The Houston Astros will be looking for their fourth consecutive AL West divison title as the shortened 2020 MLB season gets under way in earnest this weekend, opening things up under new manager Dusty Baker with a three-game series against an up-and-coming Seattle Mariners team. Follow our guide as we explain how to watch MLB online this weekend and get a Marines vs Astros live stream wherever you are.
Mariners vs Astros cheat sheet
The Mariners vs Astros is a three-game AL West series with coverage available on AT&T SportsNet Southwest throughout the Houston area and on Root Sports Northwest around Seattle:
Game 1 - Friday, July 24 at 9.10pm ET / 6.10pm PT
Game 2 - Saturday, July 25 at 4.10pm ET / 1.10pm PT
Game 3 - Sunday, July 26 at 2.10pm ET / 11.10am PT
Hugely successful in recent years, the Astros have plenty to put behind them in 2020, having fallen just short in last season's Fall Classic, where they lost game 7 to the Washington Nationals. Along with that heartache, the team has also been left reeling from the fallout of the sign stealing scandal that has hit the league during the off-season.
The Stars also have a Gerrit Cole-sized hole to fill in their starting rotation, with the ace lured away from Houston by the Yankees' millions ($324m to be precise) last winter. But they're still hardly short on talent in the pitching department, with Justin Verlander set to the lead the 'Stros out on their Opening Day and veteran Zack Greinke - a former Cy Young winner and five-time Golden Glove claimant - likely moving into the number two spot in the rota. They'll also welcome back former All-Star Lance McCullers Jr. from Tommy John surgery.
The Mariners, on the other hand, are putting their faith in youth this season. Seattle's hope rest largely on the shoulders of rookie first baseman Evan White, shortstop J.P. Crawford and outfielder Kyle Lewis taking big steps in 2020, as no team in MLB has gone longer than the Mariners without making the playoffs.
Read on to see how easy it is to watch the Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros this Friday, Saturday and Sunday - get an MLB live stream from anywhere with the help of our guide.
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How to watch the Marines vs Astros from outside your country
If you're in the US tonight, then getting an Astros vs Mariners live stream is only easy if you're based in either the Seattle or Houston areas - and have cable TV. If this is the case, you'll find coverage of the game on local TV, complete with the option to stream online via the channel's website.
Anyone without cable might run into more difficulty, however, as the most useful overall baseball streaming service - MLB.TV - is designed for out-of-market viewing, meaning coverage is blacked out for anyone who lives in the same area as their team.
Fortunately, a solution exists in the form of a VPN - a handy bit of software that lets you re-route your device's IP address to a location of your choice, thereby giving you the ability to circumvent these outdated blackout restrictions.
A Virtual Private Network also come in handy when you're out of the US and geo-blocking stops you from watching the same services and content you normally would at home - even when you pay for them. This makes a VPN an essential bit of equipment for your digital bat bag - but which one should you swing for?
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Mariners vs Astros live stream: how to watch the MLB series online in the US
This weekend's Mariners vs Astros series isn't one of those chosen for national television, meaning you'll need to turn to your local sports broadcaster for in-market viewing.
In Houston and the surrounding area, this means tuning into AT&T SportsNet Southwest, while in Seattle, Root Sports Northwest will have you covered. Both options are available to watch online with cable TV (just log-in with details of your provider) or stream via an over-the-top service.
OTT service AT&T TV Now is the one for Houston and Seattle fans to check out, as it offers Root Sports Northwest in its Max package lineup and has also just added AT&T SportsNet Southwest to its regional channel offering this week - but it’ll set you back $80 per month, which isn't cheap.
FuboTV also carries AT&T SportsNet Southwest and may be a better bet for Astros fans as it comes in cheaper at $54.99 p/m. But doesn't offer ESPN, MLB Network, or TBS, so isn't great for all-round baseball fans.
This all makes excellent out-of-market option MLB.TV all the more tempting, as it lets you watch every game of the MLB season online for a one-off payment of $59.99 (or $49.99 for a single team). But there's a huge catch in that all of its streaming is subject to local blackouts, so Astros and Mariners fans in Houston and Seattle won't be able to watch this weekend's games - unless they use a VPN workaround as per our guide above.
How to watch the Astros vs Mariners: live stream MLB in the UK
BT Sport has the TV rights to MLB action in the UK through 2021 and you'll find all the channels you need available through one BT’s many TV bundles, or as an add-on for Sky TV and Virgin Media customers.
However, it's not airing any of this weekend's Astros vs Mariners series, which sees game 1 starting at 2:10am BST early on Saturday morning, game 2 at 9.10pm that same evening, and game 3 starting at 7.10pm on Sunday evening.
This means UK fans of the Astros and Mariners will need to turn to MLB.TV to watch the the series live this weekend. The MLB streaming service is also available in the UK, where it costs approximately £50 for the full works and blackout rules obviously don't apply.
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How to watch the Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros live stream MLB in Canada
The Astros vs Mariners series isn't being shown on Canadian TV, so your only option to watch it online is via MLB.TV.
That's no bad thing, though, as $59.99 will get you live streaming access to nearly every game of the regular season (only the Blue Jays are subject to blackouts in Canada and there's always the VPN workaround for these) - plus coverage of the playoffs and World Series.
In addition, MLB.TV gives you the option of home or away team commentary, offers companion apps for nearly any modern device, and provides a super-smooth 60fps feed for great picture quality.
Timings of the games are the same as in the US, so a 9.10pm ET / 6.10pm PT start on Friday, a 4.10pm ET / 1.10pm on Saturday with Sunday's action getting under way at 2.10pm ET / 11.10am PT.
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