MLB to exclusively broadcast 13 games on YouTube this season

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday it will broadcast 13 second-half games on YouTube TV as part of an exclusive streaming agreement with the Google-owned video website.

The full YouTube broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.

"YouTube is an enormously popular video platform with impressive global reach," MLB executive vice president of global media Chris Tully said in a statement, according to Bloomberg's Scott Soshnick.

"With the media consumption habits of our fans continuing to evolve, MLB is committed to both expanding our roster or national broadcast platforms and to presenting live games in new ways to our fans."

The deal will give YouTube exclusive rights to broadcast the selected games in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, according to Soshnick. Games will be streamed both on YouTube TV and MLB's official YouTube channel, with MLB Network producing the coverage. YouTube's creators will also be involved in the telecasts.

Last year, MLB ventured into streaming for the first time by broadcasting 25 regular-season contests on Facebook Watch, marking the first time a major American sports league exclusively streamed a regular-season game online.

The league's partnership with Facebook will continue in 2019, albeit on a smaller scale. Just six nonexclusive games will be streamed using the social network platform this season, Soshnick reported.