How to Watch the World Series Online

Baseball players

The Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series is one of the most significant sporting events of the year, as popular with sports fans at the NFL Super Bowl or the UEFA Champions League.

Every year, around 18 million Americans tune in to watch the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL) go head to head in a best-of-seven playoff that will determine who will win the coveted Commissioner’s Trophy. Sadly, people outside the U.S. might encounter some problems when they try to watch the games online. Below you can read why this happens and how you can go around it.

World Series Popularity

World Series logoUnsurprisingly, the most significant event in the baseballing calendar generates a lot of revenue. The brand value of the MLB World Series exceeded 124 million U.S. dollars in 2017. Within the United States, much of that revenue comes from advertising and sponsorship. This allows the Fox Network to broadcast the World Series for free for American viewers.

As it only has the rights to broadcast the World Series within mainland America, Fox uses geo-blocking in order to prevent non-residents from watching the games. Fox’s geo-blocking software requires you to enter a valid U.S. zip code before giving you access to the steam. It then checks your Internet Protocol (IP) address to verify your location, blocking non-U.S. IPs from viewing the stream

Outside of the U.S., the MBL makes the majority of its revenue for the World Series selling streaming packages that allow non-U.S. citizens to view the games. Unfortunately, these streaming packages can be costly and are not available in all countries.

Thankfully, if you are one of the estimated 500 million baseball fans worldwide, there is a way to bypass Fox’s geoblocking. You can watch the world series for free by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). In this article, you can find out how to use a VPN to watch the World Series Online. Moreover, we will suggest some of the best VPN providers to use.

Using a VPN to Watch the World Series Online

Geo-blocking is used to restrict who can view specific content based on the geographic area in which they live. This is generally due to broadcasters or networks only having the rights to show programs in certain countries.

In the case of the World Series, the Fox network does not have the rights to broadcast or stream the games outside of the United States. Viewers trying to access the streamed games via the Fox Sports’ website are asked to enter a valid American zip code. This is then checked against their IP address. If the IP address indicates that the connection is coming from outside the United States, the viewer is blocked from watching the stream.

A VPN can be used to bypass geo-blocking because it routes your internet traffic through a server located in the United States. This means that when your IP address is checked by the Fox Sports’ website, it will register as being based in the mainland U.S., allowing you to watch the games for free.

Why Sign-up to a VPN Service?

The benefits of using a VPN go far beyond just watching the World Series. A VPN offers you a range of benefits and options that you may not have considered.

  • Anonymous Browsing – In the age of tracking cookies, targeted advertising and the selling of personal browsing data, real anonymity on the internet can be challenging to achieve. VPN services direct your internet traffic through an encrypted VPN tunnel. This is one of the few ways you can browse the internet without worrying about having your browsing data and habits mined or sold.
  • Bypass Online Restrictions – If you live in a country that routinely blocks access to certain websites, services or social media, then a VPN is an excellent way for you to gain access to that restricted content. VPNs come with the added bonus of obscuring your location and encrypting your traffic. This makes it far more difficult for governments or security services to track your online activities.
  • Protecting You From Cybercrime – Most people would be surprised by the amount of personal information that cybercriminals can get from just their everyday browsing and social media habits. By obscuring your location and encrypting your data, a VPN helps to keep you safe on the internet and protect you from a wide range of cybercrime.

What is The Best VPN For Streaming The World Series?

Picking the best VPN to give you access to the World Series means taking into account a number of important factors. You need whichever VPN service you are using to be able to maintain a fast and stable connection. Nothing is going to ruin your appreciation of the biggest event in baseball like a slow and jittery video stream.

Price is also a consideration. One of the many reasons that people use VPN services in order to watch the World Series is the considerable cost of MLB international streaming packages. There isn’t much point in using a VPN service that costs as much as the streaming service you want to avoid paying for.

With these factors in mind, here are our suggestions for the best VPN services you can use to watch the World Series.

NordVPN

NordVPN is a market leading provider of fast and secure VPN services. They offer an excellent service at reasonable prices. Moreover, NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee so that you can test the service without committing to it.

NordVPN offers connections to a good number of servers in the U.S. This means accessing the World Series streaming coverage won’t be a problem. They are also renowned for their security and privacy. NordVPN uses obfsproxy to avoid Deep Packet Inspection and operate a “no-logging” policy to keep your browsing as anonymous as possible.

NordVPN
Our pick
Our pick
Deal:
Only $3.29 a month for a two-year subscription with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
From
$3.29
9.3
  • Excellent protection and a large network of servers
  • Nice and pleasing application
  • No logs
Visit NordVPN

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN offers an incredibly user-friendly experience coupled with fast connection speeds and a vast network, with servers in 94 countries. Their VPN service provides a consistently high connection speed to their U.S. servers. This means you will be able to stream the World Series without worry about skips or length buffering.

Like NordVPN, ExpressVPN operates a “no-logging” policy when it comes to your browsing data. Their website and software is simple and easy to use. Moreover, their customer service team is always on hand to help you with any issues you might have

ExpressVPN
Deal:
Great discount on annual subscription + 30-day money-back guarantee!
From
$6.67
8.9
  • Very easy to use VPN
  • Perfect for anonymous browsing, downloading, and streaming (i.e. Netflix)
  • 3000+ servers in 94 countries
Visit ExpressVPN

Surfshark

Surfshark is an excellent choice to stream the World Series because of the speedy connections. Bypassing Fox’s geo-blocking won’t be a problem when you are using one of their many U.S. servers. Their excellent connection speeds will ensure you can watch the World Series games without any issues.

The prices for Surfsharks’s subscriptions are very reasonable. If for any reason, you aren’t entirely happy with their service then they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Surfshark
Deal:
Safe and anonymous internet for only $2.30a month
From
$2.30
9.0
  • Very user-friendly and works with Netflix and torrents
  • 30-day money-back guarantee. No questions asked!
  • Cheap with many extra options
Visit Surfshark

MLB Channels and Websites

  • Fox Sports
  • Fox Sports & ESPN (US)
  • MLB.TV (different locations)
  • Sports Net (Canada)
  • BT Sports (United Kingdom)
  • Viasat Sport en Sport1 US (Several countries in Europa)
  • ESPN (Australia)
  • Fox Sports Asia (Asia)
  • Shenzhen TV (China)

NPB Channels and Websites

  • DAZN (Japan)

MLB Events

EventDate
MLB season1 April until 3 November 2021
World series26 October 2021

NPB Events

EventDate
Climax Series30 October 2021

Final Thoughts

If you are a fan of baseball you don’t want to miss the clash of the titans that is the World Series. It can be very frustrating not to be able to watch the games just because of where you live.

Thankfully, by choosing the right VPN service, you can bypass the geo-blocking that prevents people outside the U.S from watching some of the most important games in the baseball calendar.

With a VPN you don’t just get access to all of the World Series goodness. It will also allow you to browse the internet without giving away any of your personal data. Moreover, you are protected from cybercrime. Finally, you also gain complete freedom and no content will be restricted to you. It’s a real win-win situation.

Tech journalist
Tove has been working for VPNoverview since 2017 as a journalist covering cybersecurity and privacy developments. She has broad experience developing rigorous VPN testing procedures and protocols for our VPN review section and has tested dozens of VPNs over the years.