For those of you outside the Cubs market territory, MLB.TV is the way to watch games. In fact, I’d recommend it for most over MLB Extra Innings if you have a smart TV that can run the league’s internet service. It’s reliable and generally cheaper than Extra Innings.
Eric Fisher of SportBusiness posted this article with details of what you’ll get with MLB.TV this year.
You might have noticed, if watching Thursday’s Cubs game on MLB.TV, that it was listed as “Free game of the day.” In fact, all MLB.TV games will be free for the first week of Spring Training, so through at least next Wednesday.
The price “for a limited time” is $129.99, the same price as last year, for now. Single-team packages are also being sold at $109.99. Both of those packages are expected to rise in price by $10 sometime later this year.
If you have T-Mobile for your phone service, the cell provider is expected to offer free MLB.TV as one of its perks for subscribers again this year. Word is that T-Mobile will be offering this as part of its Tuesday offerings (I’m a T-Mobile subscriber so I get these every Tuesday) on March 29, so you’ll have it in time for Opening Day.
Eric Fisher also notes:
The 2022 version of MLB.TV will feature a return of MLB Big Inning, the nightly whiparound show that debuted on the service last year, and is also now being extended to Apple TV+ as part of a separate deal with the consumer technology giant.
MLB.TV will again this season offer access to select local pre-game and post-game coverage, thanks in part to strong fan response to that offering last year. A new set of playback features have also been developed for 2022 offering greater personalization and enhance controls such as inning milestones, in-game details, and customized scoreboards.
I know a lot of BCB readers enjoyed seeing Cubs pre- and post-game coverage on MLB.TV, and I assume that will continue.
A note that certain games are not available via MLB.TV — ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and any games that are pulled off RSN coverage for MLB’s new deal with Apple TV+ for Friday night games and their agreement with NBC’s Peacock channel. In practice, for the Cubs I would guess this would be a maximum of about 10 games per year.
Enjoy the games!