Padres-Cubs Wild Card Series gets prime time while NBC plays favorites with Yankees-Red Sox

The Padres got the Wild Card schedule they wanted. And while we believe the West Coast is the best coast, they also got a reminder of the East Coast bias that still shapes baseball’s television priorities.

Games 1 and 2 against the Cubs will begin at 7 p.m. PT on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a possible Game 3 initially penciled into the same window. That part is nearly perfect. Petco Park gets postseason baseball under the lights. Fans have time to leave work a little early if needed, fight whatever traffic and get inside before Michael King throws the first pitch. But, then we get to the television assignment.

According to MLB’s Wild Card broadcast schedule, Yankees-Red Sox will play at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Padres-Cubs follows at 10 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.

The Friars get the night while the Yankees and Red Sox get the storefront window. 

Look, this isn’t a surprise. Yankees-Red Sox is television comfort food. The rivalry comes prepackaged with history, recognizable uniforms and enough old grudges to fill hours of content before the first pitch. Network executives barely have to finish the sentence before everyone nods.

That doesn’t make the Padres-Cubs matchup any less fascinating. San Diego has reached the postseason in three consecutive years for the first time in franchise history. The roster includes Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill. The Padres earned home-field advantage, and this series is a rematch against the team that eliminated them last October. San Diego entered the final day of the regular season with a 50-30 record at Petco Park. Those are not scraps from the playoff schedule. That’s a legit national story. Instead, Padres fans get an extra chore.

The Padres have already built a playoff product worth showcasing

The games are available nationally, so it’s not like they’re disappearing into a broadcast black hole. Fans with Peacock or a provider carrying NBCSN can watch. NBC Sports lists YouTube TV, Fubo and Xfinity among the services carrying the network.

Still, NBC is NBC. It’s the channel casual viewers already know how to find. Peacock and NBCSN require another subscription, another login or the right television package. Every additional step gives someone another reason to skip the game.

A playoff series shouldn’t send local fans digging through their subscriptions to determine whether they can watch it. But that’s just the state of streaming right now.

MLB keeps talking about expanding baseball’s reach and showcasing its stars. The Padres have stars. Baseball cannot build its next generation of marquee teams while automatically sending the same old brands to the biggest window.

Yankees-Red Sox deserves attention. Let’s make that clear. Not taking anything away from them. We know the history. Giving that matchup the NBC stage doesn’t require treating Padres-Cubs like overflow programming.

Petco Park will be packed anyway, and San Diego will have the home-field advantage it spent September chasing. The broadcast decision changes none of that. It just changes who gets invited to watch.

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