Jason Benetti is set to call baseball games on the national stage in 2026.
The 42-year-old has been hired by NBC as the lead play-by-play broadcaster for “Sunday Night Baseball,” as announced by NBC Sports on Wednesday, March 4.
The hire comes after NBC and Peacock struck a three-year media rights deal with MLB to showcase exclusive Sunday night games, replacing ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball package” after its deal with MLB expired.
Benetti – one of the best broadcasters in the industry – has been the Detroit Tigers’ TV play-by-play broadcaster since the 2024 season.
And he isn’t going anywhere.
Benetti will continue to broadcast Tigers games on the new Detroit SportsNet in the 2026 season, though he will miss all Sunday games on the Tigers’ 162-game schedule.
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During the past two seasons, Benetti missed the majority of Saturday games for the Tigers while calling baseball games and college football games on Fox, but he no longer works for Fox.
Essentially, his Sunday schedule with NBC replaces his Saturday schedule with Fox during the baseball season.
There won’t be a substantive change in Benetti’s game count with the Tigers after joining NBC for “Sunday Night Baseball.” The Tigers have allowed Benetti to miss 35 games for conflicts with national assignments, meaning he is required to broadcast a minimum of 127 games for the Tigers.
That plan remains in place.
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Although NBC is the new home for Sunday Night Baseball, the network will also provide baseball coverage led by Benetti on two non-Sundays during the regular season: Opening Day (Thursday, March 26) and Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 7). After that, NBC becomes the exclusive home of the entire wild-card round in the postseason.
In his new role, Benetti will broadcast his first game for NBC on March 26 between the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks – which means he will miss Opening Day for the Tigers, which also takes place March 26 against the San Diego Padres.
Benetti previously worked as a broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox from 2016-23, then was hired by the Tigers in November 2023.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jason Benetti hired by NBC for MLB games, remains Tigers broadcaster
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
