MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube

MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube was the presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games live on the video sharing and social media platform YouTube. Games were produced by the league-owned MLB Network. Games generally streamed in the afternoon on weekdays.

MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube
MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube logo
Also known asMLB on YouTube
GenreBaseball telecasts
Presented byScott Braun
Yonder Alonso
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
Production
Production locationsVarious MLB stadiums (game telecasts)
One MLB Network Plaza Secaucus, New Jersey (studio segments, pregame and postgame shows)
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time180 minutes (varies depending on game length)
Production companiesMLB Network
YouTube
Original release
NetworkYouTube
ReleaseJuly 18, 2019 (2019-07-18) –
September 8, 2022 (2022-09-08)

History

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On April 30, 2019, Major League Baseball and YouTube agreed to a partnership for 13 exclusive baseball games.[1] The agreement was essentially a replacement to an earlier deal with Facebook Watch, which was criticized for requiring a Facebook account to access and for having too clunky of an interface.[2] The YouTube games would feature a pre and post game show, alongside the game, all produced by MLB Network. There was no requirement for a YouTube account to access the game. The first game aired was between the Phillies and the Dodgers on July 18, 2019.[3] After the season, MLB said they averaged 130,000 viewers per telecast. The August 7, Dodgers-Cardinals telecast saw the highest peak of 320,000 live viewers.[4]

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting reduction of the 2020 MLB season to 60 games, MLB on YouTube only aired 4 games, all in September, during the 2020 season. Two of these games were exclusive to the platform, while two others aired in tandem with local regional sports networks.[5]

For the 2021 MLB season, MLB on YouTube returned with 21 exclusive games. During the season YouTube produced two special broadcasts. On June 30, YouTube featured a special stat focused statcast broadcast between the Mariners and Blue Jays.[6] YouTube's game between the Orioles and Rays on July 20 featured the first all-female announcing crew on an MLB broadcast. Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Sarah Langs (color commentator), Heidi Watney and Lauren Gardner (pre- and postgame show co-hosts) were back at MLB Network studios while Alanna Rizzo was the reporter at Tropicana Field.[7]

On April 14, 2022, Major League Baseball announced that YouTube would have 15 exclusive games for the 2022 MLB season. Unlike previous years which featured a rotating broadcasting crew, Scott Braun handled all play–by–play duties and Yonder Alonso handled all color commentating.[8] For the August 17, 2022 broadcast between the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners, an alternate broadcast hosted by Lauren Gardner and Cameron Maybin was also produced. The broadcast featured celebrity guests such as Bill Nye, Joel McHale and Kenny Mayne, among others.[9]

The series did not return in 2023. Though not directly related, YouTube TV dropped MLB Network due to a carriage dispute prior to the season.[10]

Commentators

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Play-by-play

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Color commentators

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Broadcasts

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The pre- and postgame shows were each 30 minutes in duration. The former was broadcast from MLB Network studios while the latter was handled by the broadcasters who also present the Player of the Game trophy which is based on viewer voting.

2021

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Date Away Team Home Team Time (ET) Score Player of the Game
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 Tampa Bay Rays Boston Red Sox 1:00 p.m. Rays 2, Red Sox 9 Nathan Eovaldi
Thursday, April 22, 2021 Los Angeles Angels Houston Astros 8:00 p.m. Angels 2, Astros 8 Cristian Javier
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Minnesota Twins Cleveland Indians 1:00 p.m. Twins 10, Indians 2 Byron Buxton
Thursday, May 6, 2021 Atlanta Braves Washington Nationals 4:00 p.m. Braves 3, Nationals 2 Drew Smyly
Thursday, May 13, 2021 St. Louis Cardinals Milwaukee Brewers 1:30 p.m. Cardinals 2, Brewers 0 Jack Flaherty
Thursday, May 20, 2021 San Francisco Giants Cincinnati Reds 12:30 p.m. Giants 19, Reds 4 Brandon Crawford
Thursday, May 27, 2021 Philadelphia Phillies Miami Marlins 12:00 p.m. Phillies 3, Marlins 2 Rhys Hoskins
Wednesday, June 2, 2021 New York Mets Arizona Diamondbacks 3:30 p.m. Mets 7, Diamondbacks 6 James McCann
Thursday, June 10, 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers Pittsburgh Pirates 12:30 p.m. Dodgers 6, Pirates 3 (8 innings) Mookie Betts
Thursday, June 17, 2021 Detroit Tigers Los Angeles Angels 9:30 p.m. Tigers 5, Angels 7 Shohei Ohtani
Tuesday, June 22, 2021 Oakland Athletics Texas Rangers 8:00 p.m. Athletics 13, Rangers 6 Matt Chapman
Wednesday, June 30, 2021 Seattle Mariners Toronto Blue Jays 7:00 p.m. Mariners 9, Blue Jays 7 (10 innings) Dylan Moore
Friday, July 9, 2021 Cincinnati Reds Milwaukee Brewers 8:00 p.m. Reds 2, Brewers 0 Wade Miley
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 Baltimore Orioles Tampa Bay Rays 7:00 p.m. Orioles 3, Rays 9 Francisco Mejía
Wednesday, August 11, 2021 Chicago White Sox Minnesota Twins 1:00 p.m. White Sox 0, Twins 1 Jorge Polanco
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 Toronto Blue Jays Washington Nationals 7:00 p.m. Blue Jays 6, Nationals 12 Riley Adams
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 Kansas City Royals Houston Astros 2:00 p.m. Royals 5, Astros 6 (10 innings) Jake Meyers
Thursday, September 2, 2021 Milwaukee Brewers San Francisco Giants 3:30 p.m. Brewers 1, Giants 5 Logan Webb
Wednesday, September 8, 2021 Seattle Mariners Houston Astros 2:00 p.m. Mariners 8, Astros 5 José Marmolejos
Friday, September 17, 2021 Oakland Athletics Los Angeles Angels 9:30 p.m. Athletics 5, Angels 4 Matt Olson
Thursday, September 23, 2021 St. Louis Cardinals Milwaukee Brewers 2:00 p.m. Cardinals 8, Brewers 5 Paul Goldschmidt

