How to Watch Blackout MLB Games with a VPN

In our tests, ExpressVPN was the best option for bypassing both local and national MLB blackouts.

We worked around local blackouts by getting a US VPN IP address from outside the blackout area.

We easily did this thanks to ExpressVPN’s large server network, with servers in 11 US states and in 106 countries.

ExpressVPN server list on iOS (left) and Android (right).

Other top VPNs, like Private Internet Access, have more US servers than ExpressVPN. However, only 50% of them worked with MLB.TV. ExpressVPN worked close to 100% of the time.

That said, MLB.TV has been more aggressive at blocking VPN IP addresses, so on rare occasions you may have to cycle through a few ExpressVPN servers to find one that works.

To watch the World Series on Fox, and to get around national blackouts, we connected to an ExpressVPN server in one of the 104 countries available outside the US and Canada.

As you can see below, when connected to an ExpressVPN server in France, we accessed the Apple TV+ video stream directly within the MLB.TV website.

ExpressVPN’s international servers streamed every blacked out MLB game.

Although many VPNs work with MLB.TV, only the best can stream it in maximum resolution and without buffering.

In our streaming tests, ExpressVPN performed better than any other. We didn’t experience any stutters and videos loaded instantly.

From a test location in New York, we tested ExpressVPN’s speeds while connected to a wide range of server locations. On every occasion, ExpressVPN accessed MLB.TV blackout games and at speeds fast enough for full resolution.

In fact, our streaming speeds dropped by only 3% when connecting to the nearest server outside our blackout area.

And when connected to overseas VPN servers to avoid a national blackout, our speeds slowed down by only 15%.

You can see our full results from testing ExpressVPN in the table below:

Overall, ExpressVPN’s exceptional streaming performance with MLB.TV is unmatched. Equally, it’s not surprising that it’s a formidable VPN for NBA League Pass, to watch out-of-market NFL games, and for accessing geo-blocked free F1 streaming sites.

Out of all of Surfshark’s advanced settings, its Override GPS function is the one that stood out the most in our tests with MLB.TV.

As we mentioned earlier, the MLB.TV Android app requires access to your GPS location to function, which you can’t turn off.

Regular VPNs only change your IP address, and not your GPS coordinates. As such, almost every VPN doesn’t work with the MLB.TV Android app, including ExpressVPN.

The only other VPNs with this capability are Windscribe (Pro) and IVPN. Surfshark is faster than Windscribe, and IVPN doesn’t work at all with MLB.TV.

Surfshark’s GPS spoofer effectively and consistently bypassed the MLB.TV’s Android app VPN detection systems at every attempt.

Using the MLB.TV app with Surfshark on our Android tablet.

Once set up, the setting works by matching your GPS coordinates to the VPN server’s IP location. Overrride GPS will then automatically change your GPS location as you change VPN server location.

This ensures there is never a mismatch between your IP and GPS location, making it much harder for MLB.TV to detect your VPN connection.

We love this rare feature of Surfshark’s, which is also why it’s a great VPN for watching blackout NHL games on ESPN+ on Android devices.

Surfshark’s compatibility with other platforms and devices is quite disappointing, though.

The provider’s Smart DNS service didn’t change our DNS address when streaming MLB.TV on a Smart TV and failed to bypass any blackout.

And unlike ExpressVPN, Surfshark doesn’t have a router app. To stream on devices like Roku, Smart TVs, and older Chromecast devices, you’ll have to set up a virtual router instead, which is more complicated.

Moreover, Surfshark’s speed losses were considerably higher than ExpressVPN’s. We experienced an average slowdown of 5% compared to ExpressVPN’s 3%.

All in all, Surfshark is a good VPN for MLB.TV, but ExpressVPN beats it in terms of server and device compatibility with MLB.TV, as well as streaming speeds.

The free version of Windscribe lets you connect to eight US cities in seven different states, spread across the country. These include popular locations, like New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

All of these US locations worked with MLB.TV, and we were able to access blackout games.

Windscribe’s free servers always work with MLB.TV.

By contrast, other free VPNs we tested, like Proton VPN and Atlas VPN, only have servers in one or two US cities. We found it much harder to get around geo-restrictions using them.

Windscribe also runs free servers in 10 more countries, useful for getting around national blackouts.

We found the UK server delivered the fastest speeds, since it’s part of Windscribe’s 10Gbps server network.

There were two main issues we faced testing Windscribe’s free VPN with MLB.TV: its 10GB monthly data limit, and its slower speeds.

Windscribe’s 10GB monthly data limit is a major downside. We found we could only stream roughly four hours of MLB.TV before our allowance maxed out. We couldn’t even get through two full games.

To add to our frustration, during those four hours, our stream often went blurry or stopped entirely. This was due to fluctuating speeds with drops of 13% on average.

Overall, we recommend using ExpressVPN’s free trial, or Surfshark’s, instead of using Windscribe. But if you’re ok with its limitations, then Windscribe is the best totally free VPN for MLB.TV.