Tigers Success Brings Boon of Significant National Television Exposure
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The Detroit Tigers have been a playoff team each of the last two seasons. With that, comes the spoils of national television appearances.
Major League Baseball has four national TV deals with ESPN, Fox, NBC/Peacock and TBS. There is an additional deal with Netflix which is more limited. But this week both Fox and TBS announced their schedules for 2026.
Detroit Tigers 2026 Games on National TV
Fox will spotlight the Detroit Tigers eight times in 2026, either on Fox or on FS1. The full schedule includes:
April 8: at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m., FS1
April 25: at Cincinnati, 7 p.m., Fox
May 2: vs. Texas, 7 p.m., Fox
May 18: vs. Cleveland, 6:30 p.m., FS1
Aug. 8: at San Francisco, 7 p.m., Fox
Aug. 22: at Kansas City, 7 p.m., Fox
Aug. 24: vs. Tampa Bay, 6:30 p.m., FS1
Sept. 5: at Cleveland, 7 p.m., Fox
TBS has a weekly package of Tuesday night games and has only announced the first half of its season schedule. Detroit will make four appearances on TBS in the first half of the season, starting with an April 28 trip to Atlanta at 7 p.m. The other games include May 12 at the New York Mets at 7 p.m., June 16 at Houston at 8 p.m. and June 30 at the New York Yankees at 7 p.m.
NBC and Peacock are taking over two packages held by other networks last year. NBC is getting the Sunday Night package that ESPN held for decades. Peacock will be the exclusive streaming home of the Sunday Leadoff game. The Tigers won’t appear on the streaming package but will appear on Sunday Night three times, but all three games will only be on Peacock
The first game is on April 5 at home against St. Louis at 7 p.m., followed by May 3 at home against Texas at 7 p.m. and May 10 at Kansas City at 7 p.m.
ESPN will have a package of 30 national games this season, but the Tigers have not been announced as part of the package’s original offerings. Only a handful have been announced. Detroit is not scheduled to appear on Netflix.
The Tigers are coming off a second straight season in which it was eliminated in the American League Division Series, this time to the Seattle Mariners. Detroit’s offseason moves have largely been confined to bolstering the bullpen, where they re-signed Kyle Finnegan and signed Kenley Jansen, giving them three relievers with 20 or more saves last season.
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Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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