Luke Pensworth
Although nothing quite beats a trip to the ballpark, watching Major League Baseball on TV is pretty great too these days, thanks to huge TV screens and HD or 4K resolution. And there’s more television MLB package choices than ever, ensuring you can see hundreds of games each season.
When you want access to nearly every Major League Baseball broadcast, you’ll need to pick MLB Extra Innings vs MLB TV. These two services have different price points and slightly different game lineups, so it’s important to find the right one for your viewing preferences.
For the true baseball junkie — like we are — an MLB TV premium service is a must have. We’ve tried both of them, and we’ll help you pick the right service, so you can avoid an MLB TV blackout.
During the offseason for Major League Baseball, MLB.TV offers a package of game archives from the previous season, as well as some spring training games.
MLB Extra Innings vs MLB.TV Comparison
We’ll just start with this interesting fact: If you subscribe to MLB Extra Innings, you’ll also receive MLB.TV. This choice gives you the best of both worlds for MLB TV deals.
Case closed, right? Maybe not. There are quite a few reasons someone may choose to order MLB.TV alone, rather than selecting the MLB Extra Innings DIRECTV or Xfinity package in the MLB Extra Innings vs MLB TV choice.
Cost
You do have to pay extra for MLB Extra Innings vs MLB TV.
Depending on your provider, the MLB Extra Innings cost is $165 to $180, while the MLB TV cost is roughly $115 to $120. And if you select one of the MLB TV single team packages, you will pay $90 to $95 for the season. These are the full-season costs.
You also have a monthly subscription option with MLB TV for about $25 per month.
| MLB EXTRA INNINGS | MLB.TV | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $165-$180 | $115-$120 |
| Monthly cost | N/A | $25 |
| Single-team cost | N/A | $90-$95 |
| Cable/satellite subscription required | Yes | No |
| Streaming option | Yes | Yes |
| Local team games | Yes | No |
| Learn more | View Packages | View Packages |
Extra Features
When you purchase the MLB Extra Innings Dish Network, Comcast, or Spectrum package, you’ll receive extra features like Game Mix and MLB Network Strike Zone (along with MLB.TV, as we mentioned earlier).
With MLB.TV, you can receive MLB Gameday Audio, which is nice for those times where you would rather listen to the radio broadcast. You also receive the MLB At Bat Premium app.
Requirements
With MLB.TV, you don’t need any other subscriptions. So if you just want the MLB TV app and don’t want to pay for anything else, this is the way to go.
With the MLB Extra Innings schedule, you will need to have a cable or satellite TV subscription. The baseball TV package is an extra cost above and beyond your TV subscription monthly cost.
Streaming Options
Both MLB.TV and MLB Extra Innings offer a streaming capability. With MLB.TV, streaming is your only option.
With Extra Innings, you can watch the games through your regular TV subscription on satellite or cable, or you can stream the games through the Internet (using MLB.TV).
Free Trials
With MLB Extra Innings, you’ll often receive a free trial for a week at the start of the season and after the All-Star break. You don’t have to cancel this free trial, as it will disappear on its own, unless you choose to subscribe.
With the MLB TV free trial, you can watch games for seven days. You will have to cancel MLB TV service during the free trial period, or your credit card will be charged. MLB.TV also offers the MLB free game of the day on various platforms, like Facebook or YouTube.
Which Teams Can I Watch?
With MLB Extra Innings, you’re able to watch the majority of games from all 30 teams. You’re able to see both in-market and out-of-market games, so you don’t have to worry about blackouts.
With MLB.TV, you only can watch out-of-market games. If your favorite team is in your local market, its games will not be available (or blacked out) on MLB.TV to protect the local broadcaster’s rights. But if your favorite team is outside your area, such as if you’re a lonely Blue Jays fan stuck in Los Angeles, you can watch those games on MLB.TV.
To see your local team’s games with MLB.TV, you’ll need a cable, satellite, or streaming service subscription that contains the regional sports network that shows the local team’s games.
How Else Can I Watch MLB?
If you don’t want to pay for MLB Extra Innings or MLB TV, you can watch baseball a few other ways.
All Major League Baseball teams have a local coverage area. You often will receive dozens of games from your local team on a regional sports network as part of most cable, satellite, or streaming TV subscriptions for no extra cost.
If you have a subscription TV package, such as with YouTube TV or Hulu Live, various games are available on ESPN, FS1, MLB Network, FOX, and TBS. The majority of streaming service packages carry the majority of these channels, although some don’t have MLB Network.
If you select the FuboTV streaming service, you can watch regional sports networks that show local MLB games. However, many of these games are blacked out. Subscribing to the ESPN+ streaming service is another option, as you’ll receive multiple games per week with minimal blackouts.
If you want some help in finding just the right satellite service, we’ve reviewed the two options: Dish and DIRECTV.
MLB Extra Innings Review
| Provider | Annual Price (prices subject to change) | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| DIRECTV | $177.90 | View plans |
| Xfinity TV | $164.12 | View plans |
| DISH | $165 | View plans |
With MLB Extra Innings, you can watch up to 80 games from outside your local coverage area every week. Think of MLB Extra Innings like an MLB League Pass, if you’re familiar with the NBA League Pass package.
MLB Extra Innings delivers the television feed for out-of-market games. Depending on your service provider, you may receive both the home team and visiting team video feed. This is a really cool feature, as you can then pick the announcers you want to listen to during the game.
You will need a subscription to a satellite or cable television service. You can order MLB Extra Innings Comcast Xfinity or MLB Extra Innings Spectrum, for example. Here’s a list of some of the subscription services that offer Extra Innings.
- DIRECTV
- Dish Network
- Charter
- Comcast
- Cox
- Frontier
- Time Warner
- Verizon FIOS
- Rogers Cable
Other providers are able to offer MLB Extra Innings as well, so check with your provider. There is no streaming-only MLB Extra Innings option. (That’s what MLB.TV is for.)
Because you need a cable or satellite subscription to use Extra Innings, you’ll also have access to the regional sports network that shows your in-market team’s games. So you end up having access to every team with MLB Extra Innings.
You will receive all games in full HD resolution, and some games are offered in 4K resolution.
Pros
Cons
MLB.TV Review
| Provider | Price | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| MLB.TV | $118.99 | View plans |
MLB.TV delivers up to 80 out-of-market baseball games per week. This is a streaming service, so you do not need a cable or satellite subscription to order MLB.TV. You just need a streaming device, such as MLB TV Roku or Fire TV.
MLB.TV is the perfect choice for someone who lives outside of the local market for his or her favorite team.
Versus MLB Extra Innings, MLB.TV is cheaper option. You can even order a package that only shows your favorite out-of-market team’s games, if you want to save a bit more money. Or if you only want to watch games during the September pennant race, you can order MLB.TV month to month.
You will be able to stream MLB.TV in HD resolution, but there’s no 4K resolution option yet.
MLB.TV is compatible with multiple devices, including the following list:
- Many smartphones
- Many smart TVs
- Many tablets
- Android TV
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
- Fire TV
- Roku
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Pros
Cons
Recap
The MLB Extra Innings vs MLB TV decision is a relatively simple one.
If you already have a cable or satellite service, Extra Innings is an easy add-on choice. For those who prefer to stream, MLB.TV makes a lot of sense.
If you want to save a bit of money and you live outside your favorite team’s local broadcast area, MLB.TV works nicely.
Either way, there’s nothing quite like the rollercoaster ride with your favorite team through the season-long journey to the pennant with Extra Innings or MLB.TV.
With MLB Extra Innings, some providers offer a special pricing deal after the All-Star Game, for those who don’t want to buy the entire season.
