Watching baseball shouldn't be a chore. Seriously. You just want to sit down, crack a cold one, and see if Shota Imanaga is painting the corners or if Cody Bellinger is launching one into the bleacher seats. But finding the cubs baseball game channel in the modern era feels like trying to solve a Rubik's cube in a dark room. It’s messy.
Back in the day, you just flipped to WGN. Simple. Now? You’ve got regional sports networks (RSNs), national broadcasts on three different networks, and streaming exclusives that require a whole separate login. If you’re confused, you aren't alone. Even die-hard fans at Murphy’s Bleachers are constantly asking which app they need to open today.
Where is the game today?
The short answer is usually Marquee Sports Network. That’s the home base. If you live in the Chicago market—which stretches into parts of Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin—Marquee is your primary cubs baseball game channel. They carry the vast majority of the 162-game slate.
But "majority" isn't "all."
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MLB has these complicated national TV contracts. So, if the Cubs are playing the Cardinals on Sunday Night Baseball, you’re looking at ESPN. If it’s a big Saturday afternoon matchup, it might be on FOX or FS1. Then you’ve got the streaming curveballs. Apple TV+ has its Friday Night Baseball exclusive, and occasionally, Roku or another streamer grabs a game. It’s a literal patchwork quilt of broadcasting rights.
Marquee Sports Network: The Daily Hub
Launched in 2020, Marquee is a joint venture between the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group. It replaced the old NBC Sports Chicago / WGN era. If you have traditional cable like Xfinity or RCN, it’s usually tucked away in a sports tier.
For the cord-cutters, things got hairy for a while. For a couple of years, if you didn't have Fubo or DIRECTV STREAM, you were basically out of luck unless you sailed the high seas of the internet. Thankfully, Marquee launched its own direct-to-consumer App. You can pay a monthly subscription fee—usually around $20—to stream the games directly on your phone, tablet, or smart TV without a cable box.
It's pricey. I know. But for the person who just wants to see every pitch without a headache, it’s the most reliable path.
The Out-of-Market Struggle
What if you live in New York? Or Los Angeles? Or literally anywhere that isn't the Midwest?
Your cubs baseball game channel isn't Marquee. In fact, if you try to use the Marquee app in California, you'll likely get blacked out. This is the part of baseball "territory" rules that drives people insane. MLB divides the country into zones. If you’re outside the Chicago zone, your best friend is MLB.tv.
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MLB.tv lets you watch every single out-of-market game. It’s actually a pretty great piece of tech. You get the home or away broadcasts, catch-up features, and high-def streaming. The catch? Blackouts. If the Cubs are playing the team in your local city (say, the Mets if you're in NYC), the game will be blacked out on MLB.tv and you'll have to watch it on the Mets' local channel (SNY).
It's a game of musical chairs.
National Broadcasts and Why They Matter
Sometimes, the local channel doesn't matter because a national network takes over. This happens more often when the Cubs are winning, obviously.
- ESPN: Usually Sunday nights. These are exclusive.
- FOX/FS1: Often Saturday windows. Sometimes these are "non-exclusive," meaning Marquee still has it, but often FOX takes the reins.
- TBS: Mostly Tuesday nights during the regular season.
- Apple TV+: These are the ones that catch people off guard. You need the Apple TV app. You don't necessarily need an Apple device, but you need the subscription.
Avoiding the Blackout Blues
Blackouts are the bane of the baseball fan's existence. They exist to protect the local cable providers. If you live in Iowa, you might be blacked out of six different teams because "local" is defined very broadly by MLB.
People use VPNs. I’m not saying you should, but it happens. A VPN makes your computer look like it’s in a different city, which can sometimes bypass those MLB.tv restrictions. However, MLB has gotten much better at detecting and blocking known VPN IP addresses. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse game.
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Honestly, the most stable way to ensure you have the right cubs baseball game channel is to check the schedule on the official Cubs website or the MLB app about an hour before first pitch. They usually list the specific broadcaster for that day right at the top.
Technical Snafus and How to Fix Them
Let's say you've found the channel, but the stream is lagging. Or the app keeps crashing right when Seiya Suzuki is up with the bases loaded.
- Check your bandwidth. Baseball streams are heavy. You really need at least 25 Mbps for a stable 4K or high-def 1080p feed.
- Restart the app. It sounds like "IT 101," but the Marquee and MLB apps are notorious for memory leaks. A hard close and restart fixes 90% of flickering issues.
- Check the Twitter/X feed. Seriously. If a major provider like Comcast or a streamer like Fubo is having an outage, the "Cubs Twitter" community will be screaming about it within seconds. It's the fastest way to know if the problem is you or the billion-dollar corporation.
The Future of Watching the North Siders
We are moving toward a world where the "channel" is just an app. The RSN model is crumbling. Several teams have seen their broadcast partners go bankrupt recently (look at the Diamondbacks or Padres). The Cubs are in a stronger position because they own a piece of Marquee, but the trend is clear: eventually, you’ll just buy a "Cubs Pass" directly from the team or MLB.
For now, we’re stuck in this middle ground. It’s a mix of old-school cable, new-age apps, and the occasional weird tech exclusive.
Actionable Steps to Never Miss a Pitch
To make sure you're ready for the next game, do these three things right now:
- Download the MLB App. Even if you don't pay for the premium version, it sends "Game Starting" notifications that tell you exactly which channel the game is on—whether it's Marquee, ESPN, or a random streamer.
- Sync the Schedule to Your Calendar. You can go to the Cubs website and download their schedule directly to your Google or Outlook calendar. It usually updates with the TV info automatically.
- Audit Your Subs. If you're paying for cable just for the Cubs, look into the Marquee direct-to-consumer price versus your cable bill. You might save $50 a month by cutting the cord and just subscribing to the team's app and a cheap antenna for local FOX games.
Baseball is a game of statistics and patience. Watching it shouldn't require a degree in communications infrastructure. Just find your feed, settle in, and hope the bullpen holds the lead for once.