ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
Major League Baseball announced Monday that it has agreed to an exclusive, multiyear contract with the streaming company Roku, which will air one game each Sunday this season from now until the middle of September. Terms were not disclosed.
Roku’s package, branded as “Sunday Leadoff,” consists of 18 games starting with this coming Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. ET contest between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox and lasting through Sept. 15. With the exception of two West Coast start times, Roku games will be the first ones taking place in varying exclusive windows. Twenty-four teams are part of the package, including the New York Yankees (July 14 against the Baltimore Orioles) and Los Angeles Dodgers (Sept. 1 against the Arizona Diamondbacks).
Games on Roku can be watched free through the app, on Roku devices or via Amazon Fire, Samsung and Google TVs, among other outlets. Those with MLB.tv subscriptions can watch the games blackout-free.
MLB will produce the broadcasts and said in its news release that it plans to use “market-focused” broadcasters for the games. The goal, a source with knowledge of the deal said, is to use either local broadcast crews or MLB Network talent with ties to the region.
MLB announced that Roku secured exclusive rights to a Sunday game, beginning this week and lasting through Sept. 15. Those games will also be available blackout-free to https://t.co/oZzKpIgKgu subscribers.
Roku has launched an MLB Zone channel that will act as a “one-stop destination for fans to browse, discover and stream everything MLB,” according to MLB’s release. It said the Roku Channel reached an estimated 120 million people in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The deal with Roku, which comes two years after select Friday matchups began appearing on Apple TV, is the latest MLB effort to make games available through streaming devices at a time when the linear-cable model is quickly deteriorating. Roku’s deal essentially replaces one previously held with Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.
Diamond Sports Group, which originally held the local rights for 14 MLB teams, has spent the past 14 months in bankruptcy court and recently failed to agree on a new deal with one of its three major distributors, Comcast. That development left fans around the country without access to their local teams and might significantly impact Diamond’s ability to emerge from bankruptcy.
Team owners blamed the uncertainty of their regional sports contracts for limiting their spending this offseason, a circumstance that has created even more tension with the MLB Players Association midway through the current collective bargaining agreement.
The Ottawa Senators have opened up a nice gap as the first wild card, with 75 points and 26 regulation wins in 65 games. Beyond them, things get interesting.
If it comes down to the regulation-wins tiebreaker at season’s end, the Rangers have an upper hand over all the rest, with 29 in that column, compared with 23 for the Jackets, Red Wings and Bruins, and just 22 for the Habs.
The Canadiens host the Panthers also at 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
The Blue Jackets face the visiting Rangers also at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
And if they have their sights set on catching the Senators, these clubs are all rooting for the Maple Leafs, who host Ottawa (7 p.m., ESPN+). It’s a great night for multiple streaming devices!
There is a lot of runway left until April 17, the final day of the regular season, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 62 Regulation wins: 23 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 15 Points pace: 75.9 Next game: vs. WPG (Sunday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 22
Points: 45 Regulation wins: 13 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 15 Points pace: 55.1 Next game: vs. WSH (Saturday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 5
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
The Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff took another hit Friday, when right-hander Jon Gray suffered a right wrist fracture.
Gray was struck by a line drive from Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia to lead off the fourth inning that knocked him out of the game.
“Not good news, not good news,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “It’s terrible. I feel awful for him, to be this close to getting the season going. It’s just not good news. I’ll get back in there and find out more, but right now, there is a fracture.”
Gray’s injury is the third setback for the Rangers rotation this week. The team said Thursday that left-hander Cody Bradford would start the season on the injured list because of soreness in his throwing elbow. Tyler Mahle had been scratched from a start with forearm soreness, but the right-hander returned to pitch in a minor league game Thursday.
Gray went 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in 23 appearances (19 starts) for the Rangers last season, when he was shut down in September for a foot injury that required surgery. He is in the final year of a four-year, $56 million deal.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
TOKYO — Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.
In an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, the three-time Most Valuable Player belted a long two-run homer to right field in the third inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, setting off a roar from the roughly 42,000 fans in attendance.
The Dodgers put on quite a power display in the third with Michael Conforto, Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández all going deep to give Los Angeles a 5-0 advantage.
The Dodgers are playing in Japan as part of the Tokyo Series. The team is playing two exhibition games against Japanese teams before starting the regular season with two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in one season in 2024. He played several seasons for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan before coming to the U.S. in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels.