Skip to main content

How to watch the World Series, with or without a cable subscription

Adam Glanzman / Contributor

The Dodgers may have won the longest World Series game in history Friday night, but the Red Sox still lead the series 2 games to 1. And with several games still to go, it’s still anyone’s ball game. That’s right, the 2018 World Series is upon us, with the Boston Red Sox facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The games all air live on Fox, but that’s far from the only way to watch. Whether you’re a hardcore baseball fan or you’re just looking to occasionally check in and see who’s in the lead, there are plenty of ways to watch the series, whether online, with cable, or without it, and we’ve listed them all here for you.

With an HD antenna

Mohu Blade HD Antenna review
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

If you don’t want to subscribe to either a pay TV service or a streaming TV service, you can use an antenna to watch the game, provided you live in an area where you can get Fox over the air. If you live anywhere near your local Fox affiliate, you should be able to get by with most indoor antennas, and we’ve got a list of some of the best ones you can buy. If you’re further away from your affiliate, you might need to pull out the big guns. The Mohu Striker, for example, has a range of up to 75 miles, but needs to be mounted either outside or in your attic.

Using a live TV streaming service

Not a cable subscriber and don’t want to bother hooking up an antenna just to watch the game? Good news: You don’t have to. There are plenty of live TV streaming services that will let you watch the game, potentially for free, as long as they offer up your local Fox affiliate.

Sling TV might be your best bet if you’re looking to watch the game on the cheap, but be sure to check that it carries your local channels. PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now, and Hulu with Live TV will all work as well. If you’re a year-round sports nut, particularly one with a love of soccer, FuboTV is another great option that provides plenty of local channels around the country. Some of these services, including PlayStation Vue and DirecTV Now, also act as TV Everywhere providers, meaning you may be able to watch the games using Fox Sports Go, with the streaming service as your TV provider login.

Finally, there’s YouTube TV. This service gets its own special shout-out, as it will be airing Fox’s World Series coverage, no matter whether it carries your local affiliate or not, meaning this might be your best bet if you can’t get your local channels via any of the methods listed above.

One thing to keep in mind is that most of these streaming services have a free trial period, which should let you watch at least most of the remaining games in the series for free. You might need to jump between two of them if the series goes the full seven games, but that can help you figure out which streaming service is best for you — in addition to getting you your free baseball fix.

With a cable subscription

If you’re a traditional pay-TV subscriber, whether it’s via cable or satellite, you’ve got a lot of options. Sure, you can just watch the games live on Fox or DVR them and watch them at your leisure, but that’s just the beginning of how you can watch with your subscription.

In addition to airing on Fox, the games will also be available to watch using Fox Sports Go, either via its website or its various apps. Apps are available for iOS and Android, and streaming devices like Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku are supported, as well as smart TVs on the Android TV platform. You can also watch on your Xbox One game console.

Topics
Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Roku TV turns 10, celebrates with new Pro Series mini-LED sets
The Roku Pro Series television seen in a press image.

Streaming platform Roku today announced a trio of new Roku TVs that it hopes will elevate its standing in the smart TV market, which until now has mostly been in the affordable-but-not-outstanding range.

While technical specs are still sparse on the new 55-, 65-, and 75-inch televisions, we do have the obvious inclusion of 4K resolution and a mini-LED system to control the local dimming zones. This isn’t the first time Roku TVs have featured mini-LED tech — that stretches back to the 8-Series sets from 2019, as part of its partnership with TCL.

Read more
NFL Sunday Ticket free trial: How to watch free for a week
Sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube.

In a slightly surprising and somewhat quiet shift, YouTube and YouTube TV are offering up a free seven-day trial of NFL Sunday Ticket. That is, you can watch any and all games (barring local blackouts) on a given Sunday, and then cancel if you want. Or keep NFL Sunday Ticket and watch all the games on all the Sundays.

The details were unceremoniously dropped on a YouTube/YouTube TV support page. The free trials should be available now, but the page does note that "if you don't see the 7-day trial at checkout, try again soon."

Read more
How to watch TCL’s 2023 global flagship product launch event
The bottom bezel and logo on a TCL QM8.

The arrival of fall — or close enough, anyway — means a few things. Football. Too much excitement for pumpkin spice. And all kinds of new tech. And that extends to the TV world (and more) this week with TCL's global flagship product launch.

TCL is probably best-known for its televisions. And we'll hear plenty on the latest in QD-Mini LED tech (we've been plenty impressed by the Mini LED side of things thus far). But we're also expecting more from the world of home theater products in general, as well as smart home appliances, NXTPAPER (we first saw that sort-of Kindle/iPad hybrid at CES in January), and plenty more.

Read more