Watching SF Giants games may be very different for out-of-market fans in 2026

The way out-of-market SF Giants fans watch games may change drastically in 2026. With MLB changing how they disseminate games, it still remains somewhat unclear what that will mean for Giants fans who do not live in the Bay Area.

Last month, it was announced that MLB.TV, the service that has typically provided out-of-market fans the ability to watch most of their favorite team's games, may potentially be subsumed by ESPN as part of a new subscription service that the company is launching.

Out-of-market SF Giants fans unsure how they will watch games in 2026

If MLB.TV or something like it does become available through ESPN only, it is unclear how that will affect existing MLB.TV subscribers. Will they have to get an ESPN subscription on top of their existing MLB.TV subscription? Will it automatically transfer over? There is still a lot we do not know about these changes.

Things should not be any different for Giants fans who live in the Bay Area and get Giants games through their cable provider. These changes are probably just going to affect fans outside of the Bay Area (like yours truly).

As part of these changes, it means no more Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and the Home Run Derby and Wild Card round will find new homes after 2025. ESPN has the rights still but they have opted out and the belief is that these things will be split up amongst other streamers.

There has already been some movement on this as it was announced that Opening Day next season, which will be a night game between the Giants and the New York Yankees, will be available to watch on Netflix.

The whole streamification of MLB games is a bit silly but that is the world we live in. Streaming has fundamentally changed the streaming landscape so it was inevitable that they were all going to want a slice of the major sports.

One just hopes that no matter how this all shakes out with out-of-market games, fans everywhere will be able to watch games called by Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper on TV or Jon Miller and Dave Flemming on the radio. Those four are the best in the game and they are a major part of the experience of being a Giants fan so let's hope these changes do not make it harder for us out-of-market Giants fans to hear our favorite announcers.

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