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Originally Published: Aug 16, 2019
Originally Published: Aug 16, 2019 Last Updated: Aug 23, 2019 7 min read
2018 Little League World Series Championship
The team from Honolulu, Hawaii, celebrates a home run en route to their championship win at the 2018 Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Alex Trautwig—MLB via Getty Images

The 2019 Little League World Series is underway right now in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with games scheduled leading up to the final on Sunday, August 25.

Every year at this time, the Little League World Series features the best youth baseball teams (ages 12 and under) from the U.S. and around the world. There are two separate Little League World Series brackets, pitting eight U.S. teams on one side and eight teams from other countries on the other. The winners from each bracket face off in the Little League World Series final game, with the championship on the line.

In the 2018 Little League World Series championship, a team from Honolulu, Hawaii, defeated Seoul, South Korea, by a score of 3-0 to take the crown.

Here's everything you need to know for how to watch (or live stream) the 2019 Little League World Series tournament for free — even if you don't have cable.

What Channel Are the Little League World Series Games on?

The 2019 Little League Baseball World Series is being broadcast on a variety of TV channels. Most games are on ESPN — either the main ESPN channel or another of its networks — but a few games, including the U.S. and international semifinals on Saturday, August 24, and the Little League World Series final itself on Sunday, August 25, are airing on ABC.

It's very easy to watch the Little League World Series games for free when they are being shown on ABC. In most of the country, all you need to do is connect a digital antenna to your TV, and you'll be able to watch major over-the-air networks — ABC, along with CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and more — entirely for free.

A decent HDTV antenna costs about $25 and up. The exact list of TV channels you can watch for free with a digital antenna will vary based on where you live, the strength of the antenna, and where the antenna is placed in your home. Before buying an antenna to watch TV for free, you can plug your address into AntennaWeb.org to get a sense of how many channels (and which stations) you are likely to tune in.

If you were hoping to watch Little League World Series games on TV that are being broadcast by ESPN or one of its other pay channels, you'll need cable, satellite TV, or another pay TV plan. That's if you want to watch the Little League World Series on traditional TV. If instead you want to watch the 2019 Little League World Series online — a.k.a. live stream the games — those options are explained below. And yes, there are some strategies that enable you to watch Little League World Series games online for free.

How to Live Stream the Little League World Series for Free

If you have a log-in and password for cable or another pay TV service, you can live stream the 2019 Little League World Series on various ABC and ESPN sites and apps.

If you don't have cable, and you don't have a TV with a digital antenna, in some of the country you can still watch Little League World Series games airing on ABC for free by heading to Locast.org. Locast is a 100% free service currently available in 13 U.S. metropolitan areas, and it enables users to live stream local broadcast TV channels (including ABC) over the Internet.

Another option to live stream Little League World Series games for free is signing up for a free trial of a live streaming TV service that includes ABC and ESPN in its packages. For those unfamiliar, live streaming TV services work similarly to traditional cable TV, in that they bundle together dozens of channels in packages available for one set monthly fee. Only with live streaming TV, you watch channels online (via smart TV, laptop, or other device) rather than through a cable box.

The live streaming TV services DirecTV Now (recently rebranded as AT&T TV Now), Hulu Live, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV all come with ABC and ESPN as part of their standard packages. Normal prices for their basic packages start at around $50 per month, but all of these services come with free trials lasting about week for new subscribers.

The live streaming service Sling TV is yet another option, starting at only $15 per month for new subscribers for a limited time. Take note, however, that customers can use Sling to stream ESPN but they do not have access to ABC stations online.

To watch the Little League World Series online for free, then, the trick is to register for a free trial with a live streaming TV service. If you ultimately decide you do not want to become a paying subscriber, remember to cancel before the free trial ends. If you miss the deadline, you'll be charged for the first month's service in full.

2019 Little League World Series Schedule

Here's the remaining 2019 Little League World Series games schedule, and what TV channels are broadcasting games in the U.S.:

Saturday, August 24

• International Final: Caribbean (Willemstad, Curacao) vs. Japan (Chofu City), 12:30 p.m. ET on ABC
• U.S. Final: Southwest (River Ridge, Louisiana) vs. West (Wailuku, Hawaii), 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC

Sunday, August 25

• 2019 Little League World Series Consolation Game, 10 a.m. ET on ESPN
• 2019 Little League World Series Final, 3 p.m. ET on ABC