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MLB this Week: Double-headers on Tuesday

Matt Smith — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:54:37 +0000

Tuesday rarely offers an opportunity to catch some live MLB games during the British evening, but this week is an exception thanks to two double-headers.

The Rays and Red Sox are playing two at Fenway this Tuesday, whilst the Mets and Braves are also doubling up.

Teams do sometimes switch their starting pitchers when double-headers come along, but hopefully the Mets will stick to their normal rotation and send Matt Harvey out to the mound for the opener.

As for the Rays, their exciting hitting prospect Wil Meyers is due to make his Major League debut on Tuesday, although it seems as though he will only play in one of the two games and we don’t yet know if he’ll feature in the day-game.

There are MLB games starting before midnight U.K. time each evening from Tuesday onwards this working week. ESPN America also will be continuing its coverage of the College World Series. This includes a game at 20.00 on Friday night despite their being an early MLB game that evening, although to be fair to the broadcaster the MLB offering is Astros-Cubs that even their fans would admit is not likely to be a ‘can’t miss’ event for neutrals.

All times are in BST.

Monday 17 June

No early games

Tuesday 18 June

18.05. Tampa Bay at Boston (Archer – Doubront)
18.05. NY Mets at Atlanta (Harvey – Maholm)

Wednesday 19 June

18.08. Baltimore at Detroit (Tillman – Porcello) *ESPN America
20.40. Miami at Arizona (Fernandez – Cahill)
20.45. San Diego at San Francisco (Stults – Bumgarner) *ESPN America, MLB.com Free Game

Thursday 20 June

17.35. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (TBA – Bailey)
18.10. Chicago White Sox at Minnesota (Danks – Diamond) *BBC 5LSX
19.05. Oakland at Texas (Griffin – Lindbolm) *ESPN America
19.10. Milwaukee at Houston (Gallardo – Harrell) *MLB.com Free Game

Friday 21 June

19.20. Houston at Chicago Cubs (Keuchel – Garza)

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website. BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com

MLB this Week: Early games on Wednesday and Thursday

Matt Smith — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:01:46 +0000

Only Wednesday and Thursday provide MLB games scheduled to start before midnight U.K. time this working week.

However, what we lack in quantity should be made up for in terms of quality.

On Wednesday Kaufmann Stadium should be hosting a pitching duel between Justin Verlander and James Shields.

The Royals trade for Shields was meant to be part of an effort to put the team in playoff contention for the first time in years. Unfortunately for Kansas City, that optimism hasn’t translated into a strong start to the season, but Shields has lived up to his side of the bargain with some impressive pitching that is completely lost in his deceptive 2-6 win-loss record.

There are good pitchers on show in all of the four early games on Thursday. The first match-up is arguably the most impressive with Adam Wainwright and Matt Harvey scheduled to be the starting pitchers. Harvey left his last start on Saturday with tightness in his back but the Mets are confident that he’ll be ready to go on Thursday and it should make for a great contest against Wainwright, who has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball so far this season.

All times are in BST.

Monday 10 June

No early games

Tuesday 11 June

No early games

Wednesday 12 June

17.35. LA Angels at Baltimore (TBA – Hammel) *ESPN America
19.10. Detroit at Kansas City (Verlander – Shields)
19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Leake – Wood)
20.40. Atlanta at San Diego (Maholm – Volquez) *ESPN America

Thursday 13 June

18.10. St. Louis at NY Mets (Wainwright – Harvey) *ESPN America
19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Latos – Samardzija)
20.10. Washington at Colorado (Gonzalez – Francis) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.35. NY Yankees at Oakland (Kuroda – Parker) *ESPN America

Friday 14 June

No early games

MLB this Week: CC faces Cleveland on Wednesday

Matt Smith — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:30:36 +0000

There are nine MLB games to enjoy this working week that begin before midnight U.K. time.

We draw a blank on Monday and Tueday, but from then on there are a series of good match-ups and talented pitchers scheduled to be on the mound.

