Four-Time All-Star OF Hunter Pence and Nine-Year MLB Infielder Lou Merloni Join Jason Benetti in Booth for Giants-Red Sox on Afternoon Edition of Sunday Night Baseball at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
Ahmed Fareed Hosts Sunday Night Baseball Pregame with 2016 World Series Champion and Four-Time Gold Glove First Baseman Anthony Rizzo, who will also Provide “Inside the Pitch” Commentary from Batter’s Perspective
Three-Time All-Star OF Corbin Carroll and Two-Time All-Star SS Elly De La Cruz Headline Reds-Diamondbacks on MLB Sunday Leadoff at 4 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN
Dave Flemming to Call MLB Sunday Leadoff Alongside Five-Time All-Star OF Luis Gonzalez and All-Star Pitcher Jeff Brantley; Caroline Pineda Serves as Sideline Reporter
Peacock “Game of the Day” Features One Out-of-Market Game Streamed Nationally Each Day – Yankees-Orioles, Tonight at 6:35 p.m. ET
STAMFORD, Conn. – Aug. 18, 2026 – NBC Sports presents a pair of afternoon MLB games this Sunday, Aug. 23, featuring Rafael Devers returning to Fenway Park to face his former club as Willson Contreras and the Boston Red Sox host Devers and the San Francisco Giants in an afternoon edition of Sunday Night Baseball at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. At 4 p.m. ET on MLB Sunday Leadoff, three-time All-Star Corbin Carroll and the Arizona Diamondbacks face two-time All-Star Elly De La Cruz and the Cincinnati Reds on Peacock and NBCSN.
SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL: GIANTS-RED SOX (3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock)
Four-time All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras and the Boston Red Sox host the San Francisco Giants and three-time All-Star third baseman Rafael Devers, who returns to Fenway Park for the first time in a series against his former club, this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Four-time All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence and former Red Sox infielder Lou Merloni will join play-by-play voice Jason Benetti to call Giants-Red Sox.
Ahmed Fareed will host the pregame show alongside Anthony Rizzo, who will also provide “Inside the Pitch” commentary from the batter’s perspective during the game.
The Red Sox are 67-58 and currently hold the American League’s second Wild Card berth. Boston ranks among the AL leaders in batting average (.249 - 2nd), quality starts (52 – T-2nd), and ERA (3.50 – 2nd). Contreras paces the club with a .924 OPS (2nd in the AL), .533 slugging percentage (4th in the AL), 73 RBI (T-8th in the AL), and 25 home runs (T-9th in the AL). Devers leads the Giants’ offense and is tied for third in the National League with 30 doubles and 10th with 25 home runs. San Francisco’s right fielder Jung Hoo Lee is batting .292 this season, the eighth-best mark in the NL.
Merloni, who made his MLB debut in 1998, spent 5+ seasons with the Red Sox before stops with the Padres, Cleveland, and the Angels. In his first at-bat at Fenway Park on May 15, 1998, Merloni hit a three-run home run off Royals All-Star Jose Rosado. The former infielder finished his career with a .271 batting average, 294 hits, 67 doubles, and 125 RBI. Since 2023, Merloni has served as an analyst for Red Sox games on the New England Sports Network (NESN). Merloni will make his third Sunday Night Baseball appearance of the season this weekend (Rangers-Red Sox on June 14 and Red Sox-Dodgers on Aug. 2).
A four-time All-Star, Pence made his Major League debut with the Houston Astros in 2007 and went on to play for the Philadelphia Phillies (2011-2012), San Francisco Giants (2012-2018, 2020), and the Texas Rangers (2019). The former outfielder won two World Series rings with San Francisco in 2012 and 2014, and posted a .254 batting average, 23 runs scored, 43 hits, and 17 RBI during four postseasons. Pence joined the Giants’ television booth in 2021, serving as an in-game analyst on NBC Sports Bay Area during select road contests. This weekend marks Pence’s second Sunday Night Baseball broadcast this season, following Giants-Cubs on June 7.
A three-time MLB All-Star and four-time Gold Glove-winning first baseman, Rizzo caught the final out of the 2016 World Series for the Chicago Cubs, breaking the team’s 108-year championship drought. In 2016, Rizzo set a career high in RBI (109), was awarded a Gold Glove, earned a Silver Slugger, and won the Platinum Glove as the NL’s best overall defensive player. Over 14 seasons with the Padres, Cubs, and Yankees, the lefty slugger hit 303 home runs and had four seasons with at least 100 RBI. Rizzo will serve as an analyst for NBC Sports’ MLB coverage throughout the regular season and its exclusive MLB Postseason coverage of all Wild Card games on NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN. Rizzo will make his 11th Sunday Night Baseball appearance of the season this weekend.
MLB SUNDAY LEADOFF: REDS-DIAMONDBACKS (4 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN)
Three-time All-Star outfielder Corbin Carroll and the Arizona Diamondbacks host two-time All-Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz and the Baltimore Orioles at Chase Field this Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN. Play-by-play voice Dave Flemming will call Reds-Diamondbacks on MLB Sunday Leadoff alongside five-time All-Star outfielder Luis Gonzalez, 1990 NL All-Star pitcher Jeff Brantley, and reporter Caroline Pineda.
The Diamondbacks, 66-60, are only one game behind the San Diego Padres for second place in the NL West and the third National League Wild Card berth. Carroll leads MLB with 15 triples, while second baseman Ketel Marte paces Arizona in hits (117), home runs (21), and RBI (67). Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno is tied for third in the NL with a .384 on-base percentage and ranks fourth with a .307 batting average. The Reds are tied for third in the NL with 163 home runs, powered by first baseman Sal Stewart, who leads Cincinnati with 26 homers and is tied for second in MLB with 91 RBI. De La Cruz paces the club in batting average (.261), triples (five), and is tied with Stewart for the team lead in runs scored (69).
