Major League Baseball’s first attempt at providing an iPhone app with everything you need to follower your favorite team really knocked it out of the park. Expectations are high for MLB.com At Bat 2010 to deliver a repeat. If you liked last year’s version (and don’t mind paying an extra buck), chances are you’ll want to pencil this grizzled veteran into your opening day app lineup.
Aside from a price increase to $14.99, the app is very similar to last year’s edition. New features include Spring Training stats, expanded team information, searchable video, enhanced live video, the ability to select home and away broadcast feeds. The really money shot of this app – which is also available on Android and BlackBerry devices – in providing access to video and audio feeds for nearly every major league game.
The most enticing thing about At Bat 2010 may actually be the promise of improvements throughout the season. Among the many updates last year were the ability to watch any game for 99 cents and multiple camera views for playoff games.
All the the little details that were incorporated into last year’s app return, such as condensed games, video highlights, and the pitch-by-pitch Gameday feature. MLB.TV subscribers will once again be able to watch all games for free, though live streaming does not begin until mid-March. There’s no word yet if the app will still stream a limited number of games for free each day to non-MLB.TV subscribers.
Visually, with the exception of a few icons and sub-menus, MLB.com At Bat 2010 looks almost identical to last year’s version. Navigating the app is also largely unchanged, though searching for info such as videos or rosters for a single team is now much easier.
For good reason, it looks like the folks at MLB took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to At-Bat 2010. If you were hoping for tons of new features from this version, you’ll probably have to wait for mid-season reinforcements.
Regardless, MLB.com At Bat 2010 remains the best baseball app available, and truly the only must-download app for any iPhone-toting baseball fan. The price change is bold given that most developers are lowering their costs, but if one app could afford the price bump it was probably this one.