The games include CC Sabathia taking on his former team, the Cleveland Indians, Cole Hamels facing the Marlins, R.A. Dickey taking on the Giants and Max Scherzer facing the Rays.

All times are in BST.

Monday 3 June

No early games

Tuesday 4 June

No early games

Wednesday 5 June

17.10. Pittsburgh at Atlanta (Rodriguez – Teheran) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.05. Cleveland at NY Yankees (Kluber – Sabathia) *ESPN America
18.05. Miami at Philadelphia (Turner – Hamels)
19.10. Oakland at Milwaukee (Colon – Gallardo)
20.40. Chicago White Sox at Seattle (Axelrod – Iwakuma)
20.45. Toronto at San Francisco (Dickey – Zito) *ESPN America

Thursday 6 June

18.08. Tampa Bay at Detroit (Hernandez – Scherzer) *BBC 5LSX, MLB.com Free Game of the Day
19.10. Baltimore at Houston (Gonzalez – Norris) *ESPN America

Friday 7 June

19.20. Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs (Liriano – Wood) *ESPN America

MLB this Week: Early baseball every evening

Matt Smith — Mon, 27 May 2013 19:10:57 +0000

We have at least one MLB game starting before midnight U.K. time every day this working week.

The week starts with a set of early games due to it being Memorial Day on Monday.

Over the rest of the week there are several early games from Wrigley Field, including Thursday’s clash against the White Sox that will be broadcast live on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. The ESPN America game that evening will be determined by a “viewers’ vote” poll, so head over to their website if you want to cast a vote.

All times are in BST.

Monday 27 May

18.05. Baltimore at Washington (Hammel – Gonzalez)
18.08. Pittsburgh at Detroit (Liriano – Verlander)
18.10. Cleveland at Cincinnati (Jimenez – Leake)
19.10. St. Louis at Kansas City (Wainwright – Shields)
19.10. Minnesota at Milwaukee (Correia – Peralta)
19.10. Colorado at Houston (Chacin – Norris)
20.10. Miami at Tampa Bay (Fernandez – Odorizzi)
20.40. Texas at Arizona (Darvish – Skaggs)
21.05. San Francisco at Oakland (Bumgarner – Straily) *ESPN America
21.10. San Diego at Seattle (Richard – Harang)

Tuesday 28 May

17.37. Atlanta at Toronto (Maholm – Morrow) *ESPN America
19.10. Colorado at Houston (De La Rosa – Lyles)

Wednesday 29 May

19.20. Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs (Danks – Feldman) *ESPN America

Thursday 30 May

19.05. Arizona at Texas (Miley vs Holland)
19.20. Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs (Peavy – Wood) *BBC 5LSX
20.40. Seattle at San Diego (Hernandez – Cashner)
20.45. Oakland at San Francisco (Griffin _ Zito)

Friday 31 May

19.20. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Kennedy – Garza)

MLB this Week: Potential Latos-Harvey match-up on Wednesday

Matt Smith — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:00:50 +0000

There are ten MLB games currently scheduled to begin before midnight U.K. time this working week.

Hisashi Iwakuma has arguably been Seattle’s best pitcher this season and he’ll look to help his team avoid a series sweep in the finale against Cleveland on Monday. The Indians have won the first three games of their series against the Mariners, including a victory against Felix Hernandez on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Tampa Bay will call up pitching prospect Jake Odorizzi as a replacement for the injured David Price. Odorizzi was one of the prospects the Rays obtained from the Kansas City Royals when they traded away James Shields.

The probable pitching match-up that jumps out at you from the group on Wednesday takes place at Citi Field. Mat Latos and Matt Harvey should meet in an exciting game between the Reds and Mets.

On Thursday, Edwin Jackson and Jeanmar Gomez are the scheduled starting pitchers for the BBC 5 Live Sports Extra game on Thursday, starting a little earlier than usual at 17.35.

All times are in BST.

