How to watch ‘Friday Night Baseball’ on Apple TV+

Macworld

Apple TV+ is in the midst of streaming the second season of Friday Night Baseball, a weekly doubleheader of Major League Baseball games. If you watched the first season, then you need to know about one major change for the upcoming season: an Apple TV+ subscription is required to watch the games. Here’s how to watch Friday Night Baseball.

We also run through all the ways you can get Apple TV+ for free in a separate article.

Updated March 8, 2024: Apple has announced the Friday Night Baseball schedule for the 2024 season through June.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Schedule

Apple has posted the Friday Night Baseball schedule through August 30. The two games will air on separate streams, so the length of the first game will not affect the start time of the second game. These are the upcoming games on the schedule:

Friday, March 29New York Yankees at Houston Astros8 p.m. ET

St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers10 p.m. ET

Friday, April 5New York Mets at Cincinnati Reds6:30 p.m. ET

Houston Astros at Texas Rangers8 p.m. ET

Friday, April 12Milwaukee Brewers at Baltimore Orioles7 p.m. ET

Chicago Cubs at Seattle Mariners9:30 p.m. ET

Friday, April 19Texas Rangers at Atlanta Braves7 p.m. ET

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants10 p.m. ET

Friday, April 26St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets7 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox7:30 p.m. ET

Friday, May 3San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies6:30 p.m. ET

Toronto Blue Jays at Washington Nationals6:30 p.m. ET

Friday, May 10Arizona Diamondbacks at Baltimore Orioles7 p.m. ET

Kansas City Royals at Los Angeles Angels9:30 p.m. ET

Friday, May 17Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays7 p.m. ET

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Guardians7 p.m. ET

Friday, May 24Milwaukee Brewers at Boston Red Sox7 p.m. ET

Baltimore Orioles at Chicago White Sox7:30 p.m. ET

Friday, May 31Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox7 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle Mariners10 p.m. ET

Friday, June 7Minnesota Twins at Pittsburgh Pirates6:30 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees7 p.m. ET

Friday, June 14Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners10 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Angels at San Francisco Giants10 p.m. ET

Friday, June 21Arizona Diamondbacks at Philadelphia Phillies6:30 p.m. ET

Atlanta Braves at New York Yankees7 p.m. ET

Friday, June 28Houston Astros at New York Mets7 p.m. ET

San Diego Padres at Boston Red Sox7 p.m. ET

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: How to watch

Friday Night Baseball requires an Apple TV+ subscription. An Apple TV+ subscription costs $6.99/£6.99 per month, and there are numerous ways to get Apple TV+ for free for a few months. You can also sign up for Apple One, which is a package of Apple services that includes Apple TV+. The prices for Apple One range from $16.95/£16.95 per month for an individual plan to $32.95/£32.95 per month for family plans.

Once you sign up for Apple TV+, here’s how to watch Friday Night Baseball.

On Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro: Friday Night Baseball will be available through the TV app. Click on the Originals tab and then scroll down to Major League Baseball.

On Apple TV 4K and HD: Go to the Sports tab and scroll down to Major League Baseball. From there, you can see the schedule and add games to your Up Next queue.

On the web: Apple TV+ is available through a browser at tv.apple.com. If Friday Night Baseball isn’t appearing in the marquee spot at the top of the page, scroll down and look for the Major League Baseball section.

On a smart TV or set-top box: Many smart TVs and set-top boxes come with the Apple TV app installed. If not, you can search for it through the App Store on your device (Amazon, Google, Roku, etc.). If you can’t find the Apple TV app, check your device for a software update.

If you have a business in the U.S., Friday Night Baseball will be available on DirectTV for Business, which caters to bars, restaurants, and other venues. In Canada, Friday Night Baseball will be available through several different providers.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Where to watch

Friday Night Baseball games are available in 60 countries and regions, including:

Australia

Brazil

Canada

Columbia

Dominican Republic

Germany

Italy

Japan

Mexico

Puerto Rico

South Korea

United Kingdom

United States

Besides the games, Apple offers baseball shows that are available only in the U.S. and Canada. Those shows include “MLB Big Inning,” “Countdown to First Pitch,” “MLB Daily Recap,” and “MLB This Week.”

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Streaming quality

While games will not be shown in 4K, Apple announced that game broadcasts will employ “state-of-the-art cameras, including high-speed Phantoms, the high-resolution Megalodon, and more throughout the season to present vivid, live-action shots.” Additionally, audio will be presented in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled. “Friday Night Baseball” will also use “new on-screen graphics that include innovative new probabilities-based forecasts of different situational outcomes, plus highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast,” according to Apple.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Vision Pro Immersive Video

While baseball fans subscribing to MLB.TV can enjoy a “fully immersive, three-dimensional viewing environment within a digitally rendered MLB ballpark with interactive statistics, play-by-play and other features that can be fully controlled by the user, including enhanced data visualizations powered by Statcast,” Apple has yet to implement any Immersive Video for watching Friday Night Baseball on Vision Pro. Apple previewed MLB games during its demos of VIsion Pro, however, so they may be coming later this season.

Apple TV+: How to listen to home team audio

After getting a lot of criticism for its broadcasters last season, Apple switched up its broadcasters this year with a new team including Wayne Randazzo (play-by-play), Dontrelle Willis (analyst), Heidi Watney (sideline reporter), Alex Faust (play-by-play), Ryan Spilborghs (analyst), and Tricia Whitaker (sideline reporter). But fans in the U.S. and Canada (only Blue Jays games) also have the option to listen to the audio of the home and away teams’ local radio broadcasts during “Friday Night Baseball” games. To find it, click, the three-dot button on iPhone and iPad or the sound icon on Mac and Apple TV, then select audio and change to the home or away broadcast.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Expanded coverage

Apple announced that the games will include pre- and post-game coverage hosted by Lauren Gardner with a rotating group of analysts and former players, including Carlos Peña, Cliff Floyd, and Yonder Alonso. For the 2023 season, Apple added Wayne Randazzo, Dontrelle Willis, Heidi Watney, Alex Faust, Ryan Spilborghs, and Tricia Whitaker to the game broadcast team. Broadcast teams for each game will be announced on a weekly basis.

The broadcast teams are all MLB Network personalities, and Apple is relying on the MLB Network for its telecast production. In a press release, Apple stated that the production involves high-speed Phantom and high-resolution Megalodon cameras, immersive sound in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled, new on-screen graphics that include probabilities-based forecasts, and highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast.

Games also display on-screen callouts about batters’ walk-up songs from Apple Music, Siri-based baseball trivia, and more. 

Apple will also offer shows with more baseball coverage. On Thursdays, “Countdown to First Pitch” previews the week’s upcoming games. Every morning, “MLB Daily Recap” shows highlights from the previous night. Every weeknight, “MLB Big Inning,” features highlights and coverage of the games in progress. In the U.S. and Canada, viewers can watch a live stream of highlights, analysis, classic games and shows, and more, in addition to on-demand programming. However, access to this content will require an Apple TV+ subscription.

MLB in Apple News and Apple Music

On Fridays, Apple News will have curated highlights and stories from around MLB, and you can get personalized MLB highlights in the News app.

Apple Music has playlists of batters’ walk-up songs from teams featured on Friday Night Baseball. There are also collections of songs with the theme of baseball.

Apple TV, Streaming Media