The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Break is upon us, and one of the week’s premiere events will be streamed live online for the first time. For baseball fans, it doesn’t get much better than watching sluggers battle it out to see who can knock the most balls out of the park, which is why Monday’s live stream of the Home Run Derby should be one of the most popular events this year.
The contest begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT this evening, when Jose Bautista, Robinson Cano, Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Holliday, Matt Kemp, David Ortiz and Rickie Weeks will give their best hacks at Arizona’s Chase Field. The Derby will be broadcast live on ESPN, with commentator Chris Berman calling all the action. But for those without cable, have no fear: The contest will also be streamed online and possibly even to your Xbox 360.
The Home Run Derby will be streaming live from MLB’s Facebook page for the first time ever, as the baseball league attempts to tap social media to attract more interest in the already-popular event. In addition to the live stream on Facebook, a number of players will be live tweeting during the event, including David Ortiz (@davidortiz), Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19), Matt Kemp (@TheRealMattKemp), Heath Bell (@HeathBell21), Gio Gonzalez (@GioGonzalez47), Hunter Pence (@HunterPence9), Brandon Phillips (@DatDudeBP), Gaby Sanchez (@GabySanchez215), Justin Upton (@RealJustinUpton), C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer), Howie Kendrick (@HKendrick47) and Joel Hanrahan (@hanrahan4457).
Those with an Xbox 360 game console may also be able to tune into the live stream as well, as the Home Run Derby will also be available on streaming service ESPN3. While not accessible through all ISPs (you can check to see if the service is available to your broadband provider here), ESPN3 can be watched through the Xbox Live service, and usually provides pretty good quality streaming video to the big screen.
For those on the go, the Derby will be available through the league’s MLB At Bat apps for Android and iOS devices. Streams will also be on the WatchESPN app — but that’s currently only available for Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS and Brighthouse Networks subscribers.
Photo courtesy of (CC BY 2.0) Flickr user SD Dirk.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):
- Players and Strategies for Real-Time In-Stream Advertising
- A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
- Finding the Value in Social Media Data
