By Chris Brantner
With the Major League Baseball playoffs starting Tuesday, fans will be anxiously watching to see if their team advances and, eventually, who will bring home the World Series title.
Whether you have cable or not, you can still watch the entire MLB playoffs season from the Apple device of your choice. Here’s how to catch all the action on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, etc.
How to stream MLB playoffs
Whether you plan to stream the games on your new iPhone XS or your Apple TV, you won’t have a problem finding the game and being able to stream it. Cable operators and streaming services will offer TV Everywhere apps, along with their own viewing methods, to ensure that you have the most ways to stream available to you.
The games start Tuesday, October 2, so it’s just a matter of finding out who is playing when (you can check the schedule) and deciding what app to use on the device of your choosing.
Watching the MLB playoffs with cable
The main channels you’ll need to stream the playoffs include FS1, Fox and TBS. Depending on your cable company, you should have an app that will allow you to watch the channels in your package. Even if your provider doesn’t, you’ll be able to log in to TV Everywhere apps like Fox Sports Go and the TBS app with your cable info.
Once you’re logged in, you can watch what’s currently on television and they also include a number of their previous shows on-demand.
App availability for your cable company will vary depending on who handles your TV subscription. That’s what makes TV Everywhere apps so handy. Not only are they readily available and usually only make you log in to your device sporadically, they also are designed for live viewing on a variety of devices.
Watching without cable
If you don’t have cable, you still have plenty of options. Most streaming services are going to give you the channels they need, and the majority are compatible with most Apple devices. The important thing to remember is that it will be possible to watch the playoffs for free, even if you aren’t currently a member of any of these services.
All of them offer free trials, so if you were to sign up for the trial, you’d be able to watch games for free. If you bounced from trial to trial, you’d be able to watch the entire playoff season for free.
Sling TV is your cheapest option, with packages starting at $25 per month. However, local Fox coverage isn’t as expansive as the other services mentioned below. That said, you can still use it to log into the Fox Sports Go app to watch live games there. It’s just a couple of extra steps.
YouTube TV and PlayStation Vue also offer all the channels you’ll need (along with access to TV Everywhere apps, so you can watch through the apps you like the most). YouTube TV is the cheapest option at $40 a month. PlayStation Vue starts at $45. Both of them allow access on multiple Apple devices including phones, tablets and Apple TV.
Some other good choices include Hulu Live and fuboTV (which is an especially fun choice for sports fans). These are both in the same price range as the previously mentioned services.
Lots of ways to stream baseball playoffs
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to watch the playoffs on the device of your choice, whether you have cable or not. And, as more companies allow for better streaming offerings, you can bet that next year there will be even more options.
Good luck to your favorite team!
Chris Brantner founded Streaming Observer, a website for cord cutters.
