Making some sense of the new ESPN/MLB.TV streaming partnership and what it means to fans

Boston Red Sox

Turns out it’s not the simplest deal to parse, and several readers reached out to ask what exactly they have to do to get MLB.TV for the upcoming season.

By Chad Finn

February 14, 2026 | 12:54 PM

4 minutes to read

Last week, while most New England sports media and fans were in all-Super Bowl, all-the-time mode, ESPN and MLB.TV announced the parameters of a new partnership that makes the network its streaming home.

Turns out it’s not the simplest deal to parse, and several readers reached out to ask what exactly they have to do to get MLB.TV for the upcoming season.

Hopefully they found the necessary answers and weren’t too annoyed by the quirks and perhaps unexpected costs built into the deal.

With the NFL season behind us and spring training having begun in Florida and Arizona, I figured I’d put together a brief and hopefully handy synopsis on the key details and what you need to do (and pay) to watch MLB.TV’s thousands of out-of-market games this season.

⋅ Subscribers to ESPN Unlimited — the direct-to-consumer app the network launched in August 2025, putting all of ESPN’s broadcast channels, programming, and ESPN+ under one umbrella — can purchase MLB.TV for $134.99 for the season. So rather than being folded into ESPN Unlimited, MLB.TV is an add-on. And not an inexpensive one.

⋅ Those who do not subscribe to ESPN Unlimited — which costs $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year — can get MLB.TV for $149.99. That includes a free month of ESPN Unlimited.

⋅ But there are a couple of catches with that free trial. ESPN Unlimited renews at $29.99 per month if you don’t cancel it. And if you are a new MLB.TV subscriber, you must register via the ESPN app. An ESPN Unlimited subscription is not required to maintain your MLB.TV subscription after the first free month. But as you may have noticed, they really, really want you to subscribe to ESPN Unlimited. And they’re going to want you to stay.

⋅ Some providers — including Fubo, DirecTV, Hulu+ Live TV, Verizon Fios, Spectrum, and Cox — already have ESPN Unlimited. On ESPN’s MLB.TV signup page, there is a frequently asked questions section that should help those who subscribe to one of the aforementioned providers proceed.

⋅ What else? If you’re an existing MLB.TV subscriber, you will be renewed automatically through your current account. In that instance, the ESPN Unlimited free trial is presented as an offer rather than a requirement. You will be able to stream games on the MLB app or on ESPN’s app, once you link your MLB.TV subscription to the latter.

All of that make sense? Hopefully it doesn’t require too much trial — free or otherwise — and error. As always, the inbox is open if there are complications or questions. Good luck out there in the streaming wilderness.

Not holding back

Good on Rodney Harrison for calling out colleague Tony Dungy on NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show for Pro Football Hall of Fame voters’ failure to elect Bill Belichick in his first year of eligibility.

“Any list that doesn’t include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong, you guys got it wrong,” said Harrison, who won two Super Bowls while playing for the Patriots and Belichick.

Dungy, who coached the Colts when the Patriots were their chief nemesis, is a member of the 50-person committee. He has not revealed his vote, saying he wants to honor the Hall of Fame’s procedures, despite multiple other voters revealing their own decisions.

Harrison was not available during NBC’s Super Bowl media day in San Francisco. An NBC communications representative said at the time that he was feeling under the weather and would fly in later in the week. Wonder if there would have been any Harrison/Dungy tension had he been there.

Chaotic scene

Sports media people like to gripe about Radio Row, but I get a kick out of it. First, if you’re there, it means you have the good professional fortune to be covering a Super Bowl. Plus, it’s a fun kind of chaos, where pretty much every prominent sports talk show — from radio or television — is crammed into a segment of a convention hall, cycling guests on and off set. Current and former NFL players are everywhere, hocking one product or another. It’s a uniquely American scene, in a good way, and illuminating regarding how the logistics of certain shows work. (I’m not sure I saw Stephen A. Smith say a word during commercial breaks. Maybe he should have more commercial breaks) . . . Best interview get of the week? Easy: The Sports Hub’s Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti landing Bo Jackson the Friday before the Super Bowl. Jackson, whose feats during his abbreviated two-sport career in the NFL and MLB sound mythical and yet are mostly true, has been known to be standoffish. But he was engaging with “Felger and Mazz,” who had the specific highlights of his career down pat and who sounded only slightly like the old “Saturday Night Live” skit where a star-struck Chris Farley interviews Paul McCartney (“Remember when you were with the Beatles?”) . . . NESN announced its 24-game spring training broadcast schedule on Thursday, with the coverage commencing Friday with the traditional matchup vs. Northeastern. Of note: The 12 road broadcasts will be produced by the home team, with the opponents’ announcers on the call. Three Saturday games — on Feb. 28, and March 7 and 21 — will air on Ch. 7 as well as NESN 360.

Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.