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Amazon Prime Video will stream 21 Yankees games in four states
Amazon Prime Video is continuing its push into sports by announcing that it will stream 21 New York Yankees games during the 2020 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. There's a large caveat, however, as the games will only be available in four states making up the team's main fan base: New York, Connecticut, northeast Pennsylvania and north and central New Jersey.
Recommended Reading: The internet sleuths who caught the Astros cheating
How the internet helped crack the Astros' sign-stealing case Joon Lee, ESPN One of the biggest sports stories of the year has already broke, and it's barely mid-January. If you haven't heard, Major League Baseball determined the Houston Astros used various methods, including video feeds, to steal signs from the opposition during the team's 2017 championship season -- including the World Series. MLB found that it continued to do so during the 2018 season, too. So far, three managers have lost their jobs due to their involvement. ESPN explains how internet detectives examined footage for clues over the last several months, and how that work helped blow the case wide open.
'MLB The Show' will reach non-PlayStation platforms by 2021
MLB: The Show will no longer be a PlayStation exclusive by 2021. The franchise debuted on the PlayStation in the late '90s, and its games were only released for the PS2, the PS3, the PS4 and the Vita over the next two decades. Now, Major League Baseball (MLB), the Major League Baseball Players Association, Sony Interactive Entertainment and San Diego Studio have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership. Further, they've revealed that they're bringing the franchise "to additional console platforms beyond PlayStation platforms as early as 2021."
Adidas made a Snapchat game to drop limited, 8-bit-themed baseball cleats
Adidas is teaming up with Snapchat on a unique way to launch a product. The sportswear giant has created an 8-bit game you can play in Snapchat, called Baseball's Next Level, where you'll have the chance to buy its new 8-bit-themed baseball cleats. Produced in partnership with developer AvatarLabs, Baseball's Next Level is a home run derby, old-school style title that will let you play as some of Adidas' Major League Baseball athletes. That includes Aaron Judge (Yankees), Carlos Correa (Astros), Alex Bregman (Astros), Justin Turner (Dodgers) and Kiké Hernandez (Dodgers), all of whom have their own Adizero or Icon V cleats in the Adidas 8-bit collection, which you can buy directly from the game.
Fox Sports will stream ALCS games in 4K HDR for the first time
Want to watch the American League Championship Series in the best possible quality? You'll need to stream it. Fox Sports is keeping up its recent habits by streaming 2019 ALCS games in 4K HDR through its namesake app and Fox Now. The same caveats still apply. You'll need a 4K-capable Roku device or an Apple TV 4K to watch. And this is technically an upconverted 1080p signal rather than true 4K -- you might not see every dirt smudge on player's uniforms. This could nonetheless be the best view you get, and you can tune into the non-HDR 4K feed using FuboTV and conventional broadcasters.
YouTube is 'really happy' with viewership for its live MLB games
Now that the regular MLB season is winding down, how has YouTube's exclusive game streaming deal fared? Quite well, relatively speaking. The online video giant reported that its 13 livestreamed games racked up an average of 1.2 million viewers (including pre- and post-shows), with a typical game peaking at 171,000 simultaneous viewers. Its most popular match was a Cardinals-Dodgers showdown on August 7th with a large 320,000 concurrent viewers.
YouTube's exclusive MLB coverage begins streaming today
Earlier this year YouTube announced an exclusive 13-game streaming deal with Major League Baseball -- and it's starting today. If you're in the USA, Canada or Puerto Rico you'll be able to watch a live MLB game of the week, every week of the regular season, no fees or sign-in required. And you won't be able to watch these games anywhere else. Today's game -- Dodgers vs Phillies -- starts at 12:30pm ET / 09:30am PT. Head over to YouTube's MLB channel to watch it live.
'Robot umpire' helps call balls and strikes in Atlantic League All-Star Game
If you're tired of watching baseball's umpires blow ball and strike calls, we have some good news for you. Last night, a "robot" umpire called the Atlantic League All-Star game, and soon all eight teams in the league will use the system for all their games for the remainder of the system. The plan to try this tracking technology was first announced back in March, and after a half-season of testing the radar-powered system from TrackMan, it was deemed ready to go for the All-Star game. It's an experiment done in partnership with Major League Baseball, and it was a precursor of something that could come to the big leagues in the future.
Recommended Reading: The music streaming payday won't go to artists
The record industry expects a windfall. Where will the money go? Marc Hogan, Pitchfork It's no secret the music industry is booming on the back of streaming services. However, it seems like not much will change in terms of where all the money goes. Pitchfork explains that much of the revenue will stay in the "upper echelon" of the industry rather than going to most of the people actually making music. "And yet, just as it's been throughout the history of recorded music, most of the money will not go to artists," Marc Hogan writes.
Facebook will only stream six MLB games this season
Facebook will broadcast live Major League Baseball games once again this season. However, it will offer far fewer games than last year. Under the latest one-year deal, Facebook will stream six non-exclusive games on Watch, one per month during the regular season. That's a big step down from the 25 exclusive games Facebook aired last year.
Sling TV adds MLB Network just in time for Opening Day
Baseball fans can now watch MLB games on Sling TV, just as the new season gets underway. Sling TV announced on Thursday the addition of two new channels exclusively for baseball; MLB Network and MLB Strike Zone. MLB Network will feature live regular season and postseason game telecasts and a nightly news program, "MLB Tonight". Strike Zone will feature highlights, updates and more when live games air on Tuesday and Friday evenings.
MLB considers pitch tracking system to assist home plate umpires
The next target for automation: baseball umpires. The Atlantic League, an independent baseball league, announced today that it will use tracking technology to assist umps in calling balls and strikes during the 2019 season in partnership with Major League Baseball. If the experiment goes well, MLB will consider implementing a similarly automated system for its future seasons.
Sports service DAZN lets you stream four games at once
Sports streaming platform DAZN offers a wide variety of live and on-demand matches across several sports. To help you catch as much of the action as possible, it's adding a multiview option that lets you watch up to four streams at once.
AI is better at bluffing than professional gamblers
The act of gambling on games of chance has been around for as long as the games themselves. For as long as there's been money to be made wagering on the uncertain outcomes of these events, bettors have been leveraging mathematics to give them an edge on the house. As gaming has moved from bookies and casinos into the digital realm, gamblers are beginning to use modern computing techniques, especially AI and machine learning (ML), to increase their odds of winning. But that betting blade cuts both ways, as researchers work to design artificial intelligences capable of beating professional players at their own game -- and even out-wagering sportsbooks.
Recommended Reading: The plight of fact-checkers in the fake news era
The fact-checkers who want to save the world Kate Knibbs, The Ringer In the era of fake news and rampant misinformation, fact-checkers are a key line of defense and an important tool in separating truth from lies. The Ringer takes a look a the organizations and individuals who have accepted the challenge, shifting through stories and even fact-checking those claiming to be fact-checkers.
Hardly anyone likes watching baseball on Facebook
On Thursday May 24th, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will face the Toronto Blue Jays in Rogers Centre for the third time this year. The game will air at 12:37 p.m. ET, so if you're a diehard Angels or Blue Jays fan and you'll be working during that time, you might want to set your DVR to watch it later ... except you can't. That's because it's one of the 25 games that Major League Baseball has selected to air exclusively on Facebook in 2018. This will be the eighth such game aired on Facebook Watch this year, and so far, not a lot of fans are pleased about it.
How off-the-shelf cameras are powering baseball’s next-gen replays
As crowds fill the stands in AT&T Park this year, they'll be focused on the usual ballpark festivities: eating hot dogs, drinking beer and, of course, watching the San Francisco Giants play baseball. But if they were to venture onto the park's club level and look upward, they'd notice something odd hanging from the deck: around 140 Panasonic GH5 cameras pointed at the field. The purpose of these cameras? To capture seamless slow-motion video from multiple angles in near real time.
Sports Illustrated's streaming service adds MLB games and shows
Sports Illustrated TV just became considerably more intreresting if you're a baseball fan... provided you don't need live games, anyway. The streaming service has forged an agreement with MLB that provides access to the league's back catalog of games and shows. In some cases, this will include offering whole games -- an Ace's Choice series will show games chosen by the likes of Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez.
MLB's virtual reality home run derby comes to PSVR and HTC Vive
Major League Baseball got into VR with a home run derby simulator that fans tried at the All-Star game and select ballparks last season. Earlier this year, the MLB promised it would bring the experience to consumer virtual reality sets in spring. While it didn't arrive in time for Opening Day, aspiring sluggers can load up the game today and tee off on their own virtual home run derby on PSVR and HTC Vive for $20.
Amazon turns 'A League of Their Own' into a TV series
Amazon still isn't done turning classic movies into Prime Video productions. Hollywood Reporter has learned that the internet is turning the legendary baseball movie A League of Their Own into a half-hour comedy series. It's too soon to learn about the casting, but Broad City's Abbi Jacobson and Mozart in the Jungle's Will Graham are poised to both write and executive produce the show. It's still focused on the creation of the all-women pro baseball league in 1943 and the story of the Rockford Peaches, although it's safe to presume that the movie's cast won't be reprising their original roles. The series won't include the central characters of Dottie (played by Geena Davis) or Kit (Lori Petty), either.
