season success. From 2022 to 2024, he was one of the more consistent starters in baseball, posting a 3.28 FIP, holding opponents to a .286 wOBA, and allowing just a .290 xwOBA, showcasing his ability to limit hard contact while generating elite ground-ball rates, peaking with a 70.4% groundball rate in 2021. During that stretch, he logged back-to-back 180+ inning seasons and continued to anchor Houston’s rotation with his sinker/curveball-heavy arsenal. However, Valdez has been on a downward trend recently, and 2025 marked his worst season since 2021. His command wavered, his walk rate ticked up, and hitters squared him up more often. Valdez finished the year with a 4.12 FIP, a sharp jump from his peak form, while opponents posted a .324 wOBA against him. Even more concerning, his .338 xwOBA allowed indicated that the contact quality he surrendered was even worse than the surface results suggested. The sinker wasn’t generating the same depth, his curveball lacked its usual bite, and his overall groundball rate (59.4%) dipped to its lowest point in four seasons. Valdez also has on-field controversy surrounding him, which was highlighted during a game this season. With the bases loaded and two outs against the Yankees in September, Valdez was struggling in the start. Trent Grisham stepped up to the plate, and the catcher, Cesar Salazar, tried to get Valdez to step off the mound for a talk. Valdez did not listen, and he gave up a back-breaking grand slam. On the next pitch, Valdez crossed up his catcher, creating confusion. While the two reconciled after the game and blamed the incident on PitchCom confusion, the tension in the moment was obvious. Valdez Contract Projections Valdez is the top left-hander on the market, and ESPN projected him to earn a contract of 6 years and approximately $168 million, or roughly $28 million per year. When it comes to possible landing spots, several clubs appear poised to pursue Valdez. The main teams that seem to be involved for Valdez’s services include the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Mets, Orioles, and Cubs. Valdez's contract will likely be limited by his age. He is turning 32 years old later this month, and his turn downward in 2025 could be a concern for interested teams. Of those teams, I see the Blue Jays as the best fit. Adding a lefty to the Toronto rotation should be a goal for the Jays, and Valdez is the best one on the market. Valdez has experience pitching in the American League and against the AL East teams in the biggest spots. Toronto’s biggest need this offseason is a starter, and Valdez seems like the perfect fit, especially with the great Toronto defense behind him.

Right-hander Michael King is set to hit free agency following an injury-riddled season with the Padres. When healthy, King has proven to be one of the better starters in baseball, but throughout his career, King has struggled to stay on the field. King's Career Thus Far Michael King debuted for the Yankees in 2019, appearing in just one game before becoming a regular contributor in 2020. He began his career as a reliever, developing into one of the most consistent bullpen arms in baseball thanks to his elite command and ability to miss bats. In 2022 and 2023, King posted a sub-3.00 FIP with a strikeout rate north of 30% and a walk rate under 7%, placing him among the league’s most efficient multi-inning relievers. Toward the end of the 2023 season, the Yankees transitioned King into the rotation, and he thrived. King generated a 2.45 FIP, 29% strikeout rate, and 6% walk rate across 40 1/3 innings. His pitch mix, highlighted by a heavy 95-mph sinker, a sharp sweeping slider, and a high-spin four-seam fastball, his stuff translated seamlessly to the rotation, with his changeup and curveball providing additional weapons against left-handed hitters. King was traded to the Padres in December 2023 as a key piece of the Juan Soto trade. In his first full season as a starter, King made 30 starts and established himself as a legitimate frontline arm, posting a FIP around 3.10, a strikeout rate of 28%, and a WHIP near 1.10 over 173 innings. After an uneven start, he settled into form, limiting barrels and ranking among National League leaders in ground-ball rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio. King’s 2025 season, however, was disrupted by injuries, including a shoulder impingement and left knee inflammation; he was restricted to just 15 starts. Even so, King maintained strong underlying metrics, including a 3.60 FIP, 26% strikeout rate, and 7% walk rate over 73 innings. Contract Projections & Team Fit King enters free agency as one of the more intriguing arms on the market. Contract projections vary widely: some insiders expect King to command a three- or four-year deal in the $55–60 million range (around $18–20 million annually), while others believe a four-year pact worth closer to $100 million is possible if bidding intensifies. Several teams have already been connected to King’s market. The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are both searching for mid-rotation stability and could view King as a lower-cost alternative to the top-tier arms. King is particularly intriguing for the Red Sox because of how he might pitch in Fenway Park. As a right-hander who induces a high number of ground balls and limits hard contact to left-handed hitters, King’s arsenal would play perfectly in Boston’s home environment, where the short left-field wall can be punishing to fly-ball pitchers. His sinker-slider combination would help neutralize pull-heavy lefties and keep the ball on the ground. Many of the same things could be said for the Cubs and Wrigley Field; with notoriously-volatile park conditions so unpredictable, and the Cubs offering solid infield defense, King could be a fit on the North Side of Chicago.