MLB Extra Innings vs. MLB.TV

Best overall
Covers in-market games
Need a cable or satellite subscription
View Plans
Best for out-of-market
Covers out-of-market games
Local games blacked out
View Plans
Tyler Abbott
Researcher & Writer
See all articles
Apr 03, 2019

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and that can only mean one thing: baseball season is upon us. It’s going to be a very interesting season.

Remember what happened the last off-season? Record-high deals were being handed out like hotcakes to Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, and now it’s time to find out if it was all worth it.

The question now is, should you watch the action on MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV? Let’s find out.

MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV?

Both of these services were made for baseball junkies, so let’s break down the two baseball streaming services.

MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV package details

Package detailsMLB Extra InningsMLB.TV
Annual prices$177.90 (DIRECTV), $164.12 (XFINITY), $165 (DISH)$118.99
Month-to-month plansYesYes
Streaming optionYesYes
Cable subscriptionRequiredNot required
ExtrasMLB.TV, Game Mix, MLB Network Strike ZoneMLB Gameday Audio, At Bat Premium app
Learn moreView PackagesView Packages
Info Box icon

Wait... you get MLB.TV with MLB Extra Innings?

You do! MLB.TV (and other channels) come with your MLB Extra Innings subscription package. It’s how you catch all those out-of-market games.

Use the flowchart below to see if you should use MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV.

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Basically, it all boils down to where you live.

If you live in the same market as your favorite team, go with a cable or satellite subscription and get MLB Extra Innings—you’ll get your local sports channels along with 90 out-of-market games a week.

If you live outside your favorite team’s market, though, go with the stand-alone streaming service MLB.TV. You can opt to get single-team coverage for a cheaper price, or you could pay extra for access to the entire league playing outside your market.

MLB Extra Innings

What is MLB Extra Innings?

MLB Extra Innings gets you out-of-market baseball coverage on top of your local coverage. You can only sign up for MLB Extra Innings if you have a cable or satellite subscription.

You’ve no doubt noticed that you pay more for MLB Extra Innings than you would for MLB.TV. So, what makes MLB Extra Innings worth the extra dough? Here are some of the perks that you get with MLB Extra Innings:

  • All out of market games
  • MLB Network access
  • Watch eight games at the same time
  • Works with your cable or satellite subscription

When you combine your MLB Extra Innings subscription with your cable or satellite subscription, you get access to the entire league. Yes, including your beloved hometown Phillies, Dodgers, or Red Sox.

The downside is that you’re paying a lot more when you factor in cable or satellite prices on top of your MLB Extra Innings subscription. But if you’re looking for an option that gets you a full TV service along with all the baseball you can handle, MLB Extra Innings has you covered.

Let’s take a look at all the main cable and satellite services that offer MLB Extra Innings.

MLB Extra Innings prices and plans

MLB Extra Innings provider comparison

ProviderPriceAvailable offers
DIRECTV$35–$110/mo.View Plans
Xfinity$49.99–$104.99/mo.View Plans
DISH$59.99–$89.99/mo.View Plans

DIRECTV

You can add MLB Extra Innings to any DIRECTV package. Even with the most basic DIRECTV packages, you’ll get your local sports regional channels, so feel free to go with a cheaper option. (Hey, if you’re going to pay $177.90 for MLB Extra Innings, you might as well save a few bucks with a cheaper satellite package.)

So, what are your package options for DIRECTV? If only you could read some thorough review assessing your options . . . oh wait, there’s a DIRECTV review right here.

XFINITY

If you happen to live in an area that supports XFINITY cable, you’re in luck, friend. Going with XFINITY over DIRECTV will save you a little over $10 for MLB Extra Innings. Yes, $10 isn’t a ton of money, but it does get you a Chipotle burrito (which sounds good right now). Overall, it’ll cost you $164.12 for the whole MLB season.

Now, what are you getting yourself into with XFINITY? Get all the deets in our XFINITY review.