Monday 20 May

17.05. Seattle at Cleveland (Iwakuma – Kazmir) *ESPN America
18.07. Tampa Bay at Toronto (Odorizzi – Jenkins)

Tuesday 21 May

No early games

Wednesday 22 May

17.10. Minnesota at Atlanta (Worley – Maholm) *ESPN America
18.10. LA Dodgers at Milwaukee (Ryu – Peralta)
18.10. Cincinnati at NY Mets (Latos – Harvey)
19.05. Oakland at Texas (Parker – Tepesch)
20.10. Arizona at Colorado (Cahill – De La Rosa)
20.45. Washington at San Francisco (Gonzalez – Bumgarner) *ESPN America
21.37. Tampa Bay at Toronto (Hellickson – Buehrle)

Thursday 23 May

17.35. Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (Jackson – Gomez) *BBC 5LSX, ESPN America

Friday 24 May

No early games

MLB this Week: Good games ahead

Matt Smith — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:21:34 +0000

The working week of MLB games starting before midnight U.K. time begins on Monday with a rare double-header in which both games fall in the ‘early’ bracket.

We then have a good group of games to choose from on Wednesday, before a Mets-Cardinals clash on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra on Thursday and a Mets-Cubs contest on Friday in which, providing New York’s rotation stays on its normal schedule, we’ll get a chance to watch one of the most exciting young pitchers in the game: Matt Harvey.

All times are in BST.

Monday 13 May

17.05. NY Yankees at Cleveland (Phelps – Masterson)
20.35. NY Yankees at Cleveland (Nuno – Bauer)

Tuesday 14 May

No early games

Wednesday 15 May

17.35. San Diego at Baltimore (Marquis – Garcia) *ESPN America
18.05. Cleveland at Philadelphia (Kluber – Hamels)
18.08. Houston at Detroit (Keuchel – Scherzer)
18.10. Chicago White Sox at Minnesota (Axelrod – Pelfrey) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.35. Texas at Oakland (Ogando – Straily) *ESPN America
20.40. Atlanta at Arizona (Hudson – Kennedy)

Thursday 16 May

18.45. NY Mets at St. Louis (Niese – Wainwright) *BBC 5LSX, ESPN America

Friday 17 May

19.20. NY Mets at Chicago Cubs (Harvey – Jackson) *ESPN America

BT Sport and MLB: the latest details

Matt Smith — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:49:20 +0000

The official promotional launch of the new BT Sport service today didn’t offer much in the way of answers for MLB fans wondering how their sport will be covered from 1 August.

We know that BT Sport has acquired ESPN’s MLB broadcasting rights as part of the ESPN UK/America deal and they are likely to be the only TV channel option for watching MLB for the foreseeable future.

BT will be offering two BT Sport channels alongside an ESPN channel as part of a bundle subscription package.

No details have been disclosed as to how the sports rights portfolio will be divided between those channels (except for the FA Cup games that will be on ESPN due to the terms of the existing contract with the FA), but the BT Sport channels will probably host the majority of their main content (Premier League football, Rugby, Tennis, MotoGP from 2014 etc), with any MLB programming likely to be on the new ESPN channel.

MLB is not the least bit prominent in BT Sport’s promotional info. Whether that might foreshadow a slight reduction in the number of live games available compared to the current amount on ESPN America remains to be seen. The fact that BT has two main channels, as compared to the current ESPN UK’s one, offers hope that there will still be plenty of broadcasting space for a good number of MLB games on the ESPN channel.

The only confirmed news we have is in regard to the subscription price details for BT and Sky customers. BT Broadband customers will get the channels for free, whilst Sky subscribers will pay £12 per month.

BT and Virgin Media are still yet to come to an agreement to sell the BT Sport package, the sticking point seemingly being BT’s desire to sell the channel directly to Virgin Media subscribers rather than the sale being conducted through Virgin Media (Sky have already agreed to this, so Sky subscribers would need to contact BT to get the BT Sport package added when it becomes available).

