Watch NOW: White Sox-Red Sox on Peacock and NBC
Late-morning baseball isn’t just for Patriots’ Day anymore.
Sunday’s White Sox-Red Sox game at Fenway Park is LIVE right now, kicking off the new 18-week MLB Sunday Leadoff package on Peacock and NBC.
The MLB Sunday Leadoff debut is being streamed on Peacock and broadcast live on NBC Network (where you can watch the game free), while the rest of the package will stream exclusively on Peacock throughout the season. For a guide on how to access baseball games on Peacock, see below:
Unlike other national broadcasts, MLB Sunday Leadoff features a unique booth anchored by White Sox play-by-play voice Jason Benetti. Each week, he'll be joined by a pair of local analysts from the participating teams, adding a local feel for fans of both clubs.
“It's going to be a hyper-local telecast with a national flair,” said Sam Flood, the broadcast’s executive producer and president of NBC Sports production. “We do think it’s an advantage to the fans being able to have some familiarity yet get some fresh data and intel that they wouldn’t normally have, so it would be a little bit different than a home telecast that’s looking at the game through a particular lens. This lens is going to look at both teams with Jason in the middle trying to work through why a pitching staff is struggling, why they might not have availability at the back end of the bullpen, because that analyst has been with that team.”
This week’s game features NBC Sports Chicago White Sox analyst Steve Stone and NESN Red Sox analyst Kevin Youkilis in the booth with Benetti.
“The greatest joy of calling games is knowing that every game you do is different depending on what analyst you work with,” Benetti said. “The insights that we get from every individual analyst around sports are unique and different depending on their background, how they see the game and everything that goes along with their prism that they see baseball through. To see the game with two analysts who are so engaged with the clubhouse and so understanding of what's going on on a day to day basis or week to week basis is a beautiful thing.”
NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed hosted a 30-minute pregame show with Nick Swisher, who will be part of a rotating group of analysts. Rob Friedman, aka @PitchingNinja on Twitter, also joined the pregame show to provide pitching breakdowns.
Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully, who served as NBC Sports’ lead baseball broadcaster from 1983-89, voiced the MLB Sunday Leadoff open this week.
“We couldn't be more excited about being back in baseball,” Flood said. “It was at the root of everything NBC Sports did from its inception, and to be out of the sport since 2000 was a long run, but we're back in now and can't wait to engage and have fun with it.”
The first six games on MLB Sunday Leadoff will begin at 11:30 a.m. ET, while the following 12 games will start at 12:00 p.m. Each game will feature NBC Sports-produced pregame and post-game shows on Peacock, which will be the exclusive home of live MLB action each Sunday until 1:30 p.m. ET, when the remainder of the day’s schedule will begin.
Peacock will also be the exclusive home of the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, which will be played at Dodger Stadium in July as part of All-Star Week.