MiLB.tv Games Are Finally (Sort of) Coming To Television

Image credit: (Photo by Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images)

Major League Baseball announced that beginning this year, MiLB.tv will become a free add-on for everyone who pays for a full MLB.tv or single team MLB.tv subscription. MiLB.tv will also be included for anyone who pays for the At Bat audio subscription.

The cost is going up by $10 to $149.99, but for those who purchased the MiLB.tv add-on in the past, it will be a cost reduction.

This is a significant change in how many people will be able to access minor league broadcasts. In the past MiLB.tv was available as a separate purchase or as an add-on cost for fans who bought MLB.tv. Now, all those fans will by default have access to thousands of minor league games. And this will allow MLB to add features in the future where fans could get pop-up teasers of key events happening in MiLB games that they could watch on their MLB.tv apps, something MLB officials have talked about in the past.

For the vast majority of MiLB games, the games will remain in a separate First Pitch app and on MiLB.tv’s Website. But now, fans will be able to watch the minor league games of whoever they select as their favorite team on the MLB.tv app. That opens a workaround to allow MiLB fans to watch games more easily on their televisions.

For years, one of the frustrating hurdles of watching MiLB games has been that they aren’t easily available on televisions. While MLB has had apps for smart TVs for years, you can’t watch MiLB.tv games on your television through Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV or any of the array of smart TV providers.

For 2023, the First Pitch app for minor league games remains tethered to phones and tablets only. Subscribers can also go to MiLB.tv to watch games on their computer. But there is no First Pitch app for any smart TV and the First Pitch app cannot be cast from a phone to a television.

But now there is a workaround. MiLB games for a fan’s “favorite team” are going to be available in the MLB.tv app, which means that fans can watch those games on their televisions, just like the MLB games.

 

 

And here’s where there’s good news for prospect fans. There are no limits on how often you can change who your favorite team is. Baseball America confirmed with MLB officials that the favorite team can be changed at any time. So if you want to watch Daniel Espino make a start for a Guardians’ farm team, you can select the Guardians as your favorite team that night. Once Espino leaves the game, maybe you decide to flip your favorite team status to the Orioles to see what Jackson Holliday is doing in his game.

Later that same day, if you see that D-backs outfield prospect Druw Jones is playing on MiLB.tv, you can become a D-backs fan (or at least claim them as your favorite team) to watch that game on your TV.

It’s a bit of a hack, but it’s a doable one, and is significantly easier and requires less technical know-how than the extreme efforts that were required in the past if you wanted to watch MiLB games on your TV.