I don’t know if there’s a correlation between athletic ability and interests in sports, but I can tell you that my general disinterest probably stems from an early inability to throw, catch, or kick a ball.
That’s why Apple’s Sports, a powerful catchall app for dozens of major athletic leagues’ stats, didn’t turn me on when it was released in 2024. There is, of course, an exception to every rule, and for me, that’s the Mets. I’ve been a fan for over 50 years, and now they’re the reason I genuinely love and use the Sports app.
Compared to other sports, baseball might be considered one of the least athletic or even interesting. Most of the players are standing around while a pitcher tries to throw a small white ball by a batter. Even if the hitter connects, usually only a portion of the fielders are involved in the play.
Some think baseball is plodding and dull (recent changes like limited pick-off throws and a pitch clock were designed to address those complaints), but it’s the only sport I care about, and, more specifically, the Mets are the only team I follow.
Outside pitch
I’ve never been a great fan, though, making it to just a handful of games a year and often losing track of the team’s performance for weeks at a time. When I cut cable, I lost access to SNY, PIX11, and Fox 5, three TV networks that regularly broadcast games. During the Mets’ spectacular post-season run in 2024, I did everything I could to watch every single game (they eventually lost in the National League series to the Dodgers).
This year, the Mets got off to a very strong start. I even attended an early-season game in April and, breaking my own jinx (they lose almost every game I attend), watched the Mets come from behind to win. This season felt different.
In the meantime, I hadn’t thought much about Apple‘s Sports app in ages. Over the last year, I could probably count on one hand how often I’d checked it. This is not a judgment on the app, as I noted earlier, I’m not a sports guy. However, my relationship with the app changed this year, and now, it’s a home run.
It started when I noticed that for every Mets game, the Dynamic Island on my iPhone 16 Pro lit up with game stats. In that small space, there’s just enough room for the Mets logo, an opposing team logo, and the run totals for each team.
I was surprised to see it appear without any action on my part, but I’d also forgotten that when I first installed the app in 2024, I selected the Mets as my only favorite team.
Doing so didn’t have much impact throughout the summer of 2024, as the Mets played most of their 162 games. That changed with the launch of iOS 18, which introduced Live Activities, adding the ability to display sports stats for your selected teams on lock screens and in the Dynamic Island. It has also added the notifications to my Apple Watch.
Now the app feels like I’m stealing third.
Caught looking
I can now glance at my iPhone screen or, better yet, my Apple Watch Series 10 and quickly catch up with the latest game. While the Dynamic Island only displays the score, both the Apple Watch and Lock screen alerts show the inning and provide a concise description of the most recent play.
And when someone scores, my Apple Watch’s taptic engine bounces on my wrist like a soft liner between second and third, and I glance to see if the Mets or the opposing team just crossed home plate.
Inside the Sports App, Apple offers an admirable level of play-by-play detail. I can track every pitcher, batter, hit, and run. However, for details about every pitch style (slider, fastball, curve) and exact pitch location (complete with a visible strike zone), I turn to MLB.com’s play-by-play. I’d love to see Sports add this level of detail.
Even so, I’m impressed with Sports and its speed, something Craig Mahonchak, Head of Product for Sports at Apple, explained to TechRadar Managing Editor, News, US, Jake Krol last year. “We’ve nearly eliminated the latency from what we received from a provider to getting it down to your screen,” Mahonchak told Krol.
For all those times when I’m not sitting in front of a TV or listening to the radio, which is most of the time, Apple Sports has graduated to my big leagues and is now the best way to track my favorite team.
Does it help that, as of this writing, the Mets are currently the best team in baseball? Of course. Will I still pay attention to Apple Sports when the Mets inevitably slip back to mortality? I’m a die-hard fan, and you bet I will. LGM.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
