Milestone Ball Return or Sell Baseball

Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees will face the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. Judge has a chance to tie or break the AL record for home runs in a season and if you want to watch, you need AppleTV+. Adam Hunger/Associated Press

Apple, which aired its first baseball game only a few months ago, was set up to be a part of MLB history Friday – and that’s creating headaches for fans.

Slugger Aaron Judge entered Friday’s game against the Red Sox one home run away from tying Roger Maris’s American League record of 61 in a season, set in 1961.

While most Yankees games are carried in New York on the YES Network – and Red Sox games are carried on NESN – or broadcast by national TV networks, this game is on Apple TV+. It’s free if you have the app, but that’s a problem for older viewers who don’t have Web-enabled TVs or people who don’t watch TV on computers and phones.

Potentially a big moment for Apple – which is trying to become a major player in sports broadcasting – this season, the company began streaming two Friday night baseball games on its Apple TV+ service. In June, it bought the rights to stream Major League Soccer. And it’s in the running to acquire rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket, an out-of-market package now held by DirecTV. Friday’s game was expected to give Apple its biggest baseball audience yet.

Friday’s game also presents an awkward scenario for Major League Baseball, which wants its historic moments to be seen by the largest audience possible. Apple doesn’t disclose how many people use its TV service, but it’s believed to be far less than the roughly 70 million U.S. cable and satellite TV customers. Unlike cable, however, Apple’s baseball games are free and available in 12 countries, creating a global audience that could see Judge break a baseball record.

In a video posted Thursday on his Twitter account, comedian Jon Stewart, who has a show on Apple TV+, promoted Apple’s Yankees broadcast on Friday night.

“See Aaron Judge chase history!” Stewart said. “All you need is the app!”

As Judge has inched closer to 61 home runs, sports broadcasters have jockeyed for a piece of the action. This week Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN cut into its regular programming to show his at-bats. ESPN won’t have the rights to do that during Friday’s game on Apple TV+, according to Front Office Sports.

TBS, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., said Thursday it will air the Sept. 27 Yankees game, when Judge may still be vying for the home-run record as well as the American League Triple Crown, a rare feat that occurs when a player leads the league in home runs, batting average and runs batted in. The network picks which late-season games to show about a week ahead of time in order to get the most compelling matchups.


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