Gonzalez, a five-time All-Star, began his 19-year MLB career with the Astros before making stops with the Cubs, Tigers, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Marlins. The outfielder finished his career with 2,591 hits, 354 home runs, 1,439 RBI, and a .283 batting average. During the Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series run, he finished the season as a Silver Slugger after batting .325 with 198 hits and a career-high 57 home runs and 142 RBI. Gonzalez was the hero in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, hitting the walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera to secure the championship for the Diamondbacks.
Brantley began his 14-year MLB career with the Giants in 1988, before pitching for the Reds, Cardinals, Phillies, and Rangers. He was named an NL All-Star with San Francisco in 1990, posting a 1.56 ERA with five wins, 19 saves, and 61 strikeouts across 55 appearances and 86.2 innings pitched. In 1996, Brantley was named the NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year after leading the National League with 44 saves — still the Reds’ single-season record. He retired with 172 saves and a 3.39 ERA, playing in 615 games. Brantley joined the Reds television and radio broadcast team in 2006, where he serves as color commentator on REDS.TV and 700 WLW-AM.
Pineda serves as a reporter on this week’s edition of MLB Sunday Leadoff. Pineda has been a reporter with NBC Sports since 2022, covering college football, basketball, the Olympics, and MLB.
Major League Baseball and NBC Sports announced the debut of Road to the Show, a new five-episode documentary series providing unprecedented access to six of baseball’s brightest young stars as they navigate the path to professional baseball’s biggest stage. All five episodes are available now on Peacock.
Produced by MLB Network and narrated by baseball content creator and YouTuber Dan Sarmiento (DSARM), Road to the Show features some of the game’s most exciting young talent, including Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox), Gage Wood (Philadelphia Phillies/Reading Fightin’ Phils-AA), Jesús Made (Milwaukee Brewers/Biloxi Shuckers-AA), the No. 1 overall prospect, and Ethan Holliday (Colorado Rockies/Fresno Grizzlies Single-A), alongside 2026 first-round picks Roch Cholowsky (White Sox) and Justin Lebron (Reds).
Peacock offers a dedicated MLB Hub, a one-stop destination for fans to access live games, team hubs, and highlights. This season, baseball fans can enjoy popular Peacock features, such as Catch up with Key Plays, if they are tuning in late; Live in Browse, which displays the live game on the Peacock home page for instant context about the matchup and allows viewers to immediately join the live game presentation; and MLB Live Picks, a mobile mini-game for fans to predict the winners.
In partnership with Telemundo and Universo, Peacock will provide extensive Spanish-language coverage.
Peacock “Game of the Day” (Aug. 18 – Aug. 26)
One out-of-market game will be streamed nationally* on Peacock nearly every day of the season. Tonight, five-time All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso and Baltimore Orioles host 2026 All-Star first baseman Ben Rice and the AL East rival New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. ET on Peacock.
| Date | Time (ET) | Game |
| Tues., Aug. 18 | 6:35 p.m. | New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles |
| Wed., Aug. 19 | 2:20 p.m. | Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs |
| Thurs., Aug. 20 | 1:10 p.m. | Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays |
| Fri., Aug. 21 | 6:40 p.m. | St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies |
| Fri., Aug. 21 | 10:10 p.m. | Pittsburgh Pirates at Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Sun., Aug. 23 | 1:35 p.m. | Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees |
| Tues., Aug. 25 | 9:40 p.m. | Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks |
| Wed., Aug. 26 | 6:40 p.m. | Boston Red Sox at Miami Marlins |
| Wed., Aug. 26 | 9:05 p.m. | Minnesota Twins at Athletics |
(*Note: The Peacock “Game of the Day” will not be available in the competing team markets, where it will be presented by the local rightsholder)
National Baseball Hall of Famer CC Sabathia and Ahmed Fareed star in NBC Sports’ new weekly digital video series, MLB According to CC. On each episode, Sabathia and Fareed will discuss big-picture storylines and spotlight the week’s most exciting and intriguing events around baseball. Among the unique segments featured in the series: “CC’s Clubhouse” will highlight anecdotes from his playing days, while “Show Me Something” will preview MLB’s weekend slate of games and highlight key players across the league. The show’s “newstalgia” storytelling will bridge legends of baseball’s past with today’s rising stars.
New episodes are available to stream every Wednesday on the Peacock MLB Hub, NBC Sports YouTube Channel, NBCSports.com, and all major podcast platforms.
NBC SPORTS’ MLB TRADITION
NBC Sports has a distinguished history with Major League Baseball. The first-ever MLB television broadcast was a 1939 Cincinnati Reds-Brooklyn Dodgers doubleheader on W2XBS (the precursor to WNBC-TV) in New York. NBC Sports was a home to the first World Series broadcast in 1947, the first All-Star Game nationally broadcast in 1952, and has televised 39 World Series – more than any other network.
From 1957-2000, NBC Sports was home to a wealth of baseball programming, including Game of the Week and Monday Night Baseball telecasts, more than 30 All-Star Games, and countless iconic Postseason moments. For the 2022-23 seasons, Peacock was the exclusive home of MLB Sunday Leadoff, a first-of-its-kind Sunday morning presentation featuring a unique three-announcer broadcast booth with one analyst with expertise on each team joining the play-by-play voice.
--NBC SPORTS--
