Save on MLB.TV Premium during Father's Week

Matt Sperling inherited the love of baseball from his father, Bob. Together they rooted for the Dodgers and followed Vin Scully's call whenever possible.

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Three years ago, the younger Sperling moved up the coast to the Bay Area to take a job as in-house legal counsel for Addepar, a tech startup in the private wealth-management software space. Surrounded by rival Giants fans, he turned to MLB.TV to watch live out-of-market games.

"Not only did that mean working with many Giants fans, it meant I was no longer going to get to see the Dodgers on local broadcasts," Sperling said in an email to MLB.com. "I subscribed to MLB.TV and I haven't missed many Dodgers games since. I watch at my desk at work during the occasional day game, I watch on my Android phone [HTC One M8] on my train commute from Mountain View to San Francisco, I watch on my iPad at home and my Roku 3 at home. It sounds like a lot but each device was easy to set up and each runs smoothly in HD."

For reasons like this one, Major League Baseball Advanced Media announced on Monday a special Father's Week promotion, from now through this Sunday's Father Day celebrations. The yearly subscription cost is being slashed in half, to $49.99 for MLB.TV Premium and $39.99 for MLB.TV. To make the deal even sweeter, this offer will include a code for RBI Baseball 15 that is included for free.

"As I write this, I'm in Charlotte for a convention," Sperling said on Sunday. "Last night, I got back to my hotel room after dinner just in time to catch the last five innings of Dodgers vs. D-backs. [Zack] Grienke, who I believe will win the Cy Young this year, ended up picking up his second loss of the season, but I can't blame MLB.TV for that.

"Getting the Vin Scully audio whenever available has been great. My dad taught me to appreciate what we have in Vin and I'm incredible lucky to still be listening to him, whenever I am on whichever device, all these years later. I don't have kids myself, but when I do they'll be learning about Vin as soon as they're old enough to take in a game or an old highlight."

MLB.TV recently introduced its new Web-based media player (version 5.0). You'll notice the difference right away as the HD media player has an in-page layout, so it all happens in your browser with no need for an additional download.

Simplified user controls improve the user experience. A clickable linescore lets you jump between innings or to single-game highlights. The multiview design provides an easy way to watch multiple games at once -- a key asset for fantasy owners. You can watch highlights in a secondary picture-in-picture window.

This is a perfect Father's Week gift that can be given immediately, whether you are doing the giving or the receiving. Even Terry Virts used MLB.TV in his spare time while aboard the International Space Station as commander, before he returned to Earth on Thursday. He was looking forward to watching his Astros in person, with a familiar companion, another reminder about the time-honored rite of passage.

"Going to Astros games with my son has been one of the best parts of living in Houston," Virts said. "We've made a lifetime of memories at the ballpark."