After a heavily truncated season last year, Major League Baseball is back in full swing! We’re looking destined for a battle for the ages between old rivals in the Dodgers and the Yankees. Follow our guide for all the best and easiest ways to get a MLB live stream and catch every 2021 baseball game online wherever you are in the world.
2021 MLB live stream
The 2021 Major League Baseball season runs from April 1 to November 3. All being well, the World Series set to begin on October 26. In the US, MLB.TV and Sling TV are both excellent choices for cord-cutters, as are BT Sport in the UK, Kayo Sports in Australia, and you can get around blackouts with the help of a good VPN.
For the first time in more than 30 years, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the reigning champions, having defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in game six of the World Series after finishing the regular season with a 43–17 (.717) record, the best in MLB.
Curse finally lifted, the champs are the early favorites to advance to the World Series from the NL, but big things are also expected from NL West rivals the San Diego Padres.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ old enemies, the New York Yankees, are the front-runners from the AL. But the AL East is stacked, and the Yanks will need to better the Toronto Blue Jays and last season’s runners-up, the Tampa Bay Rays, if they’re to secure their first World Series championship in more than 10 years.
Whatever unfolds over the coming weeks and months, our guide has your covered – here’s how to get an MLB live stream this season and catch every 2021 Major League Baseball game online from anywhere on Earth.
How to watch MLB blackout games and stream baseball from outside your country
A VPN is becoming an essential bit of kit for baseball fans for two reasons. Firstly, MLB blackout rules mean that you can’t use its otherwise comprehensive MLB.TV streaming service to watch teams within your own market – fine for Yankees fans living in Seattle, not so great for those in the Bronx.
It’s a real pain for cord-cutters, but fortunately, VPNs help you get around this by allowing you to relocate your IP address to a different location. This means you can still be sitting in your NYC apartment, but your computer will be rerouted to a server in a different part of the country – thereby allowing you to watch the Yankees (or Mets) just like you would if you had a fancy cable package.
Secondly, if you find yourself abroad at all during the 2021 MLB season, you’ll likely find you’re unable to access your usual baseball coverage like you would at home. This isn’t necessarily cause for alarm, but rather the result of geo-blocking – best understood as digital borders that restrict certain services and content to certain parts of the world.
Use a VPN to watch an MLB live stream from anywhere
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MLB live stream: watch every game in the US without cable
Baseball coverage in the US is something of a minefield and varies dramatically across the country, but we’ll do our best to break it down as simply as possible.
How to live stream on MLB.TV
The best end-to-end live streaming option for the 2021 MLB season is MLB.TV, which live streams every game from every team, including the playoffs and World Series. It costs $129.99 but a free trials are available – or you could follow one team’s games for $109.99 (blackout restrictions apply).
As explained above, MLB blackout rules mean you can’t use MLB.TV to watch teams in your own market – but you can get around this by taking the VPN route and pointing your computer to an out-of-market location.
When it does work it’s great, as you not only get a live stream of your game of choice, but also the option of home or away team commentary, Spanish language audio, companion apps for nearly any modern device, and a super-smooth 60fps feed.
How to watch MLB 2021 without cable
Select MLB games are also shown on cable TV networks – namely TBS, Fox Sports, FS1, ESPN and MLB Network. These are typically prime-time affairs and it’s easy to access these channels if you don’t have cable (or want to pay for an upgrade). Sports streaming specialist ESPN Plus has a game each day, too.
Of the many over-the-top streaming options, we think Sling TV is the best fit for most baseball fans. The combined Sling Blue and Orange package costs $50 per month and covers ESPN, TBS and Fox Sports – all the cable channels a baseball fan needs to watch the biggest games in one place.
$10 adds Sports Extra and MLB Network (plus NHL Network, NBA TV, beIN Sports, ESPN U, Tennis Channel and more). Plus, Sling usually offers new subscribers a bargain – right now you can save big bucks with this Sling TV deal.
NYY fans based in the Yankees’ home-team footprint can also watch 21 games on Amazon Prime. Try the famous FREE 30-day Amazon Prime Video free trial today.
Don’t forget, you can take your favorite MLB streaming coverage with you wherever you are with the help of a good VPN – try the best around, ExpressVPN 100% risk-free for 30 days.
How to watch MLB 2021 on local TV
Regional TV networks are baseball fans’ bread and butter, bringing you day-in, day-out coverage of all your local team’s games. Examples include YES Network (Yankees), NESN (Red Sox) and Spectrum SportsNet (Dodgers). They’ll typically have a streaming option built-in to their website, which you’ll be able to access by signing in with details of your TV provider.
If you don’t have cable, then most MLB teams (24 of 30) also have their local TV channel covered by an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service (as discussed above)
(Image credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
How to watch MLB: live stream baseball in Canada
If you’re looking to watch the Toronto Blue Jays or even your favorite US baseball team, there are a number of ways to watch the 2021 MLB action in Canada.
Baseball fans with a cable subscription can watch Major League Baseball games on Sportsnet, TVA Sports, TSN and RDS. These channels will let you watch games online, too – either by registering with details of your pay TV provider, or by signing up for a standalone streaming package.
Bear in mind though, that Sportsnet is the official coverage provider for the Blue Jays, and its Sportsnet Now service is perfect for cord-cutting fans in Canada, costing just $19.99 a month – but for a limited time you can sign up for just $12.50 per month with an annual pass.
The other great option is again MLB.TV, which is also available in Canada, with only the Blue Jays subject to blackouts. And don’t forget that using a VPN is the way to get an MLB live stream if you’re away from Canada when the game you want to watch is on.
How to watch a baseball live stream online in the UK
BT Sport will be showing plenty of Major League Baseball action this season, usually on BT Sport ESPN. Not every game will be shown, but the primetime action will be prioritised.
The BT Sport app will let subscribers watch the MLB on any number of devices, including mobiles, tablets, consoles and smart TVs. Don’t forget that BT now has a new £25 monthly sports pass, so you can get all that BT Sport goodness without a long-term commitment.
If you find yourself outside the UK and want to watch the baseball like you would at home, don’t worry about geo-blocks on your account – simply grab a VPN and follow the instructions above to live stream the action.
MLB live stream: how to watch online in Australia
Baseball fans Down Under will find that premium TV provider Foxtel is the rights-holder in Australia for the MLB 2021 season.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, as it means most if not all of the action will be available to stream online through slick streaming platform Kayo.
Newbies can take advantage of a FREE Kayo trial to see if the service is right for them. For those who decide to keep it, Kayo price plans start from a super affordable AUD$25 a month – really good value considering how much premium live sports action it hosts.
Not in Australia? Aussies abroad looking to watch an MLB live stream should find that a good VPN helps them access their home streaming services wherever they are.
Please note: Australia’s digital borders are among the most robust in the world and even the best VPN services couldn’t always effectively access Oz-based streaming sites like Kayo from abroad, based on our latest March 2021 testing.