MLB on FS1


MLB on FS1 is the de facto title for the presentation of Major League Baseball games produced by Fox Sports for Fox Sports 1. FS1 airs 40 regular season MLB games, along with post-season games from the Division Series and League Championship Series and the World Baseball Classic.

Business history

On September 19, 2012, Sports Business Daily reported that Major League Baseball would agree to separate eight-year television deals with Fox Sports and Turner Sports through the 2021 season. Fox would reportedly pay around $4 billion over eight years, while Turner would pay around $2.8 billion over eight years. Under the new deals, Fox and TBS' coverage would essentially be the same as in the 2007–2013 contract with the exception of Fox and TBS splitting coverage of the Division Series, which TBS has broadcast exclusively dating back to 2007. More importantly, Fox would carry some of the games on its new general sports channel, Fox Sports 1, which launched on August 17, 2013. Sources also said it was possible that Fox would sell some League Division Series games to MLB Network.
On October 2, 2012, the new deal between Major League Baseball and Fox was officially confirmed; it included the television rights to 12 Saturday afternoon games on Fox, 40 games on Fox Sports 1, rights to the All-Star Game, two League Division Series, one League Championship Series, and the World Series. In addition, all Fox Saturday Baseball games would be made available on MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV, Fox Sports was awarded TV Everywhere rights for streaming of game telecasts on computers, mobile and tablet devices, rights to a nightly baseball highlights show, Spanish language rights to all games carried on Fox and Fox Cable and rights to a weekly show produced by MLB Productions.
On November 15, 2018, Fox renewed its rights through 2028, maintaining its existing structure but with expanded digital rights, and a promise to begin airing more games on the Fox broadcast network. It had been criticized for airing only Game 1 of the 2019 American League Championship Series, while placing the rest on Fox Sports 1.

Scheduling history

Beginning with the 2014 television contract, FS1's regular-season telecasts are not exclusive, with the teams' local broadcasters also showing the games. As such, similar to TBS' regular season telecasts, the feeds shown on MLB.tv and MLB's social media channels don't use the FS1 broadcast but rather the local broadcasts of a featured game.
As of 2025, most FS1 games air Saturday afternoons, with additional, irregularly scheduled weeknight games. Weeknight games that have aired on FS1 include:

Monday nights

Tuesday nights

Wednesday nights

Thursday nights

Saturday afternoons

As of the 2025 season, FS1 carries a Saturday afternoon game most weeks. These games, like the weeknight games, are non-exclusive. FS1's coverage begins with the pregame show a half-hour before the game, which usually starts at 1, 4 or 10 p.m. Eastern Time. If there is a second or rarely third game on FS1, which occurs in the early season before the Fox broadcast network's exclusive Saturday evening coverage begins, a studio show is aired in between.

Postseason coverage

With FS1 taking over most MLB coverage in 2014, postseason coverage on Fox Sports' end of the package began to be split between the Fox broadcast network and FS1. The deal, which brought back Division Series baseball to Fox for the first time since 2006, put Fox's Division Series games exclusively on FS1. As part of their contract renewal before the 2019 season, Fox has agreed to air any League Championship Series Game 7 that Fox Sports has rights to on the broadcast network. Fox airs the World Series in its entirety, as has been the case every year since 2000.
For the 2020 NLCS however, while Fox aired Games 1, 4 and 7, FS1 aired every game except Game 1 as it simulcast Games 4 and 7.
For the 2021 ALCS, Fox aired Games 1 and 2 while FS1 aired Games 2–6, Game 7 would have aired on both networks had the series gone its distance. From 2022 on, Fox will air more postseason games as part of the renewal made in 2018.

Digital on-screen graphics

In 2020, Fox unveiled a new graphics package for its NFL and college football coverage starting with Super Bowl LIV. Baseball broadcasts continued using this package through the end of the 2021 regular season, as the new on-screen look is for football only. Beginning with the 2021 season, Fox and FS1 started using stylized cartoon illustrations on players rather than traditional photos, similar to those used on the network's NFL coverage since the previous year's Super Bowl.

Theme music

composed the original MLB on Fox theme music in 1996. This theme music was used exclusively from June 1996 until early May 2007. In mid-May 2007, an updated version was unveiled, featuring a more jazzy feel and implementing a full orchestra instead of the synth elements used by the 1996 theme.
Beginning with the 2010 postseason, both the 2007 theme and the Flach theme were replaced by the longtime NFL on Fox theme music, which began to be used for all Fox sporting events.
In 2014, the 2007–2010 jazz theme was brought back for regular season games on MLB on FS1. The NFL theme was retained for MLB on Fox, including Fox Saturday Baseball, Baseball Night in America, the All-Star Game and all coverage of the postseason. However, occasionally one of the two themes was heard on telecasts that were designated for the other, implying that the designations are slightly fluid.
In 2020, MLB on Fox reintroduced the original 1996–2007 theme; Fox Sports regional affiliates continued to use the 2007–2010 theme until the network was rebranded to Bally Sports in 2021. As of the 2021 season, the original theme is now used for coverage of all games across both Fox and FS1.

Ratings

The largest regular season MLB audience on FS1 is for a June 2018 game between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays. The game averaged 980,000 viewers.

Postseason