We're still about three months away from regular season baseball as the Philadelphia Phillies' offseason drags on. Despite the recent excitement from the new Bo Bichette rumors and revelations, fans will be clamoring for games to be back at Citizens Bank Ballpark and on their TVs, laptops, and other streaming devices.
We got one step closer to real baseball on Friday when MLB and NBC released the schedule for 2026 Sunday Night Baseball. This drop comes on the heels of the Phillies releasing their start times for the regular season over the holidays.
Phillies' Sunday Night Baseball games on NBC aren't all scheduled for 'night time'
The Phillies have four games (all at home!) as part of the Sunday Night Baseball schedule at this point, although there's always a chance that others get flexed into the prime-time slot during the season. We get the usual NL East rivalry games with the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves, along with a showdown with the New York Yankees.
However, the schedule comes with an oddity, as one of those "prime-time" games is set for a 3 p.m. ET start time, weirdly enough. Here's the Phillies' full Sunday Night Baseball schedule on NBC/Peacock:
- April 19: Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7 p.m. ET, Peacock
- June 21: New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 7 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
- July 26: New York Yankees at Philadelphia Phillies, 7 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
- Sept. 6: Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 3 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
The reason for that strange mid-afternoon start time against the division rival Braves on Sept. 6? It's a Sunday Night Baseball doubleheader with the Phillies and Braves taking the early slot, with the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals in the evening window.
With four Sunday Night Baseball appearances, the Phillies avoided being scheduled for an early Sunday game as part of the MLB Sunday Leadoff package, with a lot of those games airing on Peacock around noon. Phew, dodged that one.
In case you missed it earlier in the offseason, this is the first time in 25 years that NBC will be handling national MLB coverage, as part of the new media rights deals the league worked out with various providers. Phillies fans are already used to most of their games being aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia, and while we don't know if fan favorite Tom McCarthy will be involved in the national broadcasts in any way, we can always hope.
Can you feel it? The baseball season is almost here.