If you NEED to follow the local sports scene in a different area, some of the RSNs provide great coverage which the sports pack would get you.
Empire is one I think of, with Hockey hotline and some of their other local sports reports. Comcast Philly would be good for that too, if it ever got on the satellite (don't hold your breath), but from what I've seen a couple times, CSN Mid-Atlantic is similar.
The sports pack will also get you pre- and post-game reports from the RSN of your choice, even if the game is blacked out.
And Dish subs have indicated previously that Dish enforces their blackouts by time frame, say three hours for a baseball game. So an extra-inning game or raid-delayed game might be in the clear for the last couple innings when the three hours expire. I don't know if it still works that way for them.
There's also minor league and fringe sports like AAA (and YES will even have some A level baseball--the Staten Island Yankees), AHL hockey, lacrosse, arena football, etc.