Apple and Major League Baseball announce first 12 weeks of “Friday Night Baseball” doubleheader schedule beginning April


Apple and Major League Baseball announce first 12 weeks of “Friday Night Baseball” doubleheader schedule beginning April 8

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Apple and Major League Baseball (MLB) today announced the first half of the 2022 “Friday Night Baseball” schedule. These scheduled games are available to anyone with internet access, for free, only on Apple TV+. “Friday Night Baseball” will premiere April 8 with two marquee games: the New York Mets versus the Washington Nationals, live from Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., beginning at 7 p.m. ET, featuring the anticipated Mets debut of three-time Cy Young Award-winner and eight-time All-Star Max Scherzer taking on All-Star Juan Soto and the Nationals; Boston Red Sox Jersey and the Houston Astros versus the Los Angeles Angels, live from Angel Stadium, beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET, featuring three-time American League MVP Mike Trout and reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani and the Angels taking on Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman and the defending American League Champion Astros. “Friday Night Baseball,” a weekly doubleheader, will be available to fans in eight countries exclusively on Apple TV+ on Fridays throughout the regular season.
On April 15, MLB will commemorate Jackie Robinson Day, marking the 75th anniversary of the Hall of Famer’s historic Major League debut. On that night, “Friday Night Baseball” will be there to celebrate this special occasion by featuring coverage of reigning American League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Randy Arozarena and the Tampa Bay Rays visiting All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson and the Chicago White Sox. Robinson’s MLB franchise, the Los Angeles Dodgers, will be featured as 2020 National League MVP Freddie Freeman and his new Dodger teammates host last season’s National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Jonathan India and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium.
“Friday Night Baseball” games will be available to anyone with internet access across devices where Apple TV+ can be found, including on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and HD, and on tv.apple.com, along with smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes. “Friday Night Baseball” will include live pre- and postgame shows, and will be available on Apple TV+ in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and for a limited time, without the need for a subscription.
Presentation details including additional game schedules through the regular season, broadcast teams, production enhancements, and pre- and postgame coverage will be announced at a later date.Earlier this month Apple announced an agreement with MLB to broadcast two games every Friday night - a doubleheader of sorts - although the games are not always exactly back to back; there is some existing overlap.

On Tuesday, Apple released the schedule for, ostensibly, Chicago White Sox Jersey  the first half of the 2022 season, and the Red Sox show up twice, each for home games. They’ll be on Apple TV while hosting the Chicago White Sox on May 6 at 7:00 PM ET, and also on May 27 when they host the Baltimore Orioles, also starting at 7:00 PM ET.

These games are exclusive to Apply TV+, meaning they will not be available on NESN. That said, at least to start the season you will not need a subscription to Apple TV+ to watch the games, but rather just need to have the app downloaded. From their press release, which also includes the entire first half schedule:What we don’t know is how long “a limited time” is before a subscription is required. It could be just the schedule through June 24 that was released today. It could mean the entire 2022 season. We also don’t know who will make up the Apple broadcast team for these games.

With the first game (New York Mets at Washington Nationals on April 8th at 7 PM ET) rushing to meet us, that seems like a big detail.

If Apple is making this a loss leader and broadcasting for free for a long definition of “limited time,” the games are a bit easier to watch than those exclusively on ESPN. But it’s also yet another network/app/login to follow the Sox. In the end, that’s disappointing when MLB.TV is is amazing product that is somehow structured to make watching your team difficult. Maybe some day the league will find a way to make watching games easier, not more difficult.
“Friday Night Baseball” Schedule on Apple TV+
Friday, April 8
New York Mets at Washington Nationals
7 p.m. ET

Houston Astros at Los Angeles Angels
9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, April 15
Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox
7 p.m. ET

Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers
10 p.m. ET
Friday, April 22
St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds
6:30 p.m. ET

Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics
9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, April 29
New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals
8 p.m. ET

Washington Nationals at San Francisco Giants
10 p.m. ET
Friday, May 6
Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox
7 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay Rays at Seattle Mariners
9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, May 13
San Diego Padres at Atlanta Braves
7 p.m. ET

Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks
9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, May 20
St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates
6:30 p.m. ET

Texas Rangers at Houston Astros
8 p.m. ET
Friday, May 27
Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox
7 p.m. ET

Toronto Blue Jays at Los Angeles Angels
9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, June 3
Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees
7 p.m. ET

Atlanta Braves at Colorado Rockies
8:30 p.m. ET
Friday, June 10
Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins
8 p.m. ET

New York Mets at Los Angeles Angels
9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, June 17
Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros
8 p.m. ET

Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers
10 p.m. ET
Friday, June 24
Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals
8 p.m. ET

Detroit Tigers at Arizona Diamondbacks
9:30 p.m. ET
About Apple TV+
Apple TV+, the first all-original video subscription service and Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys home of today’s most imaginative storytellers, offers an award-winning and inspiring lineup of original series, films, and now, sports, beginning with “Friday Night Baseball.” Subscribers can watch Apple TV+ Originals both online and offline — and on demand — on the Apple TV app, which comes preinstalled on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, and Mac, as well as online at tv.apple.com. The Apple TV app is also available on select smart TVs, including Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sony, TCL, VIZIO, and others; Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices; PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles; Chromecast with Google TV; and set-top boxes including Sky Q, SK Broadband, and Comcast Xfinity. More information is available at apple.com/apple-tv-app.