DISH

Within the larger question of MLB Extra Innings vs. MLB.TV, there’s another battle going on: DISH versus DIRECTV. When it comes to watching as much baseball as possible, DISH is cheaper—and for many of us, that makes it better.

Like with DIRECTV, you can opt for any DISH package and add MLB Extra Innings to the equation. It’ll cost you $165 flat for season coverage. Which just so happens to be around $12 cheaper than DIRECTV. (Now you can get a Chipotle burrito and some guac with the money you save.)

Before you sign up for anything, get all the details in our DISH review.

Should I get MLB Extra Innings?

MLB Extra Innings makes a lot of sense if you already have DISH, DIRECTV, or XFINITY, or if you’re thinking about biting the bullet and signing up for one.

Unfortunately, MLB.TV will leave you hanging when it comes to watching your local team, but when you combine MLB Extra Innings with a cable or satellite subscription, you’re suddenly a five-tool baseball viewer. Heck yes.

MLB.TV

What is MLB.TV?

MLB.TV is a stand-alone streaming service that gets you out-of-market baseball games with no strings attached. No need to sign up for a cable or satellite subscription with MLB.TV.

MLB.TV plans and prices

MLB.TV plan comparison

PlanPriceAvailable Offers
Single Team$91.99 for the seasonView Plan
All Teams$118.99 for the season or $24.99/mo.View Plan

You’ve got two options for MLB.TV—Single Team coverage for $91.99 yearly, or All Teams coverage for $118.99 yearly or $24.99 monthly. Let’s find out how deep of a baseball fanatic you really are.

Single Team coverage

Let’s say you grew up in San Diego, California. For years, you’ve watched the Padres underperform and disappoint, but all of a sudden, you’ve got Manny Machado on your team and a nice crop of young talent coming up through the farm.

And then, you have to move to Utah for a job. Well, the MLB.TV Single Team coverage will be perfect for you.

If all you want to do is watch your favorite out-of-market team, Single Team coverage is perfect for you.

All Teams coverage

When one team just isn’t enough, you can get coverage for every out-of-market team with the All Teams coverage subscription. You only pay an extra $30 or so compared to the Single Team coverage, which might be enough considering the many hours of baseball you’ll get in return.

Should I get MLB.TV?

MLB.TV makes a lot of sense for fans who don’t have a cable or satellite subscription and aren’t interested in signing up for one. You can get all the baseball you can handle with no strings attached. Just watch out for blackouts. (Speaking of which . . .)

Beware of blackouts

In addition to cost, there’s another factor to consider before you commit your hard-earned dollar: the Blackout Factor. (A warning in advance—you may not like this.)

Each baseball team has a deal in place with a regional sports network (RSN) serving that market. For instance, the New York Yankees broadcast almost all of their games on the YES Network, with a few games broadcast on national providers like ESPN or FOX.

So if you live in the New York market, you won’t be able to see Yankees (or New York Mets) games on either MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV, as baseball “protects” the RSN by blacking them out from the local market, defined by zip codes.

On the other hand, either package works great for the fan who doesn’t reside in the home market. Yankees fans living in Florida have fairly inexpensive options available between the two packages that allow them to keep tabs on their team day in and day out.

This particular issue remains a point of contention for many who want to dump traditional distributors like DISH and DIRECTV and go with a streaming setup. Some markets with FOX RSNs now allow you to stream in-market games, but you have to use your username and password from your provider, meaning you are still paying for cable or satellite service.

What’s blacked out in my area?

Not sure which team or teams are blacked out in your area? Enter your zip code in MLB.com’s blackout restriction tool and see which teams aren’t available in your area based on the current rules and regulations.

Time to enjoy baseball season

Warm weather and baseball. Is there a better combination? I think not. Whether you go with MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, make sure you enjoy the season.

So, what service did you go with? What’s your experience been like? Any regrets? Let us know in the comments below.

