| Friday Night Baseball | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | MLB game broadcasts |
| Starring | See§ Commentators |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3 hours per game (approximate) |
| Production company | MLB Network |
| Original release | |
| Network | Apple TV+ |
| Release | April 8, 2022 (2022-04-08) – present |
Friday Night Baseball is alive broadcast ofMajor League Baseball (MLB) games onApple TV+, which debuted during the league's2022 season. The weekly broadcast is produced byMLB Network,[1] featuring adoubleheader with pregame and postgame analysis.[2] The broadcast is available inUnited States,Canada andMexico, as well as select overseas markets includingAustralia,Brazil,Japan,South Korea,Puerto Rico and theUnited Kingdom, with plans to expand availability of the broadcast to more regions in the future.[2]
In March 2022,Apple Inc. signed a seven-year deal with MLB for the broadcast for US$85 million per year, a total value of $595 million. This includes an annual $55 million rights fee as well as $30 million for Apple advertising. Apple has the right to exit the agreement after the first or second year.[3] The deal was the first sports broadcasting contract ever acquired by Apple.[4] Plans for the broadcast were formally announced on March 8, 2022, at Apple's Peek Performance event and later in an online press release.[5][6]
The first broadcast date was initially made uncertain as the deal was signed amidst the2021–22 MLB lockout and the threat of cancelled games.[7] After the lockout was resolved, MLB announced that the first games would air on April 8, 2022, with a doubleheader ofNew York Mets–Washington Nationals andHouston Astros–Los Angeles Angels as the inaugural matchups.[8] Apple also announced thatFriday Night Baseball will be free-of-charge for its first 12 weeks of broadcasts, although this was later extended for the rest of the inaugural season.[9]
On April 7, 2022, Apple announced thatMelanie Newman,Chris Young, Hannah Keyser, andBrooke Fletcher would be the inaugural broadcast crew for east coast games, whileStephen Nelson,Hunter Pence,Katie Nolan, andHeidi Watney would be the broadcast crew for west coast games.Lauren Gardner was announced as the pregame and postgame studio host, along with a rotation of MLB Network studio analysts includingCarlos Peña,Cliff Floyd, andYonder Alonso. Former MLB umpireBrian Gorman was also hired as a rules analyst.[10] All games feature both the road team and home team's radio broadcasts as asecond audio program option.
On September 23, 2022,St. Louis Cardinals designated hitterAlbert Pujols hit the 700thhome run of his career during aFriday Night Baseball game against theLos Angeles Dodgers.[11]
With the announcement of theFriday Night Baseball schedule for the first half of the2023 MLB season, Apple announced that they had signed a deal withDirecTV to distributeFriday Night Baseball to their commercial subscribers, ensuring availability to venues (such as bars and restaurants) that were not readily equipped to handle streaming-only broadcasts. DirecTV had previously signed similar deals withAmazon Prime Video for theirThursday Night Football broadcasts, as well as with Apple forMLS Season Pass broadcasts. Apple also announced that they would add alternative audio feeds allowing viewers in the United States and Canada to listen to local radio broadcasts from the home team or the away team instead of the regular audio feed.[12] It was also announced that, unlike the inaugural season, an Apple TV+ subscription would now be required to watchFriday Night Baseball.[13]
For the2024 MLB season, Apple announced that its studio coverage would be on-site for select games.[14] On June 5, 2024,The Athletic reported that Apple TV+ would not enforce its exclusivity for the June 7 Dodgers-Yankees matchup scheduled to air on the platform in order to allowYES Network, in New York, andSpectrum SportsNet LA, in Los Angeles, to air the game locally. The other two games in the three game series will be exclusively aired byFox andESPN respectively.[15]
In August 2025, it was reported that Apple will end its contract with MLB early, and discontinue Friday Night Baseball following the 2025 season.[16][17][18] Subsequent reports stated that Apple TV would retain its current package of telecasts through the end of the existing contract.[19][20]
In September 2025, Apple TV+ andSportsnet in Canada, reached an agreement to allow the Apple TV+ broadcast of a Blue Jays game against the Royals, which could potentially see the Blue Jays clinch a playoff spot, to be simulcast on Sportsnet. In exchange, Apple TV+ will exclusively broadcast a Blue Jays game against the Rays a week later.[21]
The initialFriday Night Baseball broadcasts were met with mixed reviews that largely praised its visual production, but criticized its commentary crew's performance. Many fans objected to the games being unavailable oncable television networks and to the need for additional hardware to watchFriday Night Baseball on their televisions.[22]
Six Colors praised its "special" production which "push[ed] the envelope", noting that the production featured more cameras than a typical broadcast, and more commentators, which he compared to the higher production fare often reserved forESPN'sSunday Night Baseball broadcasts, or postseason games, which are produced by other broadcasters such asFox Sports. The Six Colors review praised the diversity of the commentary crew, while criticizing the volume of commercials (includingproduct placement) and the lack of a rewind feature in the Apple TV+ app.[23] A writer forThe Verge said that the debut broadcast "left some fans frustrated and disappointed", upset with streaming issues and poor commentary quality. Some fans found the commentary to be "distracting, and sometimes blatantly off-topic".[24]
WFAN hosts Gregg Giannotti andBoomer Esiason, during their radio showBoomer and Gio, were more negative about the initial broadcast. Giannotti said, "They don't think the game stands on its own. They were talking about a lot of things that have nothing to do with the game … they're putting people in there that don't have any experience". Esiason said that the broadcast was "unlistenable", but that he expects improvements in the future.[25]
Apple Insider noted that while many praised the debut broadcast's minimalistscore bug, some viewers mocked it, and noted that the commentary team wandered off-topic and seemed to have a "lack of enthusiasm for on-field events".[26]TechRadar wrote that viewers found that commentators didn't appear to understand the importance of the plays during the game. The outlet also praised the production technology used, noting that it utilized aSony α7R IV,DJI Ronin-S, Phantom Camera, and a1080p wireless transmitter allowing the game to be viewed at 60frames per second, and that its use of narrow focus for some of the camera angles "creates a recognizable cinematic effect … that instantly raises the drama."[27]
Before the September 23, 2022, Yankees/Red Sox broadcast, whereAaron Judge of the Yankees would be attempting to tie anAmerican League record with 61home runs,New York State attorney generalLetitia James urged Major League Baseball to allow the game to simulcast on theYES Network. The network is widely available on cable providers in New York State, which would have allowed the game to be more widely televised. Major League Baseball denied this request, and the game aired exclusively on Apple TV+ as planned. James was also criticized for advocating for a game that was made available to stream for free to also be made available on pay-TV services, whenAmazon (who owns a stake in YES Network) were locking some Yankees games behind theirPrime Video service in the team’s home market (Amazon would eventually allow the last game in their package that season to be simulcasted on YES Network).[28][29][30]