Baseball is back, so let’s take a moment to appreciate the crack of the bat and the green grass. But is that the right shade of green?
I’ve spent about a third of my life testing and reviewing TVs, but I’ve spent all of my life being a baseball fan. Learning about TV picture quality for my day job has made me realize just how wonky most people’s TVs look during baseball broadcasts.
In honor of the 2026 Major League Baseball season, let’s put together a gameplan for your TV. Here are some basic steps you can take to improve your TV’s picture before we get too deep into the season.
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1. Disable Eco mode
If enabled, the bright, colorful sights of a Major League ballpark can end up appearing soft and flat.
Almost every TV comes with an energy-saving setting, and it’s usually enabled by default. You can read all about these settings in our Eco mode explainer, but here's the long and short of it: Energy-saving picture modes and settings dynamically adjust a TV's brightness in order to reduce energy consumption.
These features are managed by a built-in light sensor on the TV that adjusts the TV’s luminance level depending on ambient lighting conditions. Unfortunately, this typically results in a dulled, dim picture, as these functions are typically way too aggressive. As a result, the bright, colorful sights of a Major League ballpark can end up appearing soft and flat.
To disable these settings, you should first check your TV's settings menu for options like Power, Energy or Energy Saving. Some brands tuck this toggle in the TV's Brightness menu, while others relegate the setting to a more all-encompassing menu (like General Settings).
On some TVs, the primary energy-saving option is an entire picture mode. In this situation, I recommend using something other than the energy-saving picture mode. For baseball games, this doesn’t necessarily mean you…