MLB.com At Bat has added Apple Watch users to its target audience on Major League Baseball?s official mobile application for the 2015 season, providing fans with vital scores, statistics and content to enhance engagement with the sport.

Starting April 24, Apple Watch users of the MLB.com At Bat app will be able to receive live scores, statistics, pitch tracking, player cards, notifications and news. The feature is a way for MLB, whose core audience tends to skew older than other major sports, to connect with younger fans on mobile. 

?As I kid in Brooklyn, I remember having go to face my radio just right ? and sometimes even having to stand on my head ? to get an out-of-town station broadcasting a game,? said Jeff Hasen, CEO-founder of Gotta Mobilize, a Seattle marketing consulting firm. 

?Just recently, in a New York cab, I was impressed by a cab driver listening live to a St. Louis Cardinals game through the MLB app. 

?The Apple Watch is made for snacking on information,? he said. ?Baseball scores certainly fit that bill.? 

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs were to meet in the season opener on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. All 28 remaining teams will open the season today.

At Bat for Apple Watch will give fans live scores, statistics, pitch tracking for every regular-season and playoff game, individual MLB player cards, notifications and breaking news. 

With an At Bat subscription, users will have multi-platform live audio access, including Spanish-language audio feeds. Subscribers also will be able to get full premium feature access across iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, supported Android smartphones and tablets and Amazon Kindle Fire and Fire Phone.

In another change, MLB?s Ballpark app has been updated for iPhone and Android smartphones to include customizable notifications, a new ticketing section and redesigned app navigation.

Entering its fourth season, Ballpark includes video highlights, mobile food, beverage and official merchandise ordering, seat and experience upgrade capabilities. The app also includes a MyTickets Mobile feature for in-app ticket management and Apple Pay as a mobile payment option.

The moves reflect how baseball, criticized as being too slow and too long, has dived into mobile to win new, younger fans as well as older ones lost to sports such as football and basketball.

Last year's All-Star Game at Target Field in Minnesota saw the introduction of interactive ballpark attractions using iBeacon technology. 

Fans attending the game and related events could use the At the Ballpark app on their iPhone to receive features at locations such as the Twins Digital Clubhouse, Herb Carneal Pressbox, the Kirby Puckett Atrium and the Rod Carew Atrium. 

This year, more ballparks will use iBeacon technology for automatic check-ins to every home game, featuring personalized offers and rewards. Additional ballparks will be outfitted to support interactive ballpark attraction experiences through iBeacon and will be announced as they become available.

?In my upcoming book, The Art of Mobile Persuasion, ESPN?s John Kosner forecasts happier marriages now that spouses won?t have to make lame excuses to go to the bathroom when the mission is to find out if the home team is ahead,? Mr. Hasen said.

 

?Fans are so fanatical that I can see the interest in watching highlights on a watch,? he said. ?A whole game? For only those crazies who would stand on their head to root on their team.?