Writing the Pine

Your favorite team playing but you’re stuck at work?

Yanks v. Red Sox but you’re at a wedding reception?

Subway Series but you’re being dragged to the mall by your significant other?

What’s one to do? Welcome MLB At Bat 2010.

I purchased the MLB At Bat app last year when my work schedule required me to miss almost all of Yankees’ evening games.  Luckily, for $9.99 I had access to information on every single Yankees game, audio broadcast (home, away, and Spanish version), video highlights, and every other game as well.  Last year’s version also featured one free live video feed of a game per night as well.

This year’s version is essentially the same as last year’s.  The biggest difference is the price: $14.99.  A 5 dollar increase over last year.  A lot of the reviewers at the iTunes store are bickering and complaining over the price difference from last year’s version.  I personally thought last year’s version was under-priced at less than $10.  I am still more than willing to pay $15 for everything this app brings over the course of a 162 game regular season + spring training + postseason coverage.  And that’s not even including some of their new features.

This is pretty much your home screen.  It’ll list every scheduled game for that day.  The score and the inning for games that have already started and the scheduled first pitch for the ones that haven’t.  Once you click on a game of your choosing, you can listen to the audio broadcast of the game.  Luckily, the audio can be streamed even over Edge.  So you’re not shit out of luck if you don’t have 3G and Wi-Fi coverage.

The newest and BAD ASS feature is allowing to stream the audio in the background while browsing Safari.  Sure your battery will probably run out in an hour, but it’ll be worth it.  That was high on my list from last year and it looks like the folks at MLB read my mind.  Or user feedback.  Whichever is easier to believe.

If you have a MLB.tv subscription you can watch the live video of every game . . . except the ones blacked out in your area.  Meaning, this is useless for me since I live in a Yankees tv market.  But, say I were Bill Simmons living in L.A. and I wanted to follow my Red Sox?  Jack(o)pot.  (Also, available for Blackberry, Android, and other platforms.)

While we’re on the subject of video.  This is what it looks like . . . on Wi-Fi.  Expect it to be slower and the resolution to be much grainier on 3g.  And EDGE?  Just find the nearest sports bar, buddy.  I haven’t fully utilized the video function since I don’t have a MLB.tv subscription, but there is an added feature for the postseason.  For the 2009 postseason, MLB added live camera feeds of playoff games including a camera constantly focused on both benches.  While I watched all the games on TV last postseason, I did spend a lot of time watching the dejected looks and mannerisms of the Red Sox players in their dugout as they lost to the Angels.

Aside from the audio feature which I use extensively, I spend a lot of time on the Gameday screen.  The audio is about 30 seconds slower than the live TV coverage.  The Gameday screen however seems to be instantaneous.  It tracks the activity of the half inning including the matchups (with BA and pitch counts), the location, type and speed of every pitch.

The Field screen shows the defensive alignment, dimensions of the ball park, runners on base, and pretty much eveything you need know about the game.

The Box Score screen has your standard box score for both sides.

The Summary screen will give you a run down of all plays in the game separated by inning.  Or if you only want the meaty stuff, just the scoring plays in the game.

And my favorite feature is the Video screen.  Which has highlights of the game only a few minutes after it happens.  Take for example the season opener.  I’m not in front of a TV and I listen to John Sterling (ugh) describe Gardner and Jeter pulling off a double steal with Gardner taking home.  3 minutes later, I get to watch the highlight.  Sweet.

Overall, they’ve changed their navigation and menus somewhat – while I’m still getting accustomed to it, it seems a bit smoother than last year’s.

Also available is news from around the league, up to date standings, and other video highlights.

Overall, the MLB At Bat 2010 app has improved and added a few features from last year’s edition.  While it did however increase its price by 50%.  It’s still a steal for only $14.99.  Considering MLB At Bat for the PC w/ Gameday Audio is $19.95, I’d rather take the mobile version that’s $5 less.

9.5 out of 10

For more information visit: http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/

(I have not been paid or reimbursed by MLB.com to endorse, review, or feature their product.  I did however write this review while listening to the season opener on MLB At Bat 2010. Because quite frankly, who has 4 hours to listen to a Yankees/Red Sox game – I have blog deadlines to meet!)