The Athletic\u2019s Evan Drellich<\/a>, fans don\u2019t need to keep the ESPN Unlimited plan to access the MLB.TV one, at least not for 2026.<\/p>\nWhat you need to watch:\u00a0MLB.TV. It\u2019s $134.99 annually for ESPN Unlimited subscribers and $149.99 for others.<\/p>\n
Rays games on national TV<\/p>\n
The national TV partners are sorted alphabetically below, with the main days for MLB action listed.<\/p>\n
ABC\/ESPN<\/p>\n
Main days: Sunday for ABC, midweek for ESPN<\/p>\n
ESPN and MLB have been tied together since the 1990 season. The stalwart is no longer home to \u201cSunday Night Baseball,\u201d but its reworked agreement gives it 30 regular-season exclusives across the 2026 schedule.<\/p>\n
Over-the-air parent network ABC also has a trio of telecasts this year as part of the 30-game purchase.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: ABC is free with an antenna. ABC and ESPN are included with most pay TV providers, and they\u2019re also available with an ESPN Unlimited subscription (starting at $29.99\/month). Some pay TV providers, like Fubo and a few others, include ESPN Unlimited with their subscription.<\/p>\n
Apple TV<\/p>\n
Main day: Friday<\/p>\n
This is home to \u201cFriday Night Baseball,\u201d which started in 2022. That weekly window is usually a doubleheader, free from local blackouts but exclusive to Apple TV.<\/p>\n
The Rays will make their season debut on the streaming service on April 17 for an interleague clash with the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: An Apple TV subscription (starting at $12.99\/month).<\/p>\n
Fox\/FS1<\/p>\n
Main days: Saturday for Fox, midweek or Saturday for FS1, All-Star Game<\/p>\n
There are 23 \u201cBaseball Night in America\u201d Saturday centerpieces lined up on Fox. The network airs two games at 7 p.m. ET and assigns markets by matchup relevance.<\/p>\n
Some Saturdays are doubleheaders with an FS1 game in the early afternoon. FS1 has an additional weekly spot falling on Mondays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. Fox and FS1 total more than 85 regular-season games this year.<\/p>\n
The Rays will appear on FS1 for the first time this season when they take on the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, May 27.<\/p>\n
Come October, Fox has the NLDS and NLCS playoff series, plus the Fall Classic itself. Joe Davis has been on the World Series call since 2022, when he took over for longtime play-by-play voice Joe Buck. John Smoltz has been the color commentator since 2016. Fox\u2019s World Series hold dates back to 2000 and runs through at least 2028.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: Fox is free with an antenna. Fox and FS1 are included with most pay TV providers, and they also stream with a Fox One subscription (starting at $19.99\/month).<\/p>\n
MLB Network<\/p>\n
Main days: Throughout the week<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s our backstop, unassuming but reliable. The \u201cMLB Network Showcase\u201d has been around since 2009. The network usually airs a couple of games each week.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: A pay TV provider with MLB Network, typically included in standard or sports plans. MLB Network also streams with an MLB.TV subscription (starting at $134.99\/year).<\/p>\n
NBC\/Peacock<\/p>\n
Main day: Sunday, Opening Day<\/p>\n
\u201cSunday Night Baseball\u201d migrates from ESPN to NBC and Peacock, as the Universal network returns to live MLB coverage for the first time in 25 years. NBC, its streamer and the linear NBC Sports Network combine for 27 prime-time games and 34 afternoon ones in 2026. Some of the Sunday nighters are exclusive to Peacock.<\/p>\n
One of Tampa\u2019s Peacock spotlights will come on July 5. The Rays have a road trip to face the Houston Astros as part of a special \u201cStar Spangled Sunday\u201d lineup.<\/p>\n
NBC\u2019s lineup launches with an Opening Day doubleheader on March 26 and concludes with the playoff wild-card series. To trumpet the return, the network has brought on some big names, including Bob Costas, Clayton Kershaw, Joey Votto and Anthony Rizzo.<\/p>\n
Peacock usually has a live game in its \u201cMLB Sunday Leadoff\u201d spot, most of them with noon local starts.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: NBC is free with an antenna, but Peacock requires a subscription (starting at $10.99\/month for live sports). NBCSN is included in select pay TV providers.<\/p>\n
Netflix<\/p>\n
Main days: Opening Night, Home Run Derby, \u201cField of Dreams\u201d<\/p>\n
Already venturing into live sports with NFL Christmas Day, Netflix has three MLB exclusives this season, starting with the 2026 opener on March 25.<\/p>\n
July 13 is the Home Run Derby, airing with All-Star festivities. Aug. 13 is the \u201cField of Dreams\u201d game, a neutral-site showcase in Iowa with the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins. The Netflix arrangement runs through 2028.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: A Netflix subscription (starting at $7.99\/month).<\/p>\n
TBS<\/p>\n
Main day: Tuesday<\/p>\n
TBS Tuesdays continue in 2026. The network\u2019s play-by-play broadcasters are Brian Anderson and Alex Faust. The studio show features Pedro Martinez, Jimmy Rollins and Curtis Granderson. TBS also has this year\u2019s ALDS and ALCS playoff rounds.<\/p>\n
What you need to watch: A pay TV provider with TBS, or an HBO Max subscription (starting at $10.99\/month).<\/p>\n
Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub<\/a>.<\/p>\nRays\u2019 all-time leaderboard
\nHits \u2014 Carl Crawford (1,480)
\nHRs \u2014 Evan Longoria (261)
\nRBIs \u2014 Evan Longoria (892)
\nWins \u2014 James Shields (87)
\nKs \u2014 James Shields (1,250)
\nSaves \u2014 Roberto Hern\u00e1ndez (101)<\/p>\n
Streaming and ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply.\u00a0The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process, and do not review stories before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Rays started the decade off with a trip to the World Series, but they finished…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,3815,137,136],"class_list":["post-205357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}