Stream MLB Games Online: Best Streaming Services to Watch Baseball Live Without Cable

2024 MLB Regular Season under way. Stream it live with Fubo.

As someone who follows baseball, I know there’s nothing quite like MLB’s grueling 162-game regular season. I never want to miss a single pitch, and thankfully there are several ways to catch every game of action.

In a hurry? If you just want to start watching MLB, these three services will do that and provide good overall viewing options:

Fubo

Known for its outstanding sports coverage, Fubo’s 150+ live TV channels provide a broad selection that appeals to most people. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

DIRECTV STREAM

The king of RSNs, this is the streaming service for MLB, NBA, and NHL fans with its Choice Plan! New customers get a 5-day free trial with DIRECTV STREAM.

Hulu Live

Get 95+ live TV channels along with the Hulu Bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+! Try it today with a free trial.

Why You Need a VPN Today

However, first you need a VPN to unblock US streaming services from . Our favourite is ExpressVPN. It’s definitely not the cheapest option at $4.99/month, but it just works – and across all your devices.

They have servers in 25+ US cities/states and 105 countries, which unblock access to premium streaming platforms available only in the US, as well as free “on demand” TV services worldwide.

You’ll have access to local platforms as if you were in the country, meaning you can watch BBC iPlayer as if you were in the UK, CBC Gem as if you were in Canada, plus hundreds more worldwide.

Sign Up for ExpressVPN

Hotdog users get three months free at ExpressVPN, so it’s a “no-brainer” for us. Decide for yourself with their 30 day money-back guarantee.

IMPORTANT: Once you’ve installed your VPN and connected to a US server, you’ll still need to subscribe separately to access premium streaming services.

It’s a whole new world for baseball fans. It used to be a question of what games you could watch without cable. Now only cord-cutters have full access to the MLB schedule.

Today we will be taking a look at the channels that will be bringing you MLB action all season long as well as the various ways that you can watch baseball both at home or on the go.

Today’s MLB Games

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How MLB Is Broadcast

Major League Baseball was around long before TV or even radio. This, combined with the 162 games each team plays per season, makes for a complicated system of game broadcasting.

There are almost 5,000 games played in the regular MLB season each year. The good news is that all the games are broadcast. But where?

Nationally Televised Games

Almost all days of the regular season, there is at least one MLB game being nationally broadcast. And most days it’s more — often as many as four or five. Most often, it’s two.

Lucky for cord-cutters, the games are broadcast on major channels that are supported by the top streaming services:

• ESPN: Show a wide selection of games — sometimes back-to-back — on their main channel. Games also air on ESPN2.
• Fox: Features night games on local Fox affiliate channels.
• FS1: The main Fox Sports channel where all its MLB games go.
• MLB Network: Far and away the place to watch nationally televised games.
• TBS: Shows a number of games throughout the season and then a lot of playoff games.

Note that a couple of specialty streaming services are exclusively airing MLB games this year. Peacock will not be presenting games this year. But Apple TV+ will be presenting Friday Night Baseball — a doubleheader event. ESPN+ will also feature many games as in previous seasons.

Regionally Televised Games

Even with the hundreds of nationally televised games, there are still thousands of baseball games each year that are broadcast by regional sports networks (RSNs). If you are a fan of a team across the nation, you can use a service like MLB.TV. But if you are a fan of the home team, you need access to its RSN.

Access to RSNs is limited to nonexistent for most streaming services. Fubo had provided a pretty good selection of them — especially for the price. But with the addition of the Bally Sports channels this year, they are quite a bit better than “pretty good.” Others, like Hulu + Live TV, provide even less. And low-cost services like Sling TV offer none at all.

The star in this area is DIRECTV STREAM, which provides RSN access to every team except for the Toronto Blue Jays (see below — SN Now) and, strangely, the Philadelphia Phillies. But Fubo now offers almost as many (everything outside of LA and NY). And it allows you to get MLB.TV as an add-on.

