How to Watch MLB Without Cable

There are some very cost-effective ways for cord-cutters to enjoy live TV broadcasts without cable. Several of the options that we'll lay out below involve finding live TV networks without having to pay big cable bills. But which networks should we find? Here are the channels we'll be on the hunt for.

Local, Regular-Season MLB Games

• Regional Sports Networks (RSNs): First and foremost among MLB broadcasters are the regional sports networks, or “RSNs.” These channels are the ones that air only in a select area and cover all of the regular-season games played by your local MLB team (and, most likely, your local NBA or NHL teams as well). You know the type: “Bally Sports” channels, NESN, SNY, and so on. These channels will vary by region as well as by streaming or TV provider, but we’ll do our best to cover them in-depth below.

National Broadcasts, the MLB Playoffs, and the World Series

Your local RSN will have your nearest team’s games whenever they’re not on national TV. But when your team is on the biggest stage, you’ll need one of these other networks.

• FOX: This over-the-air network is home to the World Series, among other big-time games.
• FS1: Not all of the MLB goodness fits on FOX’s flagship network. Expect to see some games bumped to FS1, a network station.
• TBS: This network offers nationally televised baseball and is a must-have for the playoffs.
• ESPN: The channel airs nationally televised baseball games throughout the season and includes TV events such as the popular “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast.
• MLB Network: Major League Baseball’s own channel is a great source for MLB news, analysis, and highlights — and it has some live games available, too.

Not all of our MLB-without-cable solutions will involve live television networks per se, but many will, so it's a good thing that you know what you’re dealing with.

You have a few different ways to watch MLB games without cable.

For starters, you can subscribe to a live TV streaming service. Sometimes called “skinny bundles” for their pared-down channel selections and more affordable prices, these streaming options are beating cable at their own game — and many include livestreams of RSNs around the country, as well as livestreams of FOX, ESPN, and other must-have networks for baseball fans.

Another option is MLB.TV, which combines all the feeds of RSNs around the country into a smorgasbord of all things baseball. There’s one catch, though: Your own local RSN will have its games blacked out. Between that and the lack of national broadcasts, MLB.TV ends up being a better fit for out-of-market fans.

Finally, there’s free over-the-air TV, which won’t get you every game but will snag you a live feed of the games on over-the-air channels like FOX.

Let’s dive into the complete list!

AT&T TV is the live TV streaming service from telecom giant AT&T, and its channel selection is nearly as giant as its parent company. Among the great selections here are plenty of RSNs, so you’re likely to be covered for local baseball no matter where you live. AT&T TV also delivers livestreams of every channel you need for live baseball, including FOX, TBS, and ESPN.

As of this writing, AT&T TV is your best bet for most RSNs. The Sinclair-owned Bally Sports networks are available through AT&T TV, which is something that other live TV streaming services can’t say.

Hulu’s selection of RSNs has taken a hit recently, so it’s not quite the must-have service for MLB fans that it once was. But Hulu still has RSN coverage in select markets, and it offers livestreams of networks like FOX, TBS, and ESPN, so you’ll still get those nationally broadcast games.

fuboTV has some appetizing extras built in for sports fans, including a convenient menu that helps ensure you never miss a game. Like several other live TV streaming services, fuboTV is missing the Bally Sports networks right now, but it does have the NBC Sports family of RSNs. fuboTV offers livestreams of FOX and ESPN, but it’s missing TBS.

Sling TV is best used to catch the national broadcasts on FOX, ESPN, and TBS. The RSN coverage on this service isn’t too impressive as of this writing, so you’ll want to look elsewhere if you’re trying to catch every game your local team plays. If you’re only looking for “Sunday Night Baseball” and other national broadcasts, though, the network is a good option.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV is another strong option for NBC Sports RSNs and national networks like FOX, ESPN, and TBS. However, like other live TV streaming services, YouTube TV is missing the Bally Sports networks as of this writing. Your mileage will vary depending on which RSN you’re trying to track down.

Free over-the-air TV

Free over-the-air TV is a great option for streaming the big games on FOX — including the World Series. To watch the World Series without cable, just grab yourself a TV antenna, hook it up to your TV, and scan for channels. If you’re in range of your local FOX affiliate, you’ll get the live feed for free.

MLB.TV

Major League Baseball’s own streaming service is a great option for streaming a whole lot of baseball. MLB.TV has some big limitations, though, so be careful. MLB.TV’s blackouts are pretty serious: As a rule, you can expect anything available on TV in your area to be blacked out. That means that any broadcast on your own local RSN will be missing from MLB.TV, as will all national broadcasts. With that said, MLB.TV also includes a free subscription to MLB Audio, the radio equivalent to MLB.TV's video offerings, and MLB Audio has no blackouts. In other words, MLB.TV will give you a video livestream of every regular-season game that’s not on TV in your market, plus an audio livestream of every game including postseason games, national broadcasts, and in-market matchups.

If the blackouts bother you, you could consider circumventing the rules. We don’t necessarily endorse that, but we’ll talk a bit more about what we mean by it in a moment.

If you subscribe to one of the services we recommended above, you’ll find that it’s easy to watch your team’s games on your favorite streaming devices. Each of the services we recommend has great platform support, meaning there should be an app available for quality streaming platforms like Roku and Fire TV.

MLB.TV has great platform support as well — it’s easy to watch on your mobile device (iOS or Android) or computer (Mac or PC via the in-browser option), and it also works wonderfully with Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, and Chromecast devices.

We adore MLB.TV, but it definitely has some shortcomings. MLB’s blackout rules are really upsetting fans, and we can see why — for most of us, the “in-market” teams that are blacked out on MLB.TV are the very teams we want to see most! After all, it’s “root, root, root for the home team,” not “root, root, root for the out-of-market team!”

There is a way to beat MLB.TV’s blackouts, but you should know that MLB.TV does not endorse it — and, in fact, it’s almost certainly against the end user agreement and could theoretically get you booted from the service. However, it’s not currently known for enforcing the rule, so read on and decide for yourself.

What some intrepid baseball fans do is this: they subscribe to a great VPN service and use their VPN app to change their IP address before logging into the MLB.TV app. The right (out-of-market) IP address can unlock streams that aren’t available in your location. Consider that one more option in your “How to Watch MLB Online” toolbox.