The MLB app’s best feature is a 30-second delay

When my family gave up cable four years ago and I lost access to Seattle Mariners games on TV, I started streaming the radio show on the Google Home speaker in my kitchen. Honestly? Rules of Baseball on the Radio. You can walk around and do things to the pleasant sounds of the crowd. Sometimes you hear the crack of Cal Raleigh’s bat pounding the ball into the stands one to 60 times. There’s only one problem: spoilers.

I use the MLB app for live scores, which is especially handy for supplementing an audio-only game. I don’t need to wait for the announcer to start repeating the number of outs; I can just glance at my phone. When I have to leave my post on the radio, the notifications keep me informed of the game. The problem is that they are fast, faster than the delay of the audio feed. I’ll soak up the drama of a full count with runners in scoring position and two outs only to see the results ruined by a buzzing phone.

You see, until this year, there were exactly two legitimate ways to watch the Mariners live: subscribe to an expensive cable package or go to the corner of Dave Niehaus Way and Edgar Martinez Drive and buy a ticket to the game. Root Sports, the obscure organization that controls the television broadcast rights to Mariners games, only introduced a standalone streaming option in April to the tune of $20 per month. Radio was my best option – no subscription, hacking or VPN required. But those damn notifications kept ruining things.

I had a hard time finding a solution. I could put my phone in Do Not Disturb mode while actively listening, but then I would miss other notifications. Turning score notifications on when I walked away from the radio and thinking about turning them off again when I returned was unrealistic. But as I was digging through the notification settings during Monday’s playoff game against the Blue Jays, I found exactly what I was looking for: a 30-second delay. Specifically, an option you can enable to delay notifications so you can enjoy the stream without spoilers.

I can’t think of another time when I would want an app to only send notifications slightly late, but in this case it’s perfect. I still get the updates I want, but they don’t spoil the fun of listening to the action live (or close to it, I suppose). A post on Reddit suggests that the MLB app added this feature a few years ago, and I admit it’s been so long since I’ve been able to regularly watch M’s games, which is probably why I’m finding it now. But I got back into the habit as the team warmed up at the end of this season, and I’m happy to finally have the opportunity to have a spoiler-free audio experience.

The funny thing is, I won’t need my radio/app setup for the rest of this season. The Mariners are in the playoffs – two wins in their first trip to the World Series, no less! – and these games are all broadcast on national television. I guess there is a way around Root Sports after all.