Unblock MLB Games with a VPN

The World Series is right around the corner and baseball fans everywhere are gearing up for the Fall Classic. In the United States, Canada, and overseas many baseball fans use their Internet connection to stream games live and follow all the action of Major League baseball. Unfortunately, due to network blackouts, much of your MLB access might be blocked. Using a VPN to unblock the MLB games of your favorite team is a breeze, and we’ll show you how.

Avoiding a local market blackout with a VPN

There are numerous services, including MLB TV, which will allow users to stream live coverage of their favorite baseball team in action. This is a great way to watch a team play every game. There are so many games in baseball that only a few games get network television coverage. Sometimes, streaming a game online is the only way some people can see it. Streaming services are available for computers, iPhones, and Android smartphones.

The thorn in the side of this scenario is something known as a local market blackout. In the United States and Canada, many baseball broadcasts cannot be streamed due to copyright issues. Streaming services don’t have the licensing to make these broadcasts available. Baseball fans in other countries, such as the UK and Germany, can stream the games live.

A local market blackout was originally conceived by sports team owners as a way to entice fans to come to the stadium for a live game. In professional football, this is regularly seen when a network television broadcast of a local team’s game is blacked out because tickets did not sell out locally. Without the ability to stream a live game, many people would miss a significant part of their favorite team’s games.

Blocking MLB games from a live stream to selected audiences is accomplished through geo-restriction, or geo-blocking. This is a simple method of restricting access based on IP address. When you attempt to stream the game from the US or Canada, your IP reveals that you are in this location and your access is denied.

How to beat the MLB blackout

The best way to avoid a MLB TV restriction is through using a VPN to spoof your IP address. This means that your IP will be changed to reflect the IP and location of the VPN server.

Do not attempt to use a proxy server or something like Tor to access MLB games, for a couple of reasons. First, the speed of a proxy is just too slow for streaming media. Secondly, a VPN offers true anonymity by masking your IP address and preventing the streaming service from determining your true location.

A step-by-step guide to watching MLB games with a VPN

All you need to do to stream live MLB games is detailed in the following steps:

1. Purchase a VPN account. We recommend you use our service to stream MLB games because we offer multiple servers to choose from in a variety of locations. You need this flexibility in order to ensure you can watch your favorite team play.
2. Configure your VPN account. We’ll give you all the instructions you need to get this done, and your device already has all the software you need installed.
3. Connect. Whenever you access the Internet, simply connect to your VPN next and your browsing will be encrypted and your IP address changed to the location of the server you have chosen.
4. Watch the game. Now, depending on which streaming service you use there are some different scenarios. Most people use MLB TV for streaming live baseball. Now, you may be thinking, what difference does it make if I use a VPN? MLB TV already knows my location because I registered for an account. That’s true, but local market blackouts are restricted by your present, not permanent, location. In other words, MLB TV realizes that you may live in Texas where the Texas Rangers play. They also realize that the reason people stream a game is because they want to follow the team when they are traveling. Therefore, MLB TV is concerned with your present location when you attempt to stream. If you are trying to stream a Cleveland Indians game and your IP address says you are in Ohio, your access will likely be blocked. So, you simply choose a server from our list which is not in the location of the team in question, log in, and start streaming.

You don’t have to depend on highlights from ESPN to follow your favorite baseball team.  With a VPN from VPN-accounts.com and a subscription to MLB TV, you can watch every game all season long no matter where you are located. Grab a cold beer and some popcorn. We’ll do the rest.