MLB blackouts, explained
Every club has a home television territory. Inside it, that club's games are blacked out on MLB.TV and shown instead on the club's local channel or its own in-market streaming product. Territories are drawn by zip code, not by state or city, and several clubs can claim the same zip: Iowa is claimed by six clubs, southern Nevada by five or six, and parts of Connecticut by three. Nationally exclusive games (for example Apple TV on Friday nights, or NBC and Peacock on Sunday nights) are blacked out on MLB.TV everywhere.
Out of market: MLB.TV
MLB.TV, now operated and distributed by ESPN, streams every out-of-market game live inside the ESPN app and MLB's own app: $149.99 a season at the standard price, $134.99 for ESPN Unlimited subscribers, or $29.99 a month. In-market fans need the club's own product instead, typically $19.99 a month or $99.99 a season for the clubs MLB produces itself.
States with the most overlapping claims
- Pennsylvania 8 teams
- Iowa 6 teams
- California 5 teams
- West Virginia 5 teams
- New Mexico 4 teams
- Nevada 4 teams
- Hawaii 4 teams
- North Carolina 4 teams
- Illinois 4 teams
- Indiana 4 teams
- Ohio 4 teams
- Maryland 3 teams
Rules and prices from the leagues’ own pages, checked 18 September 2026. We do not cover ways around a blackout; the in-market options are on each team page.