MLB Hot Corner

The baseball playoffs started today with both National League divisional series game one's and one of the American League divisional series game one. Others will blog about the games themselves; I'm interested in how to watch them.

TBS, the network that has broadcast the Atlanta Braves to a national cable audience for years, purchased the broadcast rights to these divisional series games. But if you don't have cable (or a TV for that matter), and you don't want to spend $20 at a drinking establishment to watch the games, how do you partake of this most hallowed rite of fall?

TBS launched an online component to their broadcast called The Hot Corner. It's a live broadcast, but not the game broadcast. There's no game audio, and the broadcast options include either the pitcher/catcher cam or the dugout cameras. Those are still shots that don't change. So of course, to watch the game, you use the pitcher/catcher angle. Only, whenever the ball is put in play, the camera doesn't move; it stays on the pitcher and catcher, so you're left to infer from their reactions what's going on. It's a bit like being that kid peeking through the slit in the fence to watch the game.

It's a step in the right direction, and I'm going to be watching it when I can. Hopefully we're not far from the time when an internet connection will allow you to watch a live broadcast of a game that's always being broadcast nationally. Currently, TBS, Fox, and ESPN don't allow online broadcasts of the games they're broadcasting, but how long can that last?