Apple TV has wormed its way into some of the Cardinals' most memorable games

If you watch every St. Louis Cardinals game that airs on FanDuel Sports Midwest, you may have missed some great Cardinals games.

The Cardinals, like most sports teams, have been hit by the increasing fragmentation of television media over the past several years. Aside from their usual home of FanDuel Sports Midwest and the occasional ESPN broadcast, Cardinals games have been featured on several other platforms, including Facebook, Peacock, The Roku Channel and Apple TV+. Not only does this frustrate fans who don't have a reliable place to watch their favorite team every day, but it forces those who want to watch games that are on subscription-based services to use their free trials or fork over money to access an additional platform.

Cardinals fans without Apple TV+ may not have been able to watch any of their team's games on Apple's "Friday Night Baseball" broadcasts, and that's a shame for the sport, because it's been the home of three of the Cardinals' more memorable games in recent history.

Three outstanding Cardinals games have been locked behind Apple TV+.

Apple's first season of Friday Night Baseball was in 2022, and that was also possibly the most exciting Cardinals season of the 2020s thus far, thanks in no small part to Albert Pujols' return to the team for his final go-around as a player. As Pujols turned back the clock in the second half of the season, the baseball world began to focus on his quest to hit 700 home runs — a milestone that only three other players in major league history had reached.

With Pujols sitting on 698 home runs, the Cardinals headed to Southern California to play against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sept. 23 in a game that was scheduled prior to the season to be broadcast on Apple TV+. Pujols hit two big flies in the contest, notching his 700th in the top of the fourth inning. With the game being on the road and on Apple TV+, fans didn't have the opportunity to go crazy at Busch Stadium, television broadcaster Dan McLaughlin couldn't put a cherry on top with a one-of-a-kind home run call, and many fans were unable to view the momentous occasion as it unfolded. It was one of the worst scenarios possible for Pujols to uncork his 700th bomb.

Apple TV+ has also been the home of the Cardinals' two most impressive pitching performances of 2025. Erick Fedde pitched a complete-game shutout against the Washington Nationals on May 9, which was the first shutout spun by a Cardinals starting pitcher since 2022. Not to be outdone on the streaming service, Sonny Gray was breathtaking in his start on June 27, allowing only one batter to reach base in an 89-pitch, one-hit shutout against the Cleveland Guardians.

Cardinals fans should be pleased with Gray's and Fedde's performances, and Pujols' majestic legacy speaks for itself, but for those who pay for FanDuel Sports Midwest and tune in to a majority of the games, it's hard not to feel a bit miffed that the Cardinals seem to achieve these feats when the local lights shine dimmest.