Tyler Abbott
Written by
Tyler Abbott
Tyler has been obsessed with watching sports as efficiently as possible since the creation of the DVR. He is always on the lookout for the best tech in TV and wireless so he can watch all the sports and still have enough time to hang out with his baby. He has written about streaming, wireless, and TV for over three years. He hopes the Lakers will eventually get better.
Tyler has been obsessed with watching sports as efficiently as possible since the creation of the DVR. He is always on the lookout for the best tech in TV and wireless so he can watch all the sports and still have enough time to hang out with his baby. He has written about streaming, wireless, and TV for over three years. He hopes the Lakers will eventually get better.
  • grote15

    A lot of people say they have problems streaming their MLB TV onto their TVs. I have a ROKU device and a reg HD TV. Will I have any problems.? What other devices work well if I want to stream to a 2nd TV?

    • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

      The ROKU should work fine. Here is the MLB page for more info: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?product=roku

      If you want to try another device, there’s plenty to choose from: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?content=products

      Still, we hear the ROKU is the best; however, aside from the streaming device, an internet service that can handle streaming is the most important thing you’ll need.

      • Lyle

        If I get MLB.TV can I record games? I’ve had extra innings on direct tv for 4 years now and love it

        • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

          No, but you can watch games live or on demand.

    • Chris

      I’ve never had issues with MLB TV on Roku. It obviously all depends on your internet but you get great options with audio. If I remember correctly, you can watch the TV broadcast with the radio broadcast audio, or even just cut out all audio and you get the sound in the park as if you were there!

  • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

    Sounds like it, and that’s a nice benefit.

  • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

    Yeah, that sounds terrible. We’re curious if others have a similar experience…

  • Donald Banhart

    I have had both of these services. And in my honest opinion. I’m going to pay for TV regardless so that is not an issue. While Yes MLB TV is cheaper. I like the extra innings pkg because. I can switch between games much faster plus. I don’t have to rely on internet connection. Plus it comes with MLB TV, which I love for streaming on the go. And lastly, I really enjoy watching the commercials from other cities, and Canada. Well that’s my opinion. Hope it helps.

    • Birch

      Go easy on the periods there, Donald.

  • Beverly Griffen

    I’ve watched at least one game every day on MLB.TV since 2013 and can count the number of streaming issues I’ve had on one hand. So I don’t believe this is a problem MLB.TV as much as with various internet providers. However, if your internet service isn’t consistent or is hated with a lot of other users, I see where it would be impacted.

    I got Extra Innings in 2015 to try it as it seemed like it would be more convenient. I was extremely disappointed. I wanted to watch the Giants games, which are usually one of the the later games of the day. Over 75% of the games had another gam still going on on that channel so I missed the first few innings of my game. Also, they didn’t have both Home and Away broadcasts for every game – they did for most but it wasn’t 100% of the time (and I’m. It just talking about when it was a national broadcast. The other big frustration that they didn’t mention was that only about 25-30% of the games shown were in HD – most were in SD. I know I’m picky about this but I don’t like to watch sports in SD. ALL games on MLB.TV are in HD.

    These two issues could have changed and improved since 2015 – I haven’t tried it again since then. Also, I don’t need to view local games as I can do that on regular cable and I understand MLB.TV isn’t as effective for local viewers.

    With Extra Innings, Comcast automatically renewed it the following year even though I cancelled it at the end of the season. I ended up having to call 3 different times to get it off my bill.

    One other perk MLB.TV offers now on tablets & smartphones is access to MLB Network live programming (once you log in with your cable provider). I don’t use that a ton but it has been nice when traveling and MLB isn’t part of the TV service where I’m staying.

  • disqus_obmuiGNhJz

    I hate that they post the real time scores on the Roku app. You have to go through the screen to get a game. I want to watch the game from the beginning and not have any spoilers. If I want the scores, I’ll go to my phone.

    • Craig Hanks

      Go to the settings and turn on the “hide scores” option. It will hide all spoilers across the app.