Major League Baseball released its 2025 schedule on July 18, 2024. There are 162 games scheduled for all teams. The scheduling formula was modified this season to increase the number of games between "prime" Interleague rivals from four to six, playing two three-game series instead of two two-game series. May 16–18 has also been designated as "Rivalry Weekend", featuring 11 series of these "prime" Interleague rivals.[1][4]
On September 30, 2024, Zaidi was fired after six years as the team's president of baseball operations. The same day, the Giants named former catcher Buster Posey as the new president of baseball operations.[6] On November 1, Posey hired Zack Minasian to serve as general manager.[7]
On August 8, 2024, the White Sox fired Grifol. In two seasons as manager of the White Sox, he compiled a record of 89–190 (.319) with no playoff appearances.[8]
Sizemore was named as the interim manager on the same day Grifol and bench coach Charlie Montoyo were fired. This was his first managerial position.[9]
Venable was hired on October 31. He had previously been an assistant coach for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers.[10]
On September 22, 2024, the Reds fired David Bell. During his six seasons as the Reds skipper, Bell compiled a record of 409–456 (.473) with one playoff appearance during the 2020 COVID-shortened season.
Benavides, the current bench coach, was named as the interim manager for the rest of the season. This was his first managerial position.[11]
On October 4, Francona was hired as the new manager for the Reds.[12]
On September 29, 2024, the Marlins announced that Skip Schumaker would not return as the team manager for the 2025 Season. In his two seasons as the Marlins skipper, Schumaker compiled a record of 146–178 (.451), with one playoff appearance.[13]
On November 11, McCullough was hired as the new manager for the Marlins.[14]
Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, was renamed to Daikin Park during the offseason on January 1, 2025 after Japanese air conditioning manufacturer Daikin bought the naming rights.[18]
Uniforms
Wholesale changes
The Guardians unveiled a new uniform set. The biggest change for the 2025 season will be seen in Cleveland’s blue alternative uniform set. The jersey will continue to have a navy base but will move away from "Cleveland" across the chest and instead feature the Guardians "Diamond C" logo. The Guardians red home alternative uniform will feature a new look across the chest, as the script Guardians from 2024 will change to the club’s Bridge Print font with "Guardians" across the chest. Piping on the red jersey will showcase a blue-white-blue look. Cleveland’s white home uniform will continue to carry on its primary historic look with the script "Guardians" across the chest. The logo will shift from being on a slant to horizontal. New piping will be on the jersey with a red-blue-red design on the neckline and arms. A new home hat will make its debut in 2025, solely with the white uniform set, as the main color of the hat will change to red with a blue bill. All hats will continue to feature the "Diamond C," and the club’s blue cap with red bill will be worn with all other jerseys (home red, road blue, road gray). The road uniform will stay the same.[19]
TBS will continue to broadcast Tuesday Night Baseball. Most games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing, however, TBS is allowed to co-exist once with a team's local broadcast.[24]
ESPN will continue to broadcast Sunday Night Baseball, with the option to show alternate broadcasts, along with at-least five other exclusive regular season games. For the first time since 2021, ESPN will air a doubleheader on Opening Day.[25] The network also has the rights to the Home Run Derby.[26] Select games may air on ABC and ESPN2.
MLB Network will continue to broadcast games daily. While most games will be simulcasts of the home teams' regional sports network broadcasts, select games will be produced by the network under its MLB Network Showcase banner. All games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing.[27]
Streaming
ESPN+ continues to hold the rights to stream selected games. These games will be blacked out in local markets.[28]
Max will continue to simulcast TBS' games on its Bleacher Report Sports Add-on tier.[29]
The league's MLB.tv will continue to stream out-of-market games, and all of Roku's games.[30]
Postseason
During the postseason, the ESPN networks (including ABC, with Spanish–language simulcasts on ESPN Deportes) will air all four Wild Card Series.[26] TNT Sports (TNT, TBS and TruTv, with Spanish-language simulcasts on Univision Deportes) will then broadcast the National League Division Series and the National League Championship Series,[24] and Fox Sports (Fox and FS1, with Spanish-language simulcasts on Fox Deportes) will broadcast the American League Division Series, the American League Championship Series and the World Series.[23]
This will be the third season affected by the February 2023 bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, owners of the Bally Sports regional sports networks.
The Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers' contracts with Bally Sports Great Lakes, Bally Sports Wisconsin, Bally Sports North, and Bally Sports Southwest, respectively, expired at the end of their 2024 regular seasons.[34][35][36] The Rangers were reported to be developing a "direct-to-distributor" model, which would involve an ad-hoc network for game broadcasts distributed directly to television providers (similar to MLB Local Media, except operated in-house by the team), and a streaming platform that would carry the games and ancillary content.[37] On October 8, 2024, MLB Local Media announced that it would assume the rights to the Brewers, Guardians, and Twins beginning in the 2025 season.[38][39]
On October 2, 2024, Diamond Sports announced its intention to renegotiate its contracts with eight MLB teams. The teams include the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Rays. If teams are unable to agree to a new contract with Diamond, their contract will be rejected. The Atlanta Braves were the only team not being affected by this announcement.[40] Diamond Sports announced new agreements with Marlins, on October 18, and the Cardinals, on November 7 (which also added over-the-top streaming rights for its direct-to-consumerstreaming service).[41][42] On November 8, the Reds and Diamond announced a settlement which will officially end their contract.[43]
In October 2024, Diamond announced a new sponsorship agreement with FanDuel, which re-branded Bally Sports as FanDuel Sports Network on October 21.[44][45] The naming rights will be paid for via an annual rights fee and advertising commitments. FanDuel will also have the option to acquire a 5% equity stake in Diamond once it exits Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[46][47]
On November 8, 2024, Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Braves officially objected to Diamond Sports' reorganization plan from bankruptcy, saying they had "grave concerns" about the companies' future viability.[48] However, on November 13, Major League Baseball and the Braves dropped their objection, after Diamond Sports reached amended agreements with the Braves, Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays, and Detroit Tigers. Diamond Sports will acquire local direct-to-consumer streaming rights for all the teams it renegotiated with.[49] That same day, MLB Local Media announced it would assume the television rights to the Cincinnati Reds.[50] Diamond Sports announced an amended contract with the Kansas City Royals on December 3.[51]
On December 18, the Braves announced that it would sublicense a package of 15 regular season games to Gray Television. The games will be carried by a network of Gray-owned broadcast television stations within the Braves' market in simulcast with FanDuel Sports Network South, with WPCH-TV in Atlanta as flagship station. In addition, Gray will also exclusively produce and air 10 spring training games.[52] The deal resembles arrangements made under Diamond's NBA contracts, which similarly enable teams to sublicense a limited package of games for broadcast television.[53]
Teams changing television homes
Mostly due to the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, a significant number of teams changed their local broadcast television outlet for the 2025 season:
On November 14, 2024, the New York Yankees announced the hiring of Dave Sims as the team's primary radio play-by-play announcer, succeeding John Sterling. Sims was previously the lead television play-by-play announcer of the Seattle Mariners, holding the job since 2007.[54]
On November 15, 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced the hiring of Luis Cruz (who played for the team in 2012 and 2013) as an analyst for its Spanish-language radio broadcasts, succeeding Fernando Valenzuela—who had died on October 22, 2024. [55]
Retired numbers
David Wright will have his No. 5 retired by the New York Mets on July 19. This will be the eleventh number retired by the team.[56]
