NEW YORK — If you typed “what time are the ESPYs” into a search bar, here’s your answer: 8 p.m. ET Wednesday on ABC. Now stay a minute, because this year’s show is in New York, it’s happening because of baseball, and baseball is about to lose again.
What Time Are the ESPYs and What Channel?
- Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2026
- Time: 8:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CT
- Channel: ABC
- Stream: The ESPN App, in pattern with ABC airings
- Next day: Disney+, Hulu, the ESPN App, ABC Video on Demand
- Venue: David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York City
- Host: Marcello Hernández of Saturday Night Live
Red Carpet and Pregame
- 6:00 p.m. ET — SportsCenter live from the carpet, ESPN
- 7:00 p.m. ET — The ESPYS Red Carpet Show presented by TJ Maxx — ESPN’s YouTube, Facebook, and the ESPN App
- 7:00 p.m. ET — The ESPYS Preview Show, ESPN
Why Is This Show Always the Day After the All-Star Game?
Actor Samuel L. Jackson stands on stage as he is announced as the host of the ESPY awards for the second consecutive year, during a news conference Tuesday, April 9, 2002, in Los Angeles. The show, which honors the top performers and performances in sports, will air live on ESPN on July 10, the day after baseball’s All-Star game. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
Because of baseball. Genuinely.
The ESPYs are held the second or third Wednesday in July for one reason: it is the only day on the calendar when none of the major North American leagues are playing. The NBA, NFL, and NHL are out of season. Colleges are on break. And MLB — the one league actually in season — doesn’t play the day after its All-Star Game. That empty square on the sports calendar exists because baseball made it, and the ESPYs moved in.
Look at that 2002 photo caption from the AP wire if you don’t believe it: the show would air “the day after baseball’s All-Star game.” It’s been in the fine print for twenty-four years.
Back in New York, Because of Fanatics Fest
This is the ESPYs’ homecoming. The first seven editions were in New York — Madison Square Garden in 1993 and 1994, then Radio City Music Hall through 1999. Then Vegas, then Hollywood, then L.A. Live for the better part of two decades. In January it was reported the show would return to New York to line up with Fanatics Fest, as part of a partnership with Michael Ratner’s Fanatics Studios producing the ceremony.
So the trophies come back to Manhattan for the first time in a proper theater since Radio City in 1999, and the whole week becomes a sports-fan convention with an awards show attached.
The Best Story of the Night: Jim Abbott
Professional MLB baseball player Liam Hendriks, of the Chicago White Sox, accepts the Jimmy V award for perseverance at the ESPY awards on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Professional MLB baseball player Liam Hendriks, of the Chicago White Sox, left, accepts the Jimmy V award for perseverance from Chris Berman at the ESPY awards on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Jim Abbott receives the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. Born without a right hand, Abbott pitched ten seasons in the majors and threw a no-hitter for the Yankees against Cleveland in 1993, switching his glove between arms so fluidly that the whole thing looked like nothing at all.
Baseball and this award keep finding each other. Stuart Scott accepted the Jimmy V in July 2014 and was gone six months later. Liam Hendriks took it in 2023, from Chris Berman, after beating cancer. Now Abbott. Three men who stood on that stage having survived something.
Baseball Almost Never Wins the Big One
MLB baseball player Mike Trout, of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, arrives at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Here’s the case for watching, and it’s a grievance.
Best Male Athlete has gone to a baseball player four times in more than thirty years: Mark McGwire in 1999, plus Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., and Shohei Ohtani in 2022. That’s it. Tiger Woods has five by himself.
The list of baseball players who got nominated and lost is a murderer’s row. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4 — nominated in 2002, 2003, and 2004, three consecutive years of the most absurd offensive production in the sport’s history, and he lost all three to a golfer and a cyclist. Albert Pujols went 0-for-2. Miguel Cabrera went 0-for-2, during his Triple Crown years. Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martínez, Alex Rodriguez, Justin Verlander, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge — all nominated, none won.
And Ohtani is 1-for-3. He won in 2022, then lost to Patrick Mahomes in 2024 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2025. He’s nominated again Wednesday, against Jalen Brunson, Lionel Messi, and Matthew Stafford.
Except for the One Time the Yardstick Was the World
In 2006 the ESPYs launched a category called Best International Athlete, and the first winner was Albert Pujols — a kid from Santo Domingo playing first base in St. Louis. Look at who came after him: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi. Pujols is on that list.
MLB player Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals arrives at the ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
The same year, he was nominated for Best Male Athlete and lost to Lance Armstrong. When they measured him against America’s other sports, he came up short. When they measured him against the world, he won going away. The category ran through 2017 and then quietly went away, which means baseball’s international stars now go head-to-head with the NFL and the NBA every year, and every year they lose.