2022

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Date Away Team Home Team Time (ET) Score Player of the Game
Thursday, May 5, 2022 Washington Nationals Colorado Rockies 3:00 p.m. Nationals 7, Rockies 9 Brendan Rodgers
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 Milwaukee Brewers Cincinnati Reds 12:30 p.m. Brewers 11, Reds 14 Tyler Stephenson
Wednesday, May 18, 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates Chicago Cubs 7:30 p.m. Pirates 3, Cubs 2 Jack Suwinski
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 Detroit Tigers Minnesota Twins 1:00 p.m. Tigers 4, Twins 2 Harold Castro
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 Kansas City Royals Cleveland Guardians 1:00 p.m. Royals 0, Guardians 4 Konnor Pilkington
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 Toronto Blue Jays Kansas City Royals 2:00 p.m. Blue Jays 4, Royals 8 Carlos Santana
Wednesday, June 15, 2022 Minnesota Twins Seattle Mariners 4:00 p.m. Twins 5, Mariners 0 Luis Arráez
Thursday, June 30, 2022 Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays 7:00 p.m. Rays 1, Blue Jays 4 Teoscar Hernández
Wednesday, July 13, 2022 Milwaukee Brewers Minnesota Twins 1:00 p.m. Brewers 1, Twins 4 José Miranda[11]
Wednesday, July 27, 2022 Minnesota Twins Milwaukee Brewers 2:00 p.m. Twins 4, Brewers 10 Rowdy Tellez
Thursday, August 11, 2022 Texas Rangers Houston Astros 2:00 p.m. Rangers 3, Astros 7 Framber Valdez
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 Seattle Mariners Los Angeles Angels 4:00 p.m. Mariners 11, Angels 7 Cal Raleigh[12]
Thursday, August 25, 2022 Cleveland Guardians Seattle Mariners 4:00 p.m. Guardians 1, Mariners 3 Mitch Haniger[13]
Thursday, September 1, 2022 Kansas City Royals Chicago White Sox 2:00 p.m. Royals 1, White Sox 7 Johnny Cueto
Thursday, September 8, 2022 Cincinnati Reds Chicago Cubs 2:00 p.m. Reds 4, Cubs 3 Jonathan India

Viewership

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The following is a list of the 10 most viewed MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube games. Viewership is based on the publicly available viewership counter on YouTube.com.

Date Away Team Home Team Viewership Link
August 8, 2019 Philadelphia Phillies San Francisco Giants 3.9M [1]
June 10, 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers Pittsburgh Pirates 2.7M [2]
June 18, 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers Philadelphia Phillies 2.2M [3]
June 17, 2021 Detroit Tigers Los Angeles Angels 2M [4]
August 7, 2019 St. Louis Cardinals Los Angeles Dodgers 1.7M [5]
June 30, 2021 Seattle Mariners Toronto Blue Jays 1.5M [6]
July 23, 2019 Cleveland Indians Toronto Blue Jays 1.3M [7]
April 22, 2021 Los Angeles Angels Houston Astros 1.3M [8]
September 17, 2019 Tampa Bay Rays Los Angeles Dodgers 1.2M [9]
May 13, 2021 St. Louis Cardinals Milwaukee Brewers 1.1M [10]

References

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  1. ^ "MLB to exclusively stream 13 live games to YouTube & YouTube TV".
  2. ^ "Observations from MLB's first Facebook stream".
  3. ^ "Complete Schedule of 2019 MLB YouTube Games (Updated)". 9 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Free Global MLB Streams on YouTube Averaged 1.2 Million Live Views in 2019".
  5. ^ "MLB, YouTube to air 4 September games". MLB.com.
  6. ^ "Mariners at Blue Jays | MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube". YouTube.
  7. ^ "All-women broadcast crew makes history". MLB.com.
  8. ^ "MLB renews YouTube deal, with 15-game slate beginning next month".
  9. ^ "Celebs talk baseball on Alternate broadcast of YouTube Game of the Week". MLB.com.
  10. ^ Spangler, Todd (February 1, 2023). "YouTube TV Drops MLB Network". Variety. Los Angeles: Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  11. ^ Jose Miranda YouTube Player of the Game Interview, Wednesday, July 13, 2022 – YouTube (via LetsWinTwins). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  12. ^ Wicke, Tyler. "Mariners notes: Raleigh emerges in catching role as M’s sweep Halos, drop set to A’s," The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA), Sunday, August 21, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  13. ^ Mitch Haniger holds the YouTube Player of the Game trophy, Thursday, August 25, 2022 – Twitter (via Seattle Mariners). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
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