Report updated Apr 16, 2026
MLB
For dedicated baseball fans who want comprehensive, real-time access to live games, deep statistical analysis, and personalized team content.
MLB is a struggling sports app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.6/5 rating from 1M reviews, it struggles with user retention. Users particularly appreciate comprehensive content, though streaming stability & playback bugs remains a common concern.
What is MLB?
Current Momentum
v26.6 · 6d ago
ActiveMLB version 26.6.0 introduces customizable scoreboard views and a new Apple Watch team logo complication. The app is currently in an active development cycle.
Active Nemesis
ESPN: Live Sports & Scores
By Disney
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
SportsRating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Immersive 3D visualization of ballparks and live game action, including Spatial 3D highlights on supported devices.
Access to live out-of-market games, 24/7 MLB Network, and a massive on-demand library.
Customized content, news, and highlights tailored to favorite teams and players.
Live radio broadcasts for home, away, and Spanish-language feeds.
How much does it cost?
- Free tier includes highlights, 24/7 programming, and news
- Subscription tier (MLB.TV/MLB+) unlocks live out-of-market games and radio
The app uses a high-value content gate, leveraging its monopoly on out-of-market live broadcasts to drive subscriptions while using free highlights to maintain a broad top-of-funnel audience.
Who Built It?
MLB
Connecting baseball fans to the game through live streaming, digital ticketing, and comprehensive minor league coverage.
Portfolio
3
Apps
What other apps does MLB make?
Explore the full MLB report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by MLB.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 100 of 1M total reviews analyzed
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a upset sentiment. Users appreciate comprehensive content, but report streaming stability & playback bugs and blackout restrictions & location errors.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for MLB?
How's The Sports Market?
How does it evolve in the Sports market?
MLB is losing ground.
Rank progression
194 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
The outtake for MLB
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Proprietary Statcast and Gameday 3D data integration
- Exclusive live out-of-market streaming rights (MLB.TV)
- Strong brand authority as the official league app
- #2 Grossing position in the US Sports category
Critical Frictions
- Frequent app crashes and streaming freezes during ad transitions
- Inaccurate geo-location logic causing false blackout restrictions
- Redesigned UI reduces data density on the Scores page
- Audio imbalance between quiet broadcasts and loud commercials
Growth Levers
- Integration of social/community features like live game chats (competitor: theScore)
- Development of multi-view streaming for power users (competitor: YouTube TV)
- Leveraging Android XR for immersive 'virtual ballpark' experiences
Market Threats
- Apple Sports siphoning casual users with faster, OS-level score updates
- ESPN's multi-sport ecosystem capturing users who follow multiple leagues
- FanDuel and betting apps moving faster with live score/odds updates
What are the next best moves?
Stabilize streaming playback during commercial transitions
This is the #1 complaint theme and a direct driver of the 'terrible' sentiment score, leading to immediate user churn and frustration.
Increase data density on the Scores tab
Users report the new UI is 'gigantic' and hides box scores; reverting to a more compact view addresses the 'Poor UI/UX' complaint theme.
Audit and refine geo-location blackout logic
Inaccurate blackout triggers on mobile data are a top-tier complaint and directly impact the value proposition of the paid subscription.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Integrated social chat and public community layers (available in theScore)
- Multi-view streaming for watching multiple games simultaneously (available in YouTube TV)
- Multi-sport aggregated news and unified notifications (available in ESPN)
Key Takeaways
If I were the PM, I would immediately pivot resources from experimental features like Spatial 3D to fix the core streaming engine and commercial break transitions. While the app's #2 Grossing rank shows strong monetization, the 'terrible' sentiment and declining trend indicate that technical debt is eroding the core user experience, making the app vulnerable to faster, simpler alternatives like Apple Sports.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
Critical streaming stability and playback bugs reported in Apr 2026 — indicates high technical debt.
Declining sentiment trend following the Scores tab UI redesign — alienating the core power-user base.
Active investment in Android XR and Spatial 3D — shows commitment to high-end hardware innovation.