The 2026 Baseball Nominees
- Best MLB Player: Aaron Judge (Yankees), Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), Cal Raleigh (Mariners), Paul Skenes (Pirates)
- Best Athlete, Men’s Sports: Ohtani
- Best Team: Los Angeles Dodgers — and the Texas Longhorns for softball
- Best Single-Game Performance: two of four are baseball. Ohtani (six scoreless innings, ten strikeouts, three home runs) and Baylor’s Tyce Armstrong, who hit three grand slams in one game, tying a record set 50 years ago.
- Best Record-Breaking Performance: UCLA’s Megan Grant, NCAA single-season softball home run record
- Best Championship Performance: Texas softball’s Teagan Kavan
Baylor first baseman Tyce Armstrong, center, runs down the out on UTSA batter Jordan Ballin (2) during an NCAA baseball game on Sunday, March 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke).
Wait, the Savannah Bananas Are Performing?
Title: Savannah Bananas Baseball
Image ID: 25263775309831
Article: Savannah Bananas players hold up flashlights as fans turn on their cellphone lights during a game against the Firefighters during their “Banana Ball World Tour” Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Yes. The bill is De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, Slick Rick, and the Savannah Bananas, which is a sentence that would have gotten you laughed out of a room five years ago. The Bananas sell out NFL stadiums playing a sport with its own rulebook, and now they’re a musical act at Lincoln Center. Members of the team are on the attendee list too. Baseball’s strangest export, on ABC, in a ballet theater.
The Show Has Always Been a Baseball Show
Ben Affleck, left, presents former professional baseball player Derek Jeter the icon award at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, July 15, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Scroll the archive and the game is everywhere. Ben Affleck handing Derek Jeter the Icon Award in 2015. Vin Scully accepting his Icon Award in 2017, because the ESPYs occasionally remember that the voice matters as much as the arm. Dennis Quaid and Jim Morris in 2002, holding a trophy for The Rookie — the actor and the actual 35-year-old high school teacher who made the majors. David Ross toasting the Cubs with Bill Murray and Nick Offerman in 2017 for Best Moment.
FILE – Vin Scully walks on stage to accept the Icon Award at the ESPYS at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. Vin Scully has won the second Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Baseball Digest. The longtime Dodgers announcer was honored Tuesday, April 12, 2022, with an annual distinction that recognizes a living individual “who has made significant contributions to the national game. ”(Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Retired MLB baseball player David Ross, from left, Nick Offerman and Bill Murray toast the Chicago Cubs as they accept the team’s award for best moment at the ESPYS at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
And in 2022, Maybelle Blair walked out with a baseball bat for a cane to present Best Athlete, Women’s Sports. Blair played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — the league that became A League of Their Own. She is the through-line from that world to this one: the Women’s Pro Baseball League plays its inaugural season this summer in Rockford, and baseball returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Maybelle Blair poses onstage with a baseball bat cane as she presents the award for best athlete, women’s sports at the ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark Terrill)
The Other Honorees
Jason Collins will be honored posthumously with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Scott Ruskan receives the Pat Tillman Award for Service. The Sports Humanitarian Awards are part of the show, including the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award and the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award.
Who’s Presenting and Attending
Presenters include Simone Biles, Allyson Felix, Eileen Gu, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, DJ Khaled, Chloe Kim, Billie Jean King, Pat McAfee, Ilona Maher, French Montana, Tracy Morgan, Jake Paul, Robin Roberts, Jayson Tatum, Mike Tyson, and Lindsey Vonn, plus a special appearance from Will Ferrell.
Attending: Bam Adebayo, Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Terence Crawford, Myles Garrett, Damar Hamlin, Jack Hughes, Jimmie Johnson, Hilary Knight, Alysa Liu, Mikaela Shiffrin, Shedeur Sanders, Karl-Anthony Towns, Russell Wilson, Ciara, Charlotte Flair, and members of the Savannah Bananas.
New York Knicks’ Josh Hart, left, and Jalen Brunson, right, wait to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
A Little Lore
The show has been running since 1993 and has earned its ghosts. Norm Macdonald hosted the sixth edition in February 1998 and went exactly where the room wasn’t ready for him to go — a bit people still trade like currency almost thirty years later. Shane Gillis had the job last year. Now it’s Hernández, which keeps the ESPYs’ long habit of handing the microphone to a comedian and finding out what happens.
Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET, ABC. Come for the start time. Stay for Jim Abbott, and for the small chance that this is the year baseball finally wins the big one.
