Major League Baseball is working toward a deal that would move Padres games to ESPN for three seasons beginning in 2026, a league source confirmed for the Union-Tribune. The Athletic first reported on negotiations that would shift the full rights that MLB has for five teams— the Padres,

How to watch the MLB game between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as first-pitch time and team news.

Expert recap and game analysis of the San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants MLB game from 21 August 2025 on ESPN (IN).

The league struck a deal with ESPN and NBC. Per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, MLB.TV will now be part of the new ESPN Unlimited direct-to-consumer platform, and the company would have "the exclusive rights to sell all out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs over the next three years."

When the work was finished, and five trades involving 22 players had been executed within six hours, A.J. Preller's peers called him everything from a "lunatic" to a "genius," a divergence befitting Major League Baseball's most polarizing executive.

Major League Baseball and ESPN have reached a preliminary agreement that would allow the Worldwide Leader in Sports “the exclusive rights to sell all out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs over the next three years,” The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported.

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The Padres’ losing streak reached four games in part as a result of the play reversal. San Diego dropped to two games out of first place.

The Dodgers, leaning on contributions from those who had been struggling, including the bullpen, completed a three-game sweep of the rival Padres on Sunday to regain control of the NL West.

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