How to Watch the World Series Without Cable

Following the strange pandemic season of 2020, the 2021 MLB season has been like a breath of fresh air. With a full schedule of 162 games and a 10-team playoff format, fans and players alike are back in the swing of things — and ready for a thrilling World Series. When the final two teams face off in the World Series, will you be ready to watch every game? As a cord-cutter, can you watch the 2021 World Series without cable? Can you stream the 2021 World Series online, with no cable required?

The answers to these questions are full of good news for cord-cutters. It is possible to watch the World Series without cable, and you’ll have both online streaming and free over-the-air options. Everything you need to know is below in our guide to watching the World Series without cable or satellite.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to stream the World Series:

	Price	Channels	Free Trial
#1	$40 – $75	125+	7 days	See Offer
#2	$5.99 – $85.96	68 – 88	7 or 30 days	See Offer
#3	$54.99 – $86.96	100+	7 days	See Offer
#4	$35 – $50	30+ – 130+	3 days	See Offer

Experienced cord-cutters know that when you want to watch a live sporting event without cable, you have to see what channel the event is on and then find a way to get it online or over the air. That means you’ll need to know what channel the World Series is on (and when each game is being played).

FOX holds the broadcast rights to the World Series, and every game will be broadcast on FOX this year. (No need to worry about FS1 this time around.)

You now know which channel you need to watch the World Series live, but the main question remains: How can you watch the World Series without cable?

Your best bet for getting live TV channels without cable is to subscribe to a live TV streaming service, or “skinny bundle.” Much like cable or satellite, live TV streaming services offer bundles of television channels for a monthly fee. But there are important differences too.

Unlike cable and satellite, live TV streaming services will work on all sorts of devices, from smartphones to Roku TVs. They have plenty of perks too. Depending on which service you choose, you could time-shift TV with a cloud DVR, share a live feed with family members using other devices, or enjoy on-demand content. Live TV streaming services also tend to feature slimmed-down channel bundles (hence the nickname “skinny bundles”) and similarly slimmed-down prices. Perhaps most importantly, live TV streaming services won’t force you to sign a long-term contract.

Which live TV streaming services will work to watch the World Series without cable? Here are our picks.

Formerly known as DIRECTV NOW, this live TV streaming service is a solid option for watching the World Series without cable. AT&T TV offers a livestream of FOX in select markets.

The livestreaming arm of the popular on-demand streaming service Hulu is called Hulu + Live TV. It offers a livestream of FOX in select markets, which means you’ll be able to watch every single game of the World Series using Hulu + Live TV.

fuboTV was built with sports fans in mind. It offers FOX, so it certainly lives up to its sports-centric reputation when the World Series is on. If you’d like to read more about what exactly a sports-focused streaming service looks like, check out our fuboTV review.

You can get FOX in a few markets on Sling TV — and when we say “a few,” we mean fewer than 20 as of this writing. (Los Angeles is one of the available markets, as if Dodgers fans weren’t lucky enough!) Our Sling TV review has more information about the other offerings on the service.

YouTube TV

If you want to watch the World Series without cable, YouTube TV can help. Google’s live TV streaming service offers a livestream of FOX in select markets. YouTube TV has even sponsored the World Series the past few years. All in all, the coverage is pretty good, and so is YouTube TV’s app.

Free over-the-air TV

FOX is a broadcast channel, which means you can pick it up over the air for free. There’s no reason to pay to watch World Series games on FOX when you can just set up an over-the-air antenna and enjoy them for free. For the big moments on FOX, all you need is an antenna!

With the services above, you can watch the World Series on all kinds of devices, from your smartphone to your big-screen TV. Let’s talk about platform-support specifics — or, rather, let’s let the chart do the talking.

The World Series ends in late October or early November, at which time you’ll face the long and boring offseason. But never fear: Major League Baseball will start again soon enough, and — just like always — we’ll be there to help you stream every MLB game without cable.

Check out our coverage of MLB streaming options, including your best cord-cutting options for the MLB postseason. We’ll also be checking out team-specific options for big-market teams such as the Boston Red Sox. Die-hard baseball fans may also want to check out our guide to MLB.TV and our complete MLB.TV review.