Most of these will be about Major League Baseball (MLB), the primary baseball organization in the United States.
The following posts by Reddit user /u/cardith_lorda are very helpful when getting started:
- How to pick a team to follow: pick an MLB team to root for, if you're having trouble deciding!
- Watching the count: a guide to understanding the dynamics of the "count" (number of balls and strikes) during each plate appearance
- Bullpen management: how managers decide which pitchers to send out throughout the game
Easiest way to follow games asynchronously, or during the work day to minimize distractions. Sometimes I pair this with a radio broadcast.
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MLB Gameday: "easiest" to use, works on desktop and mobile web, surprisingly well-done
- Go to mlb.com/scores and click "Gameday" for the game you're interested in.
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mlbt: nice TUI for watching games live
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Mobile web scoreboard: made by a fan, best for checking scores and stats on the go. I have this saved to my phone's home screen.
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WebSocket API: to build on top of, or just read directly
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Get your game ID from the regular Gameday page
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/red-sox-vs-giants/2025/06/21/777417/final -> 777417 -
Connect to the WebSocket at the following URL, replacing with your game ID:
wss://ws.statsapi.mlb.com/api/v1/game/push/subscribe/gameday/777425 -
Note that you will need to send a message
Gameday5every ~10 minutes or so to avoid being disconnected.
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Baseball is excellent over the radio. The game structure is amenable to short bursts of action, and you can tune back in when the announcer's voice gets excited.
- MLB At Bat ($30/yr): unlimited radio broadcasts, no blackouts, included with MLB.TV
- Students at US or Canadian institutions get 35% discount
- 50% discount around Father's Day annually
- Free online radio stations: look for the name of the network that covers your team of interest; there should be plenty of free online streams.
- Example: SF Giants on KNBR
I recommend only signing up for paid video coverage once you know you enjoy following games. All prices in USD.
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Condensed MLB games (free): 10-minute edits of key plays from each MLB game are produced daily and available free
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MLB.TV ($7/mo, $120/year): official streaming platform
- Students at US or Canadian institutions get 35% discount
- 50% discount around Father's Day annually
- T-Mobile gives subscribers free MLB.TV at the beginning of each season (March 26—April 1); you can often get these codes for free or cheap on eBay
🚨 WARNING: If you are US-based and wish to watch your local team, you will likely need a VPN or DNS-based location spoofer to circumvent blackouts
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Use the Privacy Badger extension (without others, such as uBlock or DNS-level blocking) to hide commercials -
Sportsurge dot tv (free): arrrrrrr
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Apple TV+: Friday night back-to-back games available with subscription; free trial on Target Circle
- Pacific TV: haven't tried this personally, please report back if it works
- SOOP (free, KR language): free global livestreaming of Korean games
- DreadsROKTV on YouTube (free, EN language): high-quality fan livestreams of KBO baseball games with English-language commentary
- CPBL.TV ($70/year, ZH language only): if you enjoy Taiwanese baseball (中華職業棒球大聯盟) or want to watch baseball with Mandarin commentary
- English guide to purchasing a CPBL.TV subscription
- Mobile app not available outside Taiwan; request desktop website to watch on mobile browser
- CTBC Brothers on Twitch.tv: one CPBL team, the CTBC Brothers (中信兄弟), allows you to subscribe on Twitch to watch their games
As you (hopefully) experienced, attending a live game is really fun! While Major League games are more exciting, be aware that tickets are often much more expensive for worse seats.
- Tuesday midday games tend to be the cheapest, as do games against teams with smaller national fanbases
- MLB usually offers 20% off game tickets for students and educators