Earlier this week, Apple hosted its “Peek Performance” event. While the company took plenty of time to talk about new products, like the green iPhone 13 options, it also broke the news that it’s making the leap to streaming live sports, too. Up first is Major League Baseball, with Apple TV+ hosting “Friday Night Baseball” on a weekly basis.
Let's play ball. #FridayNightBaseball is coming April 8. https://t.co/3O0jg6prSe
— Apple TV+ (@AppleTVPlus) March 11, 2022
So, good news for folks who like baseball. And yet, at the same time, for the folks who follow along with the MLB news cycle, it came with some hesitation. When that announcement was made by Apple, the MLB and MLB Players Association were still in a pretty heated labor dispute, which had already led to the delay of Spring Training games.
And there wasn’t any guarantee that we’d have a 2022-2023 season, either.
However, things quickly developed after that streaming announcement, and the two groups came to terms not too long after. Which means the upcoming season, which is set to start in April, will officially be underway sooner rather than later. And that means fans will actually be able to watch Friday night games via Apple TV+.
And today, the official Apple TV+ Twitter account confirmed as much. Friday Night Baseball will start streaming on Friday, April 8, 2022.
Of course, the deal is pretty big for Apple, and baseball fans, because it’s not just about streaming a couple of games on Friday nights. Here’s what the deal entails:
- A nightly live show called MLB Big Inning, which will offer highlights and look-ins at games during the regular season
- A new 24/7 livestream with MLB game replays, news and analysis, highlights, classic games and more (US and Canada only)
- A full compliment of on-demand programming, including highlights and MLB-themed original content (US and Canada only)
- Enhanced MLB coverage with in-article highlights on Apple News
Most of these details were rumored off and on for quite some time, so it’s good to see it finally come to fruition. Especially now that the labor dispute(s) have been hashed out and we’ll actually get to watch some baseball this year.
As mentioned in the tweet above, Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+ will be free to watch for a limited time. The experience will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the UK. Apple says availability will expand in the future.
Are you looking forward to watching live baseball via Apple TV+?