The July 18 game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies was selected as one of three games for the first-ever exclusive live stream broadcast on YouTube. The MLB Game of the Week Live is keeping its 9:30 a.m. PT start time.
The July lineup of games on YouTube includes the Cleveland Indians-Toronto Blue Jays contest on Tuesday, July 23, and the Detroit Tigers-Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim game six days later.
Every matchup includes a pregame and postgame show and will contain MLB and YouTube-themed content. Each game will be produced and enhanced exclusively for the YouTube platform by MLB Network’s production team.
MLB Network play-by-play announcer Scott Braun, SportsNet LA analyst Orel Hershiser and NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst John Kruk will be on the call for the four-game series finale between the Dodgers and Phillies.
MLB Network’s Alexa Datt will serve as a social media reporter capturing the unique elements surrounding the game and fans’ ballpark experiences.
The matchup also concludes the season series for the Dodgers and Phillies. L.A. swept the three games at Dodger Stadium, outscoring Philadelphia, 18-6. The series at Citizens Bank Park is the second for the Dodgers out of the All-Star break and concludes a seven-game road trip.
The MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube package includes free live broadcasts of 13 games exclusively on YouTube during the second half of the 2019 MLB regular season.
Fans can access the broadcasts by going to YouTube.com/MLB or searching “MLB” in the YouTube app. Games can be watched on the platform for free from any device without having to log in. The games will also stream live via a forthcoming channel on YouTube TV (subscription required). Fans can subscribe to the official MLB YouTube channel to receive updates.
MLB initially teamed up with YouTube for the 2017 World Series to deliver exclusive content online, including television ads with live footage of games.
The massive success led to both parties extending their Fall Classic partnership for an additional two years. MLB and YouTube then announced an expanded partnership for the 2018 season that delivered exclusive content to the cable-free, live TV service, YouTube TV.
Also last season, the league announced a partnership with Facebook to live stream 25 games on the social media network. There was optimism a second season of MLB Live on Facebook Watch would come in 2019, but there has not been a new agreement or broadcasts announced.
