Major League Baseball on Wednesday announced start times for its entire 2026 calendar of games, including the regular season, Spring Training and the third annual Spring Breakout.
The 2026 Spring Training slate will officially begin on Friday, February 20th in Arizona and Florida before a full schedule of Cactus and Grapefruit League games are played on Saturday, February 21. Friday’s slate features four Cactus League contests (AZ @ COL; SD @ SEA; KC @ TEX; CWS @ CHC), one Grapefruit League game (NYY @ BAL), and two exhibition matchups (Northeastern Univ. @ BOS; Univ. of Minnesota @ MIN).
The third annual Spring Breakout will be played from Thursday, March 19th through Sunday, March 22, showcasing baseball’s future stars as Clubs assemble their top prospects to play in exhibition games against one another. Spring Breakout will begin with six contests on March 19, headlined by a matchup of top-10 farm systems according to MLB Pipeline as the seventh-ranked Mets prospects host the 10th-ranked Rays prospects in Port St. Lucie, Florida at 7:10 p.m. (ET).
The Spring Training schedule also includes a total of 30 exhibition games on Tuesday, March 3, and Wednesday, March 4, featuring Major League Clubs competing against World Baseball Classic National Teams prior to the scheduled North American start to the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Friday, March 6th in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Houston, Texas; and Miami, Florida. Among the exhibition games are a pair of contests between the Detroit Tigers and the Dominican Republic National Team at Santo Domingo’s Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal at 6:05 p.m. (ET)/7:05 p.m. (AST) on Tuesday and 2:05 p.m. (ET)/3:05 p.m. (AST) on Wednesday. The event will mark the first time ever that the DR National Team will host a Major League Club for exhibition games in the country. Additionally, the games will be played in memory of the victims of the April 8, 2025 tragedy at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo with MLB and UEPA donating to Cruz Roja Dominicana (i.e., the Dominican Red Cross) as part of the event.
The San Francisco Giants will host the New York Yankees on Opening Night on Wednesday, March 25, at 8:05 p.m. (ET)/5:05 p.m. (PT), exclusively on Netflix. Traditional Opening Day on Thursday, March 26 will feature 11 contests, highlighted by a pair of games on NBC and Peacock as the Pittsburgh Pirates visit the New York Mets at 1:15 p.m. (ET), and the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks at 8:30 p.m. (ET)/5:30 p.m. (PT). MLB Network will have extensive coverage of Opening Day on Thursday, March 26, including the returns of MLB Central and the Emmy Award-winning MLB Tonight, featuring live look-ins at games in progress, highlights and analysis.
MLB’s Mexico City Series will return in 2026, featuring two games between the D-backs and San Diego Padres on Saturday, April 25th at 4:05 p.m. (MT)/3:05 p.m. (PT) and Sunday, April 26, at 2:05 p.m. (MT)/1:05 p.m. (PT). The contests at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú Béisbol, which will be the latest installment of MLB’s WORLD TOUR, will mark the third regular season visit by MLB to Mexico City’s capital (also 2023 and 2024).
“Rivalry Weekend” presented by Booking.com across the Majors will return during the weekend of May 15-17, featuring 11 series between prime Interleague rivals and four other regional matchups. In 2026, each of the 30 Clubs will host the same Interleague opponents as they hosted in 2024. “Rivalry Weekend” games will start with matchups between the Keystone State’s Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies in Pittsburgh, and the American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays visiting the Tigers, with both contests beginning at 6:40 p.m. (ET).
The 96th All-Star Game presented by Mastercard will take place on Tuesday, July 14, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on FOX for the celebration of the semiquincentennial of American independence. The Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia follows suit from 1976, when Veterans Stadium hosted the All-Star Game in the year of the nation’s bicentennial. The 2026 All-Star Game will mark the first at Citizens Bank Park, the fifth overall to be hosted by the City of Philadelphia, and the fourth to be hosted by the Phillies. All-Star Week will also include coverage of the MLB Draft on NBC, Peacock and MLB Network on Saturday, July 11; the All-Star Futures Game on NBC and Peacock at noon (ET) on Sunday, July 12; and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on Netflix on Monday, July 13.
In August, MLB will stage two of its signature games of the 2026 regular season, featuring a return to Dyersville, Iowa for the third edition of “MLB at Field of Dreams,” and the continuation of an annual tradition in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the “MLB Little League Classic presented by New York Life.” The Field of Dreams contest, which follows the 2021 and 2022 renditions of the event, will feature the Minnesota Twins and the Phillies on Thursday, August 13, at 7:30 p.m. (ET)/6:30 p.m. (CT) on Netflix. The Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves will participate in the Little League Classic on Sunday, August 23rd at 7:10 p.m. (ET)/6:10 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.
The final day of the 2026 regular season will be Sunday, September 27, featuring nine divisional matchups, and with all 15 contests starting between 3:00-3:20 p.m. (ET).
Other highlights of the 2026 calendar include:
