The MLB Network is a 24-hour sports broadcasting network that focuses entirely on Major League Baseball. Baseball superfans receive a solid dose of MLB coverage that includes commentary shows, game recaps, original programming, and live games. That way you’ll catch all of the latest updates, and hot takes on MLB NOW or later on MLB Tonight, as well as live regular season and postseason games with analysis from Al Leiter, Bob Costas, Peter Gammons, Harold Reynolds, Ken Rosenthal, and more.

Baseball

Major League Baseball is set to open the 2022 season on April 7 after a 99-day owner-imposed lockout. Despite a truncated Spring Training and the effective postponement of a week of regular season games, we’ll get a full 162-game schedule running through October 1.

Unfortunately for those of us watching at home, it may still be difficult to catch our favorite teams in action. Over the last few years, Sling TV, FuboTV, YouTube TV, and Hulu + Live TV have each in turn dropped Sinclair-owned Fox Sports regional networks from their lineups. Only the pricey DirectTV Stream service offers those channels, now rebranded Bally Sports regional networks. That presents a significant hurdle because unlike the NFL or NBA, MLB is largely a regional league, with most teams’ games aired on local cable-only networks such as Bally Sports San Diego or NBC Sports Bay Area..

As in past years, nationally broadcast games will continue to be split among ESPN, FOX, FS1, TBS, and MLB Network. Of these, only Fox can be accessed over the air, but there are still ways to get the other four networks without an expensive cable subscription. Let’s look at the options.

Over the air

Since broadcast baseball has largely gone the way of Sunday doubleheaders, there are few options for watching any game without a subscription of one kind or another. The Fox network, however, can still be had for free with a good indoor antenna. That will give you access to a bunch of nationally broadcast Saturday-afternoon games.

If you’re purchasing an antenna for the first time, remember to first check to see which stations you can receive in your area and which type of antenna you’ll need to pull in your local Fox affiliate.