NBC Sports’ return to MLB postseason broadcasting opened with its largest audiences in years, as a Red Sox–Yankees wild-card game drew 7.3 million viewers and an afternoon Phillies–Braves game set a league record for daytime wild-card viewership.
Tuesday’s Game 1 of the AL wild-card series between the Red Sox and Yankees averaged 7.3 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, the most-watched Game 1 of any MLB wild-card series or Division Series on any network since Fox’s 2006 ALDS opener between the Tigers and Yankees. The game aired against the start of the 2026–27 NHL season and the WNBA playoffs. It was up 12% from last year’s comparable Red Sox–Yankees Game 1 on ESPN.
Figures for the remaining wild-card games, all exclusive to NBC platforms, are expected in the coming days. The early gains close the first year of NBC Sports’ return to baseball. The Comcast-owned network signed a three-year rights deal with MLB late last year; this week’s games were its first MLB postseason telecasts since the 2000 AL Championship Series. Coverage now shifts to Fox Sports and TNT Sports.
NBC carried over a regular-season production approach that pairs national play-by-play announcers with local, team-based color analysts.