The Red Sox’s Opening Day victory marked the beginning of NESN’s broadcast of 145 games this season.
For Red Sox fans keen on watching as many of the team’s 162 regular-season games as possible, accessing NESN is straightforward.
However, locating the remaining 17 games might prove challenging, particularly without awareness of the Major League Baseball broadcast and streaming rights agreement.
NBCUniversal’s Return to MLB Broadcasting
NBCUniversal, encompassing NBC and its streaming service Peacock, is making a return to MLB as a primary partner. This marks their first involvement since relinquishing the rights in 2000.
NBC previously featured “Sunday Leadoff” games on Peacock in 2022-23, which now seems like preparation for a more comprehensive role.
NBC has a strong history with baseball, having televised 39 World Series, more than any other network.
NBC is assuming the prime-time Sunday night slot from ESPN. The Red Sox are scheduled for three Sunday night games on NBC: June 14 against the Rangers, June 28 against the Yankees, and August 2 against the Dodgers. A game against the Giants on Sunday, August 23 will be available on NBC and Peacock, which already has a Sunday night game on July 5 versus the Angels.
Broadcast Team for Sunday Night Games
Jason Benetti will be the play-by-play voice for the Sunday night broadcasts. The colour analyst roles will be filled by broadcasters from each of the two competing teams. For the Diamondbacks-Dodgers opener, Luis Gonzalez and Orel Hershiser will join Benetti. NBC Sports executives found this approach successful during “Sunday Leadoff” games.
Benetti, who also called those games, spoke about working with different broadcasters each Sunday.
“The point is to see the people for who they are and what their strengths are and for what they do best,” said Benetti.
Netflix’s Entry into MLB Broadcasting
Netflix commenced the MLB season with a Giants-Yankees prime-time game. However, the broadcast was criticised for several reasons, including the involvement of Barry Bonds as an analyst and comedian Bert Kreischer’s commentary.
Additionally, the scorebug featured players’ names in a small font.
Fortunately, Netflix will not be broadcasting any Red Sox games this season.
With numerous networks and streamers involved, keeping track of where to watch the Red Sox may require some effort.