It’s October, so that means the 2013 Major League Baseball playoffs are upon us. Whether you want to watch games on the fly, track stats, or play a few games yourself, we’ve got all the bases covered.
MLB.com At Bat (iOS, Android Free)
MLB.com At Bat returns with its 2013 edition, and it as loaded with brand new bells and whistles. For the uninitiated, this app for a subscription lets you watch virtually every MLB game that isn’t impacted by local and major network blackout restrictions. At Bat now features live audio for all platforms and devices. The app’s team pages have been redesigned, and the news section now has a new interface as well. At Bat now also includes a classic games library and more push notifications. Whether you want to follow live updating box scores, listen to radio broadcasts of games or even stream video of games, At Bat is the only app you’ll need. Note that although the app is free to download, most of its features are only unlocked with a one-time annual fee of $19.99 or monthly fees of 2.99 (MLB.TV Premium subscribers can use the app for free).
MLB PrePlay (iOS, Android Free)
If you’re the type of person who loves to predict the result of an at-bat or inning before it occurs, MLB PrePlay is just the app to check out. PrePlay lets players compete against friends (or alone) to see whether you can make the correct call on every at bat. Will the next batter strike out or hit a home run? Will the home team retire the side in order or run into trouble? With MLB PrePlay your guess is as good as anyone else’s. While in-game predictions are made live, players can also pick the results of games up to three days in advance.
MLB: Full Deck (iOS, Android Free)
MLB: Full Deck brings the fun, nerdy bits of action-card games to the MLB arena. Players create a team culled from 650 real MLB players and then compete against their friends or real MLB teams. Players can even “train” their team to boost their stats as well as make crucial managerial decisions during games. It’s a long way from simple card collecting but fans of competitive card games like Magic: The Gathering might find a new favorite hobby with MLB: Full Deck.
iScore (iOS, Android $9.99)
Whether you’re keeping score of an MLB game or just your kid’s t-ball contest, iScore Baseball/Softball Scorekeeper lets you track every bit of the game, with more than 350 stats tracked for every play, just like you would with a real scorecard. In addition to standard scorekeeping features, iScore also lets users track pitches including location, type and speed, and batting spray charts that track hit location and strength and type of hit. Users can also share the scorekeeping data with friends across multiple devices. iScore even has an undo/redo option for those times when a call is changed after the fact.
