The Cubs will appear on Apple TV+ twice early this season

Via the New York Post, today we learned of Apple TV+’s MLB schedule for the first half of 2023.

The Cubs will be their very first televised game this year, as the game Friday, April 7 at Wrigley Field will be carried on the streaming service. It will also be Apple TV+’s first afternoon game, as the game will be played at the usual Friday afternoon time of 1:20 p.m. CT.

The Cubs will appear again on Apple TV+ Friday, May 12, when they face the Twins in a game at Target Field at 7:10 p.m. CT.

The Cubs and Red Sox are scheduled to play Friday night, July 14 at Wrigley Field at 7:05 p.m. CT, the team’s first game after the All-Star break. It should be noted that at this time, this game is not on Apple TV+’s list of scheduled games, though I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t be, as if it’s not, there would be no TV at all for this game. The Cubs received permission from the city of Chicago to play a Friday night home game — and I’m again going to take this opportunity to state that it’s way past time for the city of Chicago to repeal the ordinance prohibiting Friday night baseball games at Wrigley, especially since there are three Friday night concerts at Wrigley this year.

One more note on Apple TV+’s baseball coverage from the NY Post:

Last week, we told you KATIE NOLAN and MELANIE NEWMAN would not be returning and DONTRELLE WILLIS was joining WAYNE RANDAZZO on one broadcast crew. Let’s give you some more news.

The other crew, according to sources, is expected to be LA Kings and Fox Sports play-by-player ALEX FAUST and Rockies analyst RYAN SPILBORGHS.

It’s too bad that they’re dumping two female announcers; I’d like to see more women get chances to broadcast baseball and I do like Beth Mowins covering Cubs games on Marquee Sports Network. Wayne Randazzo, though, is a Chicago-area native (St. Charles East High School) and called Kane County Cougars games and worked for The Score, and I’m hoping he’ll be on the call for the Cubs games.

I know a lot of you are unhappy that MLB has pushed games onto Apple TV+ and Peacock, two streaming services that cost extra (though if you are a Comcast/Xfinity subscriber, Peacock is included). This is, unfortunately, the way broadcasting is going in the year 2023. We’ll just have to get used to it, and I thought you’d like to know the information about these Friday Cubs games that will be carried on the service.