MLB At Bat 11 apps for iPhone, iPad now available
With the wintry weather that seems to be hitting a lot of the U.S. today, most people probably aren't thinking about the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. There are two sure signs of spring today -- the MLB players started playing Spring Training exhibition games today, and the MLB At Bat 11 apps for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad are now available for sale in the App Store.
At this point you'll be able to watch about 150 Spring Training games through a free preview of MLB.TV, and listen to available radio broadcasts of Spring Training games. Like the 2010 version of the app, you can get a close-up batter's view of every at-bat, breaking news, schedules, rosters, and players stats. The description of the app notes that additional features and functionality will be released for Opening Day on March 31.
Major League Baseball apparently didn't listen to user complaints from last year, however. The iPad and iPhone apps are still separate apps, and each costs $14.99. On top of that insult, the league advertises in articles found in the app. Once the MLB season begins, you'll be able to watch one free televised game per day and listen to as many games on Internet radio as you'd like, but there's no way to purchase a package to watch all games for a specific team in the app or beam the games to an Apple TV via AirPlay.
Early reviews on the App Store are saying that the performance of the MLB At Bat 11 app does seem to have improved over last year's iteration, which was notable for slow loading of articles and videos.
