NBC Sports prepares for MLB return with new booth format, analyst approach

NBC Sports is set to broadcast Major League Baseball for the first time since the 1990s, launching its coverage with a day/night doubleheader on Thursday, March 26. The first game takes place at Citi Field in New York, followed by a primetime game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Jason Benetti, who recently departed Fox Sports, will serve as the primary play-by-play announcer for “Sunday Night Baseball” on NBC and Peacock.

Sam Flood, executive producer and president of production at NBC Sports, said the network began planning the baseball rollout midway through the NFL season, tapping Rob Hyland, who oversaw “Sunday Night Football” production for the past four years, to lead the effort alongside producer Matt Borzello.

NBC Sports outlines 2026 MLB coverage with ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ launch, Peacock hub

“We put elite hands on deck to make this happen and work as a team,” Flood said during a media call ahead of the season.

The broadcast will use a booth structure that places one analyst representing each competing team alongside Benetti for every game. Flood said the format, which NBC first used during its Peacock Leadoff games in 2022, is designed to give viewers access to team-specific knowledge that goes beyond publicly available information.

“The biggest complaint you hear during the postseason in baseball is, I can’t hear my people,” Flood said. “We’re going to have one person that’s authentic to that team calling games through the season.”

Benetti drew a comparison to a dinner party scenario to describe the appeal of the rotating lineup.

“Thursday, Orel Hershiser and Luis Gonzalez,” he said. “I don’t know how many people across the country have ever heard a conversation involving the two of them at the same time.”

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NBC Sports also introduced a new in-game feature called “Inside the Pitch,” in which a former pitcher walks viewers through how they would approach a specific at-bat against the batter currently in the box. Adam Ottavino, who retired after a 15-year MLB career, and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will fill that role for the first two broadcasts.

Flood described it as a complement to existing elements on other NBC Sports properties.

“We’re looking at this a little bit like ‘Inside the Glass’ for the NHL and ‘On the Bench’ in the NBA,” he said. “Just a new perspective and a new way to attack it.”

Ottavino said his goal is to bridge the analytical and visual sides of the game for viewers.

“I’m looking to do a really good job of bringing complicated concepts and making them easy for the viewers to understand and give them a little bit more insight to how we think about the game within the game,” he said.

Benetti said the segment addresses something central to how baseball is currently played.

“It’s a pitcher’s job through tunneling, through sequencing, through decisions of pitch types, to befuddle a hitter and try to avoid contact,” he said. “To have a pitcher be able to break down how we can avoid a baseball bat and make it cool to get swings and misses — that’s the essence of the game in some ways right now.”

Flood said Ottavino will be positioned at a specific location during broadcasts, but the network was not yet ready to disclose where. He compared the access negotiations to those the network undertook before introducing “On the Bench” in NBA coverage last fall.

Peacock and NBC to maintain a consistent production standard

NBC Sports holds rights to broadcast games on both NBC and Peacock. Flood said the production team will apply the same standards to both platforms.

“We believe if we’re producing it, we have one standard,” he said. “Work to put the best possible product on the air, tell great stories and engage at a really high level.”

Similar to “SNF,” “Sunday Night Baseball” will feature a musical open that sets the stage for each broadcast. 

“It feels big,” he said. “And it feels like it belongs on Sunday night on NBC.”

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NBC Sports also confirmed it has agreed to terms with a second play-by-play announcer for “Peacock Leadoff” games when Benetti is unavailable, but said it was not yet ready to announce the hire.