New York Yankees make Amazon Prime an exclusive viewing partner for 21 games, how this will impact MLB.TV

New York Yankees fans will only be able to watch 141 games this season on YES Network, the official broadcaster of the Yankees. For the remaining 21, they will have to sign up for Amazon Prime if they want to catch the action.

The move comes after Apple TV+ announced yesterday they will be broadcasting twelve weeks of Friday night games exclusively on their own streaming service.

Much like the new Apple TV+ service premiering this season, the Amazon Prime broadcasting apparatus will primarily show games happening on Friday nights.

" NEW COLUMN: The Yankees will have 21 games this season that fans will only be able to watch through Amazon Prime Video." - @ Andrew Marchand

What New York Yankees fans can expect from baseball on Amazon Prime

Unlike Apple TV+, it is understood that only paying subscribers will be able to access the Amazon Prime showings of the New York Yankees, among other teams.

The first of this season's 21 games shown by Amazon will be when the Cleveland Guardians travel to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to take on the New York Yankees.

Yankees fans will have to get Amazon Prime, if they don't already have it, to watch 21 games this year

A free trial will be on offer for fans who wish to sample the service. After a seven-day free trial, users will be asked to pay either $24.99 per month or $59.99 to avail the service for the entirety of the Yankees season.

Yankees fans who are accustomed to watching their favorite players on the YES Network need not despair, though. It has been confirmed that the play-by-play team at YES network will also appear on the Amazon Prime platform, including all regular pre- and post-game YES coverage. Fans have been tuning in to YES network to watch the Yankees since its inception as a broadcaster 20 years ago.

"Much more American households subscribe to Amazon Prime than the cable/satellite bundle, but people 65+ who love their baseball -- and this is a not-insignificant portion of the fan base -- are not as adept at toggling between cable and OTT, and this is going to drive them crazy." - @ Ryan Glasspiegel

The move comes as many pay-per-view providers are seeing tremendous opportunities in baseball streaming and sports streaming in general. So far, the reception of Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime moving into this sphere has been met with mixed reviews. Fans will have to wait and see how the platforms approach covering the game we all love.