Nothing is more frustrating than trying to watch your favorite MLB team only to find the game is blacked out in your location. Out-of-market MLB games may result in you missing out on much of the 2023 MLB season. Fortunately, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can help you get around this. Find out how you can use a VPN to stream out-of-market MLB games regardless of your physical location. We’ll also cover the key options for live streaming games.
A VPN is a service through which you can spoof your location. This involves connecting your streaming device to a VPN server that changes your IP address. In this case, connecting to a server in another US state allows you to bypass blackout restrictions and watch out-of-market MLB games from anywhere. The best VPNs for streaming sports let you stream securely and with no bandwidth throttling.
How to watch out-of-market MLB games with a VPN
We’ll cover all of the options for watching out-of-market MLB games (combined with a VPN) further below. First, here are some brief step-by-step instructions so you can get started:
Here’s how to watch out-of-market MLB games by using a VPN:
- Start by signing up with a quality VPN provider. We recommend NordVPN, although Surfshark and ExpressVPN are also highly capable of bypassing blackouts.
- Next, you’ll need to download and install the VPN app that’s compatible with your streaming device. Note that all of the recommended VPNs above have desktop apps.
- Open the VPN app and connect to a server where the game you want to watch isn’t blacked out.
- Go to MLB.TV and select your preferred MLB game. The game should now stream without restriction.
- Still blacked out? Clear your cookies and cache to make sure MLB forgets your previous IP address and location. You may need to try more than one server. Failing this, your VPN’s customer support may be able to provide further assistance.
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What are out-of-market games?
Often a source of frustration for fans, out-of-market games are those that aren’t available in a specific broadcast region. This prevents you from being able to live stream your local team’s games that are only available via traditional cable TV through a local broadcaster such as ABC or Fox.
The MLB sells broadcast rights to these local broadcasters and, as a result, streaming services have no choice but to black out streams to comply with these licensing agreements. The good news is that there are ways you can watch out-of-market MLB games with the help of a VPN.
Watch out-of-market MLB games with a VPN
MLB.TV
The best way to watch out-of-market MLB games is with MLB.TV. Pricing varies according to when in the season you sign up but you can expect to pay roughly $150 for a full year. An “All Teams Yearly” subscription is described by MLB.TV as including “every out-of-market game live or on demand”. Note that it’s still subject to restrictions including blackouts.
In order to be able to stream any out-of-market MLB game live, you’ll need to use a VPN. This involves connecting to a server in another US state in order to bypass local blackout restrictions. For example, if you’re located in New York, you’d want to connect to a server outside of the state of New York to live stream Mets and Yankees games.
NordVPN works well with MLB.TV and includes a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try it out risk-free.
Sling TV
Sling TV is another great option for watching out-of-market MLB games. That’s because it carries channels including ESPN, FS1, TBS, MLB Network, and FOX. In order to gain access to the highest number of MLB games, your best bet is signing up for both Sling Orange and Blue ($55 a month but currently half off your first month) and adding the Sports Extra package ($15 a month). You can save $76 when you prepay five months (starting at $274).
While this option works out more expensive than MLB.TV, you will gain access to many more channels including the likes of AMC, Comedy Central, NFL Network, and TNT. Much like MLB.TV, Sling TV is only available in the US. This requires connecting to a VPN server in the US to access its content. Most major VPNs have servers in multiple US cities so you should be able to bypass local blackout restrictions too.
Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV
Note that while alternative TV streaming services such as Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV also carry channels showing MLB games (ABC and FOX, for example), they don’t include MLB Network. Furthermore, they’re comparatively expensive with Hulu priced at $69.99 a month and Youtube TV at $72.99/month. Both services require you to have a US IP address (you can get one via a VPN service) in order to access and stream their content.
Watch out-of-market MLB games: FAQs
Can I use a free VPN to watch out-of-market MLB games?
Unfortunately, free VPNs are usually too good to be true. They tend to offer only a very small number of servers and IP addresses. Not all paid VPNs work with MLB.TV and even fewer free VPNs allow you to access its content. Indeed, MLB.TV actively blocks VPN IP addresses, making it difficult to access. Besides, free VPNs are too slow for streaming anyway. Most free VPNs engage in bandwidth throttling, resulting in heavy lag.
It’s also important to know that free VPNs may lack many of the essential security features that keep you safe online. For example, some may not properly encrypt your data, leaving you vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Consider also how a VPN makes its money. This may be through the logging and selling of your data — your browsing activity included. All in all, free VPNs aren’t suitable for watching out-of-market MLB games or if you’d like to browse securely.
Is it legal to watch out-of-market MLB games with a VPN?
While it’s legal to watch out-of-market MLB games, it’s fair to say that it goes against MLB.com’s Terms of Use which takes a hard stance against any attempt to bypass blackout restrictions. In fact, it even goes on to say that “your subscription will be subject to immediate termination and a charge of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for early termination.” It even mentions potential legal action.
While this all sounds scary, we’ve yet to hear of this actually happening. Instead, MLB.TV is more likely to block the IP address in question in order to comply with existing copyright and licensing laws. If this does happen to you, all you need to do is connect to a different server to change your IP address, and continue streaming as normal. You may need to clear your browser’s cache and cookies in order for the changes to take effect however.
Note: we are not lawyers and nothing in this article should be taken as legal advice.
Will a VPN slow my connection when streaming MLB games?
A VPN will slow your connection to an extent. This is due to the fact that a VPN encrypts your data and routes it to its own server before it travels to its destination (in this case MLB.TV).
Some VPNs will be too slow for streaming MLB games but that’s not the case for our top recommended VPNs such as NordVPN.
NordVPN uses a fast VPN protocol (NordLynx which is based on the WireGuard protocol) and offers unlimited bandwidth. As such, the difference in speed needn’t be noticeable and you should be able to live stream MLB games in 1080p HD without performance issues such as lag or buffering.
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