FastballAPI Review 2026

FastballAPI is a baseball data API. It covers MLB from 2015 to the current season and NCAA Division I baseball, and it does one sport only. You make a POST to https://mcp.fastballapi.com/v1/{tool} with a JSON body and an API key, or you point an MCP client at the same 22 tools. Each call costs credits, and every REST response reports the credits you used and have left.

The pitch is depth over breadth. Where a general sports API gives you a final score and a box score, FastballAPI also returns each pitch, each plate appearance and the sportsbook lines for the game. For a broader view of the category, see the sports data API guide.

MLB games, box scores and player lines run from 2015. Pitch-by-pitch data covers about 98% of games through 2017 and every game from 2018, with pitch type, velocity, location, count and result. Plate appearances carry base-out state, batted-ball trajectory and location, and RE24. Win probability, as computed upstream, starts in 2019. The endpoints include:

• Games and standings: scores, schedules, standings with run differential and Pythagorean record, team Elo ratings.
• Players: season batting and pitching, game logs, leaders, a pitcher's arsenal by pitch type and spray charts.
• Injuries: the latest report, captured daily, with no history before launch.

College baseball uses the same tools with league=ncaabase: the postseason since 2010, scores since 2015, and box scores and plate appearances since 2020 for part of each season. It has no pitch rows or batted-ball locations. The data is historical and daily. The docs describe no live-scores feed, so pair it with a live source if you need in-game updates.

The odds side is what sets FastballAPI apart from a stats-only feed. get_odds returns each sportsbook's moneyline, run line and total for a game or a day, with 4 to 13 books per game from 2015 to 2023 and opening and closing lines from July 2020. get_line_movement adds snapshots before first pitch. Player props start in May 2023, and get_prop_history lines each prop up against what the player did, game by game.

The docs are plain about the limits. Odds and props are pre-game only, the daily feed is mostly one book per game since 2024, and the archive supplies the other books. That makes it a backtesting and modeling source more than a live pricing feed. For a live book-by-book feed, see the live sports odds API guide.

FastballAPI has a real free tier: 500 credits every month with no card (checked November 2026). A call costs 1 to 10 credits. A standings call is 2, a box score with each book's line is 5 and a pitch-by-pitch pull is 10, so 500 credits buys about 50 pitch pulls. Paid plans are Starter at $19 for 10,000 credits, Pro at $49 for 30,000 and Scale at $149 for 125,000. You can also top up a wallet from $5, at 400 credits per dollar.

The pricing page works out real jobs: a full 2026 season of pitch-by-pitch data is 24,690 credits, which fits in Pro. The terms let you store the data, train models and build commercial products that show your users what you derive. They do not let you redistribute the data or odds as a feed or API of its own.

You sign up on the FastballAPI sign-up page. The free tier gives you 500 credits every month, and the site asks for no card (checked November 2026). You verify your email, then create a key from the dashboard. The docs say that free accounts get the monthly credits, and the terms say that the top-up to 500 lands within about 3 days of each monthly anniversary of your signup.

Send the key in an x-api-key header, or as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. The MCP server also accepts ?key= on its URL. Paid plans start at $19 a month for 10,000 credits, and you can top up a wallet from $5.

This sample calls list_teams at https://mcp.fastballapi.com/v1/list_teams. Every tool is a POST with a JSON body, and this one costs 1 credit (from the docs, checked November 2026). The response wraps the result in a data key, with a teams list. Each team has a team_id, an abbrev and a name, such as ARI and Diamondbacks.

import os

import requests

resp = requests.post(
    "https://mcp.fastballapi.com/v1/list_teams",
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["FASTBALLAPI_API_KEY"]},
    json={"season": 2025},
    timeout=10,
)
resp.raise_for_status()

data = resp.json()["data"]
print(data["count"], "teams")
for team in data["teams"][:3]:
    print(team["team_id"], team["abbrev"], team["name"])

Use the team_id or the abbreviation in the other tools, such as get_games. There is also an official client, pip install fastballapi, that reads FASTBALLAPI_API_KEY.

The rate limit depends on your credit balance, not your plan. With 100 credits or more you get 60 requests a minute. Under 100 credits you get 10 a minute (checked November 2026). The docs call it burst protection. A call that goes over returns a 429, and the docs say to wait and retry. A 402 means you are out of credits, and a 500 refunds the credits automatically.

Credits are the real meter, from 1 to 10 per call, and each REST response carries X-Credits-Used and X-Credits-Remaining headers. The docs list every endpoint with a live example, and the site publishes an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, an llms.txt, a data changelog and a status page with uptime probed every five minutes. The Python client is fastballapi on PyPI, and the MCP server is official. Support is at support@fastballapi.com, with priority support on Pro and dedicated support on Scale.

Analysts and modelers get the most from it. Pitch location, velocity and RE24 in one API save a lot of scraping, and the per-book lines with results make backtests short work. Developers building baseball apps or AI agents get a documented REST API, a Python client and an official MCP server. Bettors who want prop history against the closing line have a ready source, and it comes with 16 free Claude skills.

It is a baseball specialist, so pair it with a multi-sport API if you cover other leagues. Teams that need live in-game data should add a live feed alongside it.

FastballAPI does one sport and goes deep on it. Pitch-level rows, per-book history, a free monthly allowance and clear data-timing and rights pages make it easy to evaluate and fair to adopt. For MLB research, modeling and agents, start on the free tier and check the coverage pages for the seasons you need. For live games, add a live source beside it.

Last updated: 5 November 2026 · How providers get listed