To see if your local team is included with a streaming service, see the following table. Note that RSNs are only provided in the DIRECTV STREAM Choice plan ($114.99/month) and above. The RSNs are included with the base plans from Fubo ($79.99/month) and Hulu + Live TV ($82.99/month).

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

As you can see, if you’re a Giants fan in San Francisco, you can go with any of these three streaming services. The same goes for Mets fans in New York. But Yankees fans in New York? You need to go with DIRECTV STREAM.

Streaming MLB Without Cable

There are various ways to live stream MLB. Which way you choose will depend upon exactly what you are looking for. Since most fans will want to watch their hometown teams locally, we’ll highlight those services that allow that.

Fubo: Great Sports With Good RSN Coverage

Fubo (formerly FuboTV) is an outstanding streaming service for sports. Its basic plan ($79.99/month) of 150+ channels includes roughly 40 sports channels. Included in those channels are ESPN, Fox, and FS1.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

Fubo now offers the vast majority of RSNs. However, if you qualify for them, the cost is slightly higher. If you get one RSN, it is $91.98/month. But if you get 2 or more, it is $94.98/month.

If you want MLB Network, you will need to get the Fubo Extra ($7.99/mo) or Sports Plus ($10.99/mo) add-on. At this time, Fubo doesn’t carry any Turner channels, so TBS is not available.

Fubo is probably the best sports streaming service with unmatched coverage of international sports as well as big American sports channels like NFL Network. If you are an MLB and a general sports fan, it’s a great choice. And, of course, it’s a great choice if your team is one of the many teams they provide an RSN for.

Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial. Or see the following for more information:

• Fubo Review
• Fubo Packages
• Fubo Local Channels
• Fubo Devices.

DIRECTV STREAM: Great MLB Streaming

With its basic (Entertainment — $86.99/month) plan, DIRECTV STREAM doesn’t offer that much for an MLB fan. You get ESPN, Fox, FS1, and TBS — along with 75+ other channels. Frankly, you’d be better off with something like the Sling TV Orange/Blue plan for $20 less.

Get DIRECTV STREAM Free Trial

But DIRECTV STREAM’s Choice plan for $114.99/month is, quite simply, a great deal around for the MLB fan. It includes all the channels you need to watch nationally televised games: ESPN, Fox, FS1, MLB Network, and TBS. But there’s much more.

DIRECTV STREAM offers the RSN for every team except the Philadelphia Phillies and the Toronto Blue Jays. So you will get to see all the games for your local team. No blackouts.

In addition to its exceptional MLB support, DIRECTV STREAM offers 100+ other channels including local channels. Plus, the included RSNs give you access to local coverage of NBA, NHL, and MLS.

New customers get a 5-day free trial with DIRECTV STREAM. Or, if you want more information, see our review. (Black Friday details)

Sling TV: Great Price for Nationally Televised Games

Sling TV is a great low-cost streaming service with solid plans for just $40.00/month. But one of the consequences of this is that they offer no RSNs.

Save 50% on Sling TV Now

But for the $55.00/month Blue/Orange plan, you get ESPN, Fox, FS1, and TBS. And with the Sports Extra add-on ($15/mo), you also get MLB Network. That’s a total of $70/mo for all the channels you need to see every nationally televised MLB game.

With the complete package at $70/mo, you could get a total of roughly 70 channels including local channels Fox and NBC as well as sports channels MLB StrikeZone, NBA TV, NHL Network, Tennis Channel, and a lot more.

Save 50% on your first month of Sling TV. If you want more information first, you can find it in the following:

• Sling TV Review
• Sling TV Packages
• Sling TV Local Channels
• Sling TV Devices
• Sling TV for College Baseball
• Sling TV College Baseball Schedule
• Sling TV Men’s College World Series Selection Show
• Sling TV Women’s College World Series
• Sling TV Men’s College World Series.

Hulu + Live TV: Solid Service in Select Market

Hulu Live offers a good overall streaming service with ESPN, Fox, FS1, and TBS. Unfortunately, it does not provide access to MLB Network and there is currently no way to get it. But this is more than made up for by the fact that it comes with ESPN+.

