Why You Can Trust CNET How to watch Red Sox baseball in 2019 without cable
Baseball fans in New England have a trio of live TV streaming services to watch the Sox, and out-of-market fans can turn to MLB.TV.
Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox has plenty of reasons to smile, after winning the American League MVP and World Series title in 2018.
These are not the Boston Red Sox I grew up with. After an 86-year drought from 1918 to 2004 in which the Red Sox went without a championship, the club last season won its fourth World Series title in the past 15 years.
The Red Sox won a franchise record 108 games in the regular season before beating the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers en route to the title. The team was led by American League MVP Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez. With these players back along with youngsters Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers a year older and expected to contribute more, the offense should have little trouble producing runs again this year.
The entire starting pitching staff from last year also returns, including ace Chris Sale. The only big piece missing from last year's championship team is closer Craig Kimbrel. Even without Kimbrel, the Red Sox are favorites to return to baseball's postseason.
Red Sox fans who have cut the cord have a number of ways to watch Sox games this season, whether you're in the Boston area or an out-of-market follower of the club.
Stream the Red Sox live in New England
In 2019, Red Sox games will be shown on New England Sports Network (NESN) in the Boston market, which includes most of New England. You can livestream Red Sox games on NESN if you live in Connecticut (excluding Fairfield County), Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Three of the major live TV streaming services carry NESN.
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YouTube TV costs $40 a month and includes NESN. It also includes the channels that carry national baseball broadcasts: ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1, MLB Network and TBS. Plug in your zip code on its welcome page to see if NESN is available in your area.
PlayStation Vue's $50-a-month Core plan includes NESN. The Core plan also includes ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1, MLB Network and TBS for national broadcasts. You can see if NESN is available in your area here.
All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our massive streaming services guide.
Out-of-market Red Sox streaming
If you're a Sox fan living outside of the Boston market, you can't watch the club on NESN. You can, however, stream games live with an MLB.TV subscription.
You've got two options:
- Pay $119 a year (or $25 a month) to be able to watch every out-of-market game live or on-demand, and the in-market (home) team with a 90-minute delay from the end of the game.
- Pay $92 a year to watch a single, out-of-market team. In this case, your Red Sox and nobody else.
Both MLB.TV plans also include streams of home and away radio broadcasts. The radio broadcasts aren't subject to the blackout rule, so you can listen to home team games live.