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Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner.
The COVID-shortened 2020 campaign resulted in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ first sub-.500 season of the Torey Lovullo Era, but they’re hoping a return to semi-normalcy in 2021 can help them bounce back to their winning ways.
In 2021, Diamondbacks games will be locally televised on Bally Sports Arizona (rebranded from Fox Sports Arizona), while some will be on MLB Network (out of market only, but those will also be on Bally Sports Arizona), and others may be nationally televised on ESPN, Fox or Fox Sports 1.
But if you don’t have cable, here’s how you can watch a live stream of every D-Backs game in 2021, including options for both in-market and out-of-market fans:
Note: Heavy may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up via a link on this page
AT&T TV is the only streaming service that includes Bally Sports Arizona, so if you live in-market, this is the only way to watch every D-Backs game live online without cable.
There are four different channel packages: “Entertainment”, “Choice”, “Ultimate” and “Premier.” ESPN, Fox and FS1 are included in every bundle, while Bally Sports Arizona and MLB Network are included in the “Choice” and above bundles.
The “Choice” channel package is $84.99 per month, but you can pick any package and any add-on you want with your free 14-day trial.
Note that the free trial isn’t advertised as such, but your “due today” amount will be $0 when signing up. If you watch on your computer, phone or tablet, you won’t be charged for 14 days. If you watch on a streaming device on your TV (Roku, Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc.), you will be charged for the first month, but you can get still get a full refund if you cancel before 14 days:
Once signed up for AT&T TV, you can watch every Diamondbacks game live on the AT&T TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the AT&T TV website.
If you can’t watch a game live, AT&T TV also comes with 20 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to unlimited hours for an extra $10 per month).
Amazon Prime subscribers (Prime comes with a 30-day free trial) can watch every out-of-market, non-nationally televised MLB game on the Amazon Prime MLB.TV channel.
It costs either $24.99 per month to watch every out-of-market game (“All Team Pass”) or $109.99 for the year to just watch out-of-market D-Backs games (“Single Team Pass”), but either option comes with a free seven-day trial:
MLB.TV Amazon Prime Free Trial
Once you’re signed up for the MLB.TV Prime Video channel, out-of-market viewers can watch Diamondbacks games live on the Prime Video app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, Xiaomi, Echo Show, Echo Spot, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, most Smart TV’s, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer via the Amazon website.
If you can’t watch live, all games are available on-demand by the next day.
Note: This is ultimately the same as the Amazon Prime option above, only you’ll watch games on MLB’s digital platforms instead of Amazon’s
You can watch all out-of-market, non-nationally televised MLB games via MLB.TV. It costs $24.99 per month or $129.99 for the year to watch every out-of-market game, or $109.99 for the year to just watch out-of-market D-Backs games, but the monthly and yearly all-team options include a free seven-day trial (the single-team option does not):
Once signed up for MLB.TV, out-of-market viewers can watch Diamondbacks games live on the MLB TV app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, various Smart TV’s, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer via the MLB.TV website.
If you can’t watch live, all games are available on-demand by the next day.
This isn’t going to be an option to watch many Diamondbacks games, but if you’re looking for a cheap way to watch a random MLB game daily, ESPN+ will have at least one out-of-market game every day during the regular season:
In addition to one live MLB game every day, ESPN+ also has college baseball and other college sports, UFC, international soccer and dozens of other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary, and additional original content (both video and written) all for $5.99 per month.
Or, if you also want Disney+ and Hulu, you can get all three for $13.99 per month, which works out to about 31 percent savings:
Get the ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu Bundle
Once signed up for ESPN+, out-of-market viewers can watch select MLB games live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Diamondbacks 2021 Season Preview
The Diamondbacks finished in the NL West basement with a 25-35 mark in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, struggling both on the mound and at the dish: Arizona ranked 22nd in both ERA (5.04) and OPS (.739).
While the front office did little to improve the offense over the offseason, they did bolster the bullpen, signing righties Joakim Soria and Tyler Clippard to one-year major league pacts and taking a minor league flyer on Chris Devenski.
Clippard, who posted a 2.77 ERA across 26 appearances last year, hit the 60-day disabled list with a capsule sprain in his throwing shoulder.
Soria pitched to a 2.82 ERA in 22 appearances. The 36-year-old owns a career 3.01 ERA and earned a pair of All-Star nods as the Kansas City Royals’ closer in 2008 and 2010.
Diamondbacks fans should be used to welcoming in a fleet of newly signed relievers; it seems to have become a yearly tradition within the organization.
“The goal shouldn’t be to rebuild the bullpen externally every single year,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said, according to The Arizona Republic. “There’s got to be opportunity for our young pitchers — starters, especially, that don’t find their way into the rotation right away — to still have opportunities to come up here and pitch and get their feet underneath them at the major league level.”
One obvious path to improved Diamondbacks pitching: a bounce-back season from lefty starter Madison Bumgarner, who signed a five-year, $85 million contract ahead of the 2020 season then got lit up to the tune of a 6.48 ERA over 9 starts.
The four-time All-Star entered last season with a career 3.13 ERA.
“I’m not really worried about 2020 or any other year except for right now,” Bumgarner said, according to Arizona Sports. “Regardless of whether I won the Cy Young last year or had the year that I did, this is a new one and we’ve all moved on.”
According to USA Today, Bumgarner went home to North Carolina and halted baseball activities altogether when the league indefinitely postponed the 2020 season, and he didn’t believe the season would take place.
“The only thing I wish I would have done different last year was kept it at a steady pace, instead of getting way up here and then dropping back down and then getting way up,” he told the paper. “We didn’t really know what to plan for. I was trying to take it days and weeks at a time instead of staying somewhere in the middle. I think that would have been more beneficial.”
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