Watching Mets and Yankees games during the regular season has typically been pretty easy. It’s gotten even easier over the past couple of years with SNY and YES providing streaming options.
Enjoying games that are aired on Apple TV+ won’t be as easy as it was in 2022. However, we’ve noticed a loophole or two to exploit. And we’re here to share them because we’re just trying to help our fellow New York fans out.
Apple announced the return of “Friday Night Baseball” via press release on Wednesday, which will start on April 7th. The first-half schedule was also released, with two games featured each week.
The Mets will play in one such game before the All-Star break. It’ll be their June 23rd matchup at Citizens Bank Park against the Philadelphia Phillies. As for the Yankees, they’ll be on Apple TV+ twice: April 21st at home vs. the Toronto Blue Jays and May 26th at home vs. the San Diego Padres.
For fans who live locally, the solution here is easy enough. If you really want to catch the game and don’t want to deal with Apple TV+, just head to the ballpark. The Bank isn’t exactly right down the road, but it’s an easy enough drive for Mets fans to make a quick road trip.
For those who either don’t want to do that or don’t live in the area, there are a couple of loopholes. The monthly price for Apple TV+ is $6.99. It’s way cheaper than Aaron Judge’s new burger, but it can still be an annoying expense. Here are those loopholes you can exploit:
The free trial. If you’ve never signed up for Apple TV+ before, there’s a free seven-day trial before you have to start paying. So, if there’s more than one person living in your household, you can sign up at separate times to get the service free for 14 days instead of seven and cancel before you start getting charged.
Or, you can come up with a schedule with friends/extended family. This way, you can take advantage of the free trial at strategic times. That’s assuming you haven’t already burned it on Ted Lasso like I did.
Getting a new phone. OK, so this isn’t exactly a cheap alternative, but it is what it is, right? At the bottom of their press release when discussing pricing and availability, Apple notes that “For a limited time, eligible customers who purchase and activate a new Apple device can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.”
Have you been putting off getting a new iPhone or another type of Apple product? This sounds like the perfect excuse to finally get it done. Once again, phones and other gadgets from Apple aren’t cheap. But if you’re going to spend that money anyways, you might as well get free Apple TV+ out of it.
Plus, I’m not sure how limited this offer will be. My wife got a new phone more than a year ago and got it.
So there you have it, folks. If you absolutely want to watch the Mets or Yankees play when Apple TV+ owns rights to the game (which you might because the matchups should be good) and don’t want to pay for it, you have options.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
