September did not exactly provide riveting baseball. The National League Wild Card race looked promising but didn’t offer last second drama. In the American League, the Twins and Tigers battled to decide who would win baseball’s worst division. Yawn.
Fortunately it was a better month for baseball on the iPhone. MLB.com At Bat 2009 continued to reinvent the baseball experience on the iPhone and FanGraphs Baseball released one of the more unique apps you will find. What can we expect as October’s playoff games start? Let’s take a look.
MLB.com At Bat 2009
MLB.com At Bat was already one of the more popular and critically-acclaimed apps, but that didn’t stop Major League’s Baseball media arm from releasing an update that made this great app even better. In September, the app was updated to allow users to watch any game for 99 cents (the app still offered two free games each day). The feature will return in 2010, though possibly at a different price.
Makers of the app have also confirmed that for the postseason they will add a “Quad View” feature. This will provide you with four different camera views from each game, with the option to either watch all four at once or to enlarge one view.
Live scoring options
FanGraphs borrows the win probability graph from the Web site of the same name. While all the standard statistics are here, this is a very different game-tracking experience that boasts bunches of advanced stats. The app also includes stats for every major league player ever.
Pro Baseball Live! and Stats: MLB 2009 – Baseball Stat Machine will also get you the latest baseball scores, though both lag behind At Bat and FanGraphs in terms of quality. Baseball Stat Machine does have interesting fantasy baseball features, and though this is the time of year most leagues are winding down this will be worth checking out if it’s updated for 2010.
If you want baseball scores but don’t want to limit yourself to one sport, ESPN ScoreCenter and Sportacular are nice options for the well-rounding sports fanatic. While Sportacular has news and stats to go along with the live scores, ScoreCenter is everything ESPN itself is not – just the scores, no frills.
If you’re a Cubs fan or a Chicagoan still smarting from the Olympics snub…
Sorry Cubs fans, but at least you got the disappointment out of the way early this year. You can correct everything that went wrong this year by downloading MLB World Series 2009 and give the 2009 season another chance, or head straight into the playoffs. This game includes real teams and players as well as a limited number of real stadiums.
If you’ve sworn off baseball already, follow the latest Bears news with Chicago Bears News and Rumors. In addition to news it has rosters and a link to forums, though unfortunately it lacks statistics.
Hockey Fans – Chicago will help you keep track of the Blackhawks news and results. While the news and video sections are nothing more than search engine listings – which leads to some funky results – this app is a convenient way to follow your favorite team.
