Wednesday 31 March 2021

How to Watch Athletics Games Without Cable 2021

The Oakland Athletics will look to continue their winning ways in 2021 after capturing their first AL West title in seven seasons last year.

In 2021, Athletics games will be locally televised on NBC Sports California, while some will be on MLB Network (out of market only, but those will also be on NBC Sports California), and others may be nationally televised on ESPN, Fox or Fox Sports 1.

But if you don’t have cable, here’s how you can watch a live stream of every Athletics game in 2021, including options for both in-market and out-of-market fans:

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If You’re in the Athletics Market: FuboTV

You can watch a live stream of NBC Sports California, ESPN, Fox, Fox Sports 1 and 110-plus other TV channels on FuboTV’s “Starter” channel package. MLB Network is included in the “Sports Plus” add-on.

The “Starter” package costs $64.99 per month, and “Sports Plus” is $10.99 per month, but both can be included in your free seven-day trial:

FuboTV Free Trial

Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch every A’s game live on the FuboTV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the FuboTV website.

If you can’t watch live, FuboTV’s “Starter” package also comes with 250 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour lookback feature, which allows you to watch most games and events with three days even if you didn’t record them.


If You’re in the Athletics Market: AT&T TV

AT&T TV offers four different channel packages: “Entertainment”, “Choice”, “Ultimate” and “Premier.” ESPN, Fox and FS1 are included in every bundle, while NBC Sports California and MLB Network are included in the “Choice” and above bundles.

The “Choice” channel package is $84.99 per month, but you can pick any package and any add-on you want with your free 14-day trial.

Note that the free trial isn’t advertised as such, but your “due today” amount will be $0 when signing up. If you watch on your computer, phone or tablet, you won’t be charged for 14 days. If you watch on a streaming device on your TV (Roku, Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc.), you will be charged for the first month, but you can get still get a full refund if you cancel before 14 days:

AT&T TV Free Trial

Once signed up for AT&T TV, you can watch every A’s game live on the AT&T TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the AT&T TV website.

If you can’t watch a game live, AT&T TV also comes with 20 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to unlimited hours for an extra $10 per month).


If You’re in the Athletics Market: Hulu With Live TV

You can watch a live stream of NBC Sports California, ESPN, Fox, FS1 and 65+ other TV channels via Hulu With Live TV.

Hulu With Live TV costs either $64.99 per month (includes ads with Hulu’s on-demand content) or $70.99 per month (ad-free), but it comes with a free seven-day trial:

Hulu With Live TV Free Trial

Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch every A’s game live on the Hulu app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Hulu website.

If you can’t watch live, Hulu with Live TV also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).


If You’re Out of the Athletics Market: MLB.TV on Amazon

Amazon Prime subscribers (Prime comes with a 30-day free trial) can watch every out-of-market, non-nationally televised MLB game on the Amazon Prime MLB.TV channel.

It costs either $24.99 per month to watch every out-of-market game (“All Team Pass”) or $109.99 for the year to just watch out-of-market Athletics games (“Single Team Pass”), but either option comes with a free seven-day trial:

MLB.TV Amazon Prime Free Trial

Once you’re signed up for the MLB.TV Prime Video channel, out-of-market viewers can watch Athletics games live on the Prime Video app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, Xiaomi, Echo Show, Echo Spot, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, most Smart TV’s, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer via the Amazon website.

If you can’t watch live, all games are available on-demand by the next day.


If You’re Out of the Athletics Market: MLB.TV

Note: This is ultimately the same as the Amazon Prime option above, only you’ll watch games on MLB’s digital platforms instead of Amazon’s

You can watch all out-of-market, non-nationally televised MLB games via MLB.TV. It costs $24.99 per month or $129.99 for the year to watch every out-of-market game, or $109.99 for the year to just watch out-of-market A’s games, but the monthly and yearly all-team options include a free seven-day trial (the single-team option does not):

MLB.TV Free Trial

Once signed up for MLB.TV, out-of-market viewers can watch A’s games live on the MLB TV app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, various Smart TV’s, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer via the MLB.TV website.

If you can’t watch live, all games are available on-demand by the next day.


If You’re Out of the Athletics Market: ESPN+

This isn’t going to be an option to watch many A’s games, but if you’re looking for a cheap way to watch a random MLB game daily, ESPN+ will have at least one out-of-market game every day during the regular season:

Watch MLB on ESPN+

In addition to one live MLB game every day, ESPN+ also has college baseball and other college sports, UFC, international soccer and dozens of other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary, and additional original content (both video and written) all for $5.99 per month.

Or, if you also want Disney+ and Hulu, you can get all three for $13.99 per month, which works out to about 31 percent savings:

Get the ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu Bundle

Once signed up for ESPN+, out-of-market viewers can watch select MLB games live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.

You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.


Athletics 2021 Season Preview

The A’s 36-24 mark through 60 games last year was enough to win them the AL West by seven games. It was their first divisional title since 2013, and after three postseason appearances in a row, Oakland is ready to finally take that next step.

This offseason, the A’s didn’t make any major splashes but instead bolstered their bats and rotation. They added the likes of Trevor Rosenthal, Mitch Moreland and Sergio Romo on one-year deals while also re-signing Mike Fiers and Yusmeiro Petit.

Oakland also acquired Elvis Andrus and Adam Kolarek this offseason. They’ll join Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Ramón Laureano and Jesús Luzardo, who compose a strong core for Oakland. Chapman has fully recovered from the hip injury that resulted in season-ending surgery, and other than one new member of the starting rotation, the A’s are entering their 2021 campaign healthy.

Fiers will start the season on the injured reserve list dealing with hip inflammation. The right-hander went 6-3 with a 4.58 ERA in 11 starts last season, and his 44 starts over the last two seasons lead the A’s.

Oakland skipper Bob Melvin confirmed several weeks back that Fiers likely won’t be ready before the first three series this year. “It’s probably a long shot at this point, but if there’s anybody that has the potential to do it, it’s Mike and the fact that’s he’s been so durable and he seems to get up to speed pretty quickly,” Melvin said.

Unlike last year, Oakland Coliseum will be open to a 20 percent capacity, so fans will be able to attend games again, which Melvin says will elevate his team in myriad ways.

“It’s fantastic,” Melvin said, via the Mercury News. “Last year, we understood what we were going through and why. But to have to go through another year like that … the fans are our inspiration. When you have a 162-game season, when you’re playing every day it makes it easy to get up for these games. Felt like last year at times, you’d get excited for the games and you’d go out there and it’s a letdown again because there’s no fans in the stands. So this is terrific news.”

Here’s a look at what to expect lineup-wise from the Athletics this season:

Projected starting rotation: RHP Chris Bassitt, LHP Jesus Luzardo, RHP Frankie Montas, LHP Sean Manaea and RHP Mike Fiers, who is currently on injured reserve.

Bullpen: RHP Trevor Rosenthal, LHP Jake Diekman, RHP Sergio Romo, and RHP Lou Trivino.

Projected Lineup:

  • Ramon Laureano, CF
  • Mark Canha, LF
  • Matt Chapman, 3B
  • Matt Olson, 1B
  • Sean Murphy, C
  • Mitch Moreland, DH
  • Stephen Piscotty, RF
  • Tony Kemp, 2B
  • Elvis Andrus, SS

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