Wednesday BP: Some notes on watching Giants games

Hello and happy Wednesday.

With the San Francisco Giants first game of the regular season less than a month away, I wanted to talk about watching baseball on the TV, which is the only way we can watch it for the time being. I have two programming notes to talk about, one for people who live in the Giants broadcasting market, and one for people who live outside of it.

First, for those in market. On Tuesday, Sling TV, a popular streaming option for cord cutters, announced that it was going to stop carrying NBC Sports Bay Area — the Giants broadcasting partner — starting on April 1 (coincidentally enough, Opening Day).

Any NBCUniversal spokesperson provided McCovey Chronicles with the following statement:

The NBC Regional Sports Networks offered to continue distribution on fair market terms. DISH and Sling declined those terms and will be dropping the networks. The many other distributors that continue to carry the RSNs are listed on each RSN’s website.

If you’re a cord cutter looking for ways to watch the Giants, you can switch over to fuboTV or YouTube TV.

And second, for out of market Giants fans. You likely use MLB.TV to watch Giants games, so here’s your annual reminder that you can get a free subscription to the service if you are also a T-Mobile user. However, you have to wait until March 30 to redeem the service, so no luck for preseason games. I’ll try to remind you when that time comes.

Old, random MCC article for you to read

Oracle Park’s new dimensions (Dec. 11, 2019 — Bryan Murphy)

Giants links

• Grant Brisbee on the Giants many options for the Opening Day bullpen (The Athletic, subscription required)
• Kerry Crowley on how Marco Luciano could make history for the Giants this year (Mercury News)
• Alex Pavlovic on why Dedniel Nuñez might be different than past Rule 5 picks for the Giants (NBC Sports Bay Area)
• Mark W. Sanchez on Brandon Belt feeling better (KNBR)
• Marc Delucchi on how the Giants farm system is approaching a breakout (Around the Foghorn)
• Andrew Baggarly on what you might have missed from the Giants second week of Spring Training (The Athletic, subscription required)
• Dalton Johnson on how Conner Menez would love to be in the Giants rotation (NBC Sports Bay Area)
• Kerry Crowley on young relievers and All-Star predictions (Mercury News)
• Dalton Johnson on reports that the Giants will sign a top prospect from the Bahamas (NBC Sports Bay Area)

How many days until Opening Day?

There are 29 days until Opening Day. We are in the 20s, friends.

Have a great Wednesday!