Get Hulu + Live TV Free

You also get access to RSNs for 5 teams: White Sox, Mets, Athletics, Phillies, and Giants. So if one of those is your local team, $82.99/month is a pretty good deal for Hulu + Live TV.

In addition to its MLB coverage, Hulu + Live TV offers access to 100+ other channels, its industry-leading on-demand library, and Disney+.

If you still have questions, check out these resources:

• Hulu + Live TV Review
• Hulu + Live TV Packages
• Hulu + Live TV Local Channels.

Other MLB Streaming Options

There are other options for streaming MLB:

• MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube: Roughly once a week, MLB streams a live game that anyone can watch for free!
• MLB App: Mostly an interface for MLB.tv, you can watch the Free Game of the Day with it.
• YouTube TV: A solid general streaming service with all the channels for nationally televised games as well as access to 6 RSNs.

MLB.TV

MLB.TV: For some fans, MLB.TV is a great service. It allows you to watch most MLB games live for $24.99 per month or $149.99 for the whole season (the price goes down as the season progresses). It is also available as an add-on with Fubo.

The problem is that there is a blackout delay for all in-market games — those (home and away) that involve your home team. So you have to wait an hour and a half after the game has ended to watch it.

Additionally, all nationally televised games are blacked out. This also means the service is limited to regular-season games. So you will also need access to a streaming service for those games. Finally, MLB.TV doesn’t offer any playoff games.

Still, MLB.TV can be a good deal if you don’t mind the restrictions. And subscribers can get a cheaper price if they are only interested in the games of a single team.

Supported TVs and Streaming Devices to Watch MLB

The streaming services offer great support for modern TVs and other devices.

DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and Sling TV all support smart TVs including those with Android TV built-in.

In addition to these, you can turn your regular TV into a smart TV via a device that plugs into the HDMI input. These include Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku. All the streaming services support these devices.

You can also watch MLB games on mobile devices. All the streaming services highlighted here support Android smartphones and iOS devices like iPhones and iPads.

Google also offers Chromecast. It allows you to stream video from your phone to your TV. It’s super easy and is supported by all the streaming services.

Also supported are web browsers. This may not seem very sexy, but it works well. You can stream on a laptop computer and connect it (via HDMI cable) to your TV and watch films, shows, and sporting events in all their glory.

If you want to watch on the Xbox, you will have to go with Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, or Sling TV. And only Hulu supports the PlayStation.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

How to Watch Your Favorite MLB Teams

For information on streaming a specific team, see the following articles:

Wrapping Up

True MLB fanatics should get a streaming service that offers the RSN for their favorite local channel. In the majority of cases, our top choice is Fubo. .

In some case, your best bet is Hulu + Live TV. Try the Hulu Live free 3-day trial. But if you live near the Dodgers, Yankees, Orioles, or Nationals, DIRECTV STREAM is your best option. New customers get a 5-day free trial with DIRECTV STREAM.

For most fans, Fubo is our top choice for streaming baseball. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

See Also

If you still have questions, check out these articles:

• How to Watch Spring Training Without Cable (Sling TV schedule and guide)
• MLB Playoffs Without Cable
• How to Watch the World Series Without Cable.

FAQs

What is the cheapest way to watch MLB?

The cheapest way to watch MLB is to set up an antenna and get it free when games stream on local Fox affiliates. Sling TV allows you to do this easily by including a free antenna (if you pay for two months in advance). And your antenna channels are integrated with its streaming channels, which, with Sling Orange, include ESPN and TBS.

Does ESPN+ have all MLB games?

ESPN+ is a great deal for sports fans at $10.99/month. But it doesn’t offer all the MLB games. It does however offer roughly one MLB game every day of the regular season. This is somewhat more than the number of games ESPN itself broadcasts so it’s worth considering.

How can I watch the World Series?

The 2023 World Series will air exclusively on Fox. This is great news for fans because Fox is included in the base plans of all the major streaming services. It also means that you should be able to watch it in HD with a TV antenna. You won’t, however, be able to watch the World Series with MLB.tv since it doesn’t stream any post-season games.

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.

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