BT Sport will start broadcasting from 1 August, with current subscribers to the ESPN package seeing their subscription come to an end on 31 July. We know this new sports bundle will become the new home for MLB TV coverage in the U.K., but we still don’t really know what the house will be like when MLB fans start moving in.

MLB this Week: ESPN America double-headers

Matt Smith — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:05:10 +0000

There are eight MLB games starting before midnight U.K. time this working week.

The week starts with a bonus early game as the White Sox and Royals make up their postponed game from Friday. The Royals have won the first two games of the series and will look for ‘Big Game’ James Shields to complete the sweep in an exciting pitching match-up with Chris Sale.

ESPN America is offering MLB double-headers on both Wednesday and Thursday evening.

The Mariners and Pirates aren’t featured a great deal on the channel so the first game on Wednesday offers the perfect opportunity to watch those teams, especially as it brings together Felix Hernandez and A.J. Burnett in a very promising encounter at the beautiful PNC Park

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra is scheduled to provide coverage of the Yankees-Rockies game from Coors Field on Thursday.

All times are in BST.

Monday 6 May

19.10. Chicago White Sox at Kansas City (Sale – Shields)

Tuesday 7 May

No early games

Wednesday 8 May

17.35. Atlanta at Cincinnati (Minor – Leake)
17.35. Seattle at Pittsburgh (Hernandez – Burnett) *ESPN America
19.20. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Westbrook – Villanueva)
20.40. Miami at San Diego (Nolasco – Marquis) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.45. Philadelphia at San Francisco (Pettibone – Zito) *ESPN America

Thursday 9 May

17.05. Oakland at Cleveland (Colon – Kazmir) *ESPN America
20.10. NY Yankees at Colorado (Sabathia – Francis) *BBC 5LSX, ESPN America

Friday 10 May

No early games

MLB this Week: 8 early games

Matt Smith — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:16:09 +0000

It’s a relatively quiet working week of pre-midnight U.K. time games in MLB.

Subject to rainouts causing a double-header or two, there are no early games scheduled for either Monday or Tuesday.

Things pick up on Wednesday with a selection of five games, before two on Thursday and a Cubs home game on Friday.

All times are in BST.

Monday 29 April

No early games

Tuesday 30 April

No early games.

Wednesday 1 May

17.40. NY Mets at Miami (Gee – LeBlanc)
18.08. Minnesota at Detroit (Diamond – Sanchez)
18.10. Pittsburgh at Milwaukee (Sanchez – Burgos) *ESPN America
18.45. Cincinnati at St. Louis (Bailey – Lynn) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.35. LA Angels at Oakland (Wilson – Milone)

Thursday 2 May

19.10. Tampa Bay at Kansas City (Hernandez – Santana) *BBC 5LSX, ESPN America
19.20. San Diego at Chicago Cubs (Stults – Wood)

Note: BBC 5 Live Sports Extra will be broadcasting one of these games as well. I’m guessing it will be Rays-Royals but will update this if not.

Friday 3 May

19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Leake – Villanueva) *ESPN America

MLB.TV free preview on Sunday

Matt Smith — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:02:25 +0000

Baseball fans who have considered signing up to MLB.TV are being given an excellent chance to try out the service on Sunday.

There are 14 games starting before midnight U.K. time and all of them are available to watch for free on MLB.TV, MLB.com’s subscription service offering HD video and audio feeds for every single game of the MLB season.

Sky have contacted many existing ESPN America subscribers this week telling them that their ESPN subscription will expire on 31 July, as MLB coverage moves to the new BT Sports bundle on 1 August. The one-day free preview therefore comes at a perfect time to try out the MLB.TV service and how well it will work on your broadband set-up.

MLB.com normally offers one ‘Free Game of the Day’ every day via their MLB.TV service too, if you cannot take advantage of Sunday’s free preview.

Further details about the MLB.TV subscription offerings can be found here alongside plenty of helpful comments from Brits passing on their own experiences of using the subscription through various devices.