The Major League Baseball is not only the biggest professional baseball organization in the world, as a brand it also brings one of the most popular sports in the United States and Canada over to the homes of millions of fans thanks to the different broadcasting agreements it signs with multiple companies before each season begins. However, this model is quite confusing and heavily criticized by the fans because of regional blackouts, which are unfortunately carried over to its web service MLB.TV, too.
The organization’s multiplatform subscription streaming service has plenty of content for the most die-hard baseball fans, except some live games for those unfortunate enough to live in these blackout regions. Fortunately, this only applies to the U.S. and Canada, and as such a VPN can help in overcoming the frustration.
Watching MLB.TV Internationally
One of MLB.TV biggest benefits is the extraordinary device support. It doesn’t just reach computers and mobile devices but also gaming consoles, smart TVs, and more. On top of that, the service can be purchased in monthly and annual subscriptions in packs that include either all the teams or just a single, selected one.
However, having the broadcasting rights affected by different cable stations or team networks means there are several areas across America where the service is not available, which therefore prevents fans from watching the live games – both home and away – of their favorite teams. And while the MLB has said to hope that these blackouts would encourage people to go to the stadiums instead of watching at home – which is a good policy in theory – the criticism only gets stronger since many fans are often unable to thrill with live matches of one or more local teams. And to make things even worse, some locations close to state borders can share the same blackout restrictions as their neighbors in addition to those of their own state.
The good news is that international subscribers – except Canadians – have no blocks on available games and consequently VPNs become crucial for disguising IP addresses.
How to Use a VPN With MLB.TV
The most important requirements for a VPN service to help remove MLB.TV’s blackouts is to ensure they provide unlimited bandwidth, good speeds, and a vast server count. This network shouldn’t only cover North America, either, but other worthwhile regions too, preferably. Central and South America, for instance, are great options and there’s a simple reason for this: VPN connections can have a significant impact on internet speeds and online streaming takes quite a lot of bandwidth, too. As such, servers that are closer to your physical location will have better chances of providing successful, uninterrupted streaming.
Fortunately, the VPN market is very diverse and it’s not hard to find providers meeting all of these requirements. In fact, most of them nowadays even provide their own mobile apps, browser extensions, and manual configuration setups for routers to ensure that no device is out of their range. Additionally, VPNs protect against the dangers of public Wi-Fi and prevent ISPs from peeking at your traffic and throttling connections, too.
Recommended VPN Services
PureVPN
Perhaps the provider with the best-looking VPN client, PureVPN is a true charm to use and features different preset modes for improved anonymity, secure file sharing, faster streaming, and more. Likewise, the server network is nothing but a point of pride for the company as it reaches an impressive 140+ countries and nearly 200 total locations. The Americas alone have almost half this total number of servers and PureVPN is even one of the few providers to offer fast connections to some uncommon places. And with proper support for much more than just computers and mobile but also browser extensions, apps, and add-ons for a handful of devices, MLB.TV can be unblocked on any platform of choice.
CyberGhost
This provider is one of the best in the world, delivering intuitive apps for multiple platforms with plenty of features for all kinds of customers. There’s even an entire section dedicated to different streaming options with preselected servers that are considered to be the most suitable. Obviously, it’s possible to manually choose other locations by resorting to the world map, a network that counts over 3,000 servers – many of which are in the United States – and more than 60 countries. There are plenty of locations in Central and South America included, too, and CyberGhost ensures a wide range of devices are supported.
Surfshark
While not as popular as the other two, Surfshark is proof that smaller VPNs can also aim big. As such, this is one of the few providers delivering double VPN servers and even though its speeds are sometimes inconsistent, with more than 50 countries to connect to there are enough opportunities to find one that is steady for streaming. America is not as well represented as might be expected, but it’s certainly possible to avoid MLB.TV blackouts with Surfshark. Likewise, its device support is pretty satisfactory as well, with computers, smartphones, tablets, routers, and browser extensions all being included as part of a service that allows for unlimited simultaneous connections.
Best VPN Services of 2024
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Editor's Choice 2024
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