As a Yankees fan living in Cincinnati who also sort of roots for the Reds, I have a unique window into two baseball streaming worlds.

One is run by MLB.TV, whose out-of-market coverage lets me watch every Yankees game except those that are nationally televised. The other is run by Main Street Sports Group, whose FanDuel Sports Network app streams local Reds games.

The two services ought to be comparable, but there’s really no contest. The MLB app is by far the better way to watch baseball, but you can only use it under two conditions: Either your favorite team doesn’t play where you live (like the Yankees, in my case), or your local team is one of the 10 clubs that partners with the league for in-market streaming.

Otherwise, you’re stuck with whichever regional sports network operates in your area for standalone streaming, and the experience will probably be worse.

Why the MLB app is better

The differences between MLB.TV and FanDuel Sports Network are apparent as soon as I start streaming.

MLB.TV’s streams are always smoother out of the gate for me. While video quality can be blurry at the outset, within seconds the stream pops into clear HD quality. On my smart TV—a Hisense set running Google TV—FanDuel’s streams tend to stutter for the first 30 seconds or so, and while they eventually settle down, it’s initially more distracting to watch.

Catching up on games is also easier in the MLB app, which shows the inning count in its video player and overlays the score as you fast forward or rewind. That’s helpful for jumping directly to scoring plays, but FanDuel’s app offers nothing similar. And after the game, MLB’s app offers condensed games and recaps, whereas FanDuel’s app offers full replays only.

MLB’s app has some other neat features that make watching games more enjoyable. My favorite is the option to play the local radio broadcast in sync with the video telecast. (No disrespect to Michael Kay, but I want to hear how Dave Sims is acclimating to his new job.) There’s a statistical overlay for pitch sequences as well, though to be fair FanDuel’s app offers a similar feature.

Because MLB.TV’s service also streams other out-of-market games, you also can use its multiview feature to watch more than one game at a time on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Google TV devices. That’s not an option in FanDuel’s app, which doesn’t have much else to watch anyway.

All told, the MLB app just feels like a more lively place to watch baseball. You open the app and are instantly greeted with scores, schedules, and highlights. The FanDuel Sports Network app feels barren and overly utilitarian by comparison.

What should be done about it

No matter how you pay for the games, you should be able to watch them in the MLB app, where the experience is just better, though that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.

As of 2025, five MLB teams (the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Rockies, Twins, and Padres) partner directly with the league to distribute in-market games, priced at $100 for the season or $200 when bundled with MLB.TV’s out-of-market coverage. For five additional teams, the league partners with their respective regional sports networks to offer in-market streaming through the MLB app.

That leaves 20 teams whose in-market games aren’t available through the MLB app. Local fans of those teams who don’t want an entire live TV streaming package must instead rely on whatever standalone streaming service their nearest regional sports network offers. In the case of the Reds and eight other teams, that’s FanDuel Sports Network. (A few teams don’t offer standalone options at all.)

In the near term, it’d be great if those networks could partner with the league on authenticated access to the MLB app. The technical capability to stream any game already exists—Reds fans who live outside of Ohio can watch them with an MLB.TV subscription—and the MLB app already offers authenticated access for Mets and Dodgers fans who get SNY or SportsNet LA as part of a pay TV package respectively. There should be a system where subscribers to FanDuel Sports Network, Gotham Sports, and other standalone regional sports services could sign into the MLB app as well.

Over the long term, the league should just offer in-market streaming access nationwide, with no blackouts. That’s reportedly been the plan for years—here’s a rumor from 2021, and here’s one from last week that says the league wants to partner with a larger streamer on such an offering—but commandeering the rights from regional sports networks has been a slog. CNBC’s Alex Sherman says not to expect any significant moves until 2028, when the league’s major media rights deals expire.

In the meantime, the 2025 season is another reminder of how baseball streaming is a case of haves and have nots. Here in Cincinnati, I’m a little of both.

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Author: Jared Newman, Contributor