MLB.TV on sale for half price this weekend
Fans can enjoy the action live wherever they are as teams vie for the postseason
Scoreboard-watching season has arrived. Big series are set up everywhere. It's a huge weekend in Major League Baseball as pennant races take shape approaching the season's three-quarter mark, and a special MLB.TV half-price weekend sale means a chance to see all the live out-of-market drama.
MLB Advanced Media announced Friday that the yearly subscription price has been slashed -- for this weekend only -- to $24.99 for MLB.TV Premium and $19.99 for MLB.TV. If you join the millions who have already subscribed to MLB.TV, you will have full access for the rest of the regular season and you'll be able to stream every FOX broadcast of the 111th World Series.
If your team is a contender, then you need MLB.TV to keep track of the competition. If you have a kid going back to college, that student needs to stay connected. If you are on a late-summer vacation, you need MLB.TV in your hotel and on the beach. The reasons are many, but let's go straight to some of the most obvious ones this weekend:
Yankees at Blue Jays. They meet again this weekend in Toronto. The Jays rode an 11-game winning streak into the weekend and was on top of the American League East, in no small part thanks to their sweep last weekend at Yankee Stadium.
Johnny Cueto, the encore. On Monday, he made his home debut for Kansas City, receiving one standing ovation after another as he requested to go the distance and wound up with a four-hit shutout. What will he do on Saturday night against Mike Trout and the Angels in his follow-up start at Kauffman Stadium?
Windy City Series. The White Sox won five of their past six series heading into the weekend's Interleague series between Chicago's two teams. But they figured to have their hands full with one of baseball's hottest teams. The Cubs went into the series having won seven in a row, they are smelling at least a National League Wild Card berth.
Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh. That is lefty-righty trouble in Houston these days, as both Astros starters are 13-6 and trying not only to keep their club on top in the American League West, but also trying to maintain a pace for dual 20-win seasons. For the record, the last time a club produced multiple 20-game winners in the same season was 2002: Arizona (Randy Johnson 24, Curt Schilling 23) and Boston (Derek Lowe 21, Pedro Martinez 20).
Pirates at Mets. New York has been padding its NL East lead and entered the weekend with a 42-18 record at home, where Sunday will be Matt Harvey Day to cap off the series. Huge crowds are expected as Andrew McCutchen and the Bucs try to hold off the Cubs in their rugged division.
Nationals at Giants. Speaking of the Mets' lead, here is where Washington needs to at least hold its ground, as it could find some perilous footing with a sub-par weekend. You don't want to be six or seven games off the East lead entering September, especially the way the Central clubs, the current Wild Card leaders, have been playing. Max Scherzer is on the hill for the Nationals Friday, and Sunday's series finale will feature Madison Bumgarner going after win No. 14.
With MLB.TV, you can go from game to game and follow the interesting AL batting race between Prince Fielder, Jason Kipnis, Nelson Cruz and Lorenzo Cain. You can watch 12-2 Zack Greinke back in action on Sunday for the Dodgers at home against Cincinnati, and if you watch the high-flying Cardinals, take a close look at what Miami's Ichiro Suzuki is up to these days. He is hot again, 11-for-32 (.344) this August, and according to MLB's fantasy projections, he is tracking to have about 2,941 hits by season's end, meaning milestone time in 2016.
A subscription to MLB.com At Bat Premium is included for free with MLB.TV Premium, a $19.99 value. So you can enjoy complete mobile portability to compatible smartphones and tablets, and that includes more than 400 supported devices. You also can enjoy the functionality of a new game scoreboard -- perfect for tracking rival clubs -- and multi-view design to watch multiple games and highlights at once.
The new Web-based media player (version 5.0) was introduced earlier this season. You'll notice the difference right away as the HD media player has an in-page layout with simplified user controls, so it all happens in your browser with no need for an additional download.
You can get 35 percent off of MLB.TV Premium if you're a college student using ID.me at checkout, and you can save up to 30 percent on MLB.TV Premium by inviting your friends when you sign up.
The half-price weekend sale is a good way to make sure you make the most of the days that remain. The season is heading toward its climax, and the story lines will be too good to miss. It's time for scoreboard-watching in earnest, and this is how to do it.