The Extra Innings television package is available as a free preview this weekend for all of you who have digital cable.  If you are outside of the A's and Twins blackout regions, you should be able to watch these games without charge on your digital cable service.  I know that there has occasionally been confusion about how Extra Innings works, so the free preview seems like a great opportunity to go into some detail.  I'm going to use the games of Friday, July 13 for purposes of illustration.

Here in Oakland, we are within the A's and Giants blackout region, so any games involving those two teams are blacked out of the EI package.  Of course they are usually available through standard cable via FSN Bay Area (both teams), KICU 36 (A's) or KTVU 2 (Giants).

Comcast Oakland has Channels 461-470 reserved as the Extra Innings (or as they say on their website, "MLB Pay Per View") channels.  The game designated as "GAME 1" is on Channel 461, "GAME 2" is on Channel 462, etc.  At times, more than 10 games are going on at once, and Extra Innings has a "GAME 11", "GAME 12" and so forth.  Those games go on the channels that are reserved as "NBA Pay Per View".  "GAME 11" goes on Comcast Oakland Channel 442, "GAME 12" on Channel 443...but this happens only occasionally, mainly in April when the NBA, NHL and MLB are all competing for channel space.  However, there is an example this Friday as noted below.

If you live in Oakland (or, I think, anywhere in the Bay Area within the Comcast service territory), you can watch any of the 15 major league games being played on Friday, as follows:

VISITOR HOME TIME (PT) EI CHANNEL Comcast Oakland ch. FEED Houston Chi. Cubs 12:20 GAME 1 461 CSN-Chicago Chi. W. Sox Baltimore 4:05 GAME 2 462 CSN-Chicago Kansas City Cleveland 4:05 GAME 3 463 Sports Time Ohio St. Louis Philadelphia 4:05 GAME 4 464 FSN Midwest Toronto Boston 4:05 GAME 5 465 NESN Washington Florida 4:05 GAME 6 466 FSN Florida Cincinnati NY Mets 4:10 GAME 7 467 Sports Net New York NY Yankees Tampa Bay 4:10 GAME 8 468 WWOR Pittsburgh Atlanta 4:35 GAME 9 469 FSN Pittsburgh Colorado Milwaukee 5:05 GAME 10 470 FSN North-Wisconsin Oakland Minnesota 5:10 GAME 1 Blackout FSN North-Minnesota --- --- --- --- 6 KICU San Diego Arizona 6:40 GAME 11 442 FSN Arizona Detroit Seattle 7:05 GAME 2 462 FSN Northwest Texas LA Angels 7:05 GAME 3 463 FSN West LA Dodgers San Francisco 7:15 GAME 4 Blackout FSN Bay Area --- --- --- --- 40/720 FSNBA/FSNBA-HD

For NRAFs, check your cable company's channel listings.  The Friday 7/13 A's/Twins game will be on the first EI channel ("GAME 1" as shown above).  Saturday's game at 4:10 PT and Sunday's game at 11:10 AM PT will be on the 8th EI channel ("GAME 8").

As a RAF, I don't need EI to watch the A's...but I enjoy watching other games, and I feel like I have gotten my money's worth.  It's definitely a hell of a lot better than watching games via MLB.TV on the monitor.  Suggest you try the EI free preview this weekend and see if it's worth it to you.

The full Extra Innings schedule is available here.  ("MB01" on this schedule = "GAME 1" on-screen.)