It’s the last day of July on Monday and that means we have the trade deadline day to enjoy.
Non-waiver deals have to be completed by 21.00 BST on Monday, so it’s a convenient time for us to follow all the last-minute rumours and the immediate fall-out. ESPN’s Baseball Tonight programme will be shown live on BT Sport/ESPN from 19.00-21.00.
The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies will be there in the background before the deadline on BT Sport 2 and Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz is well worth a watch if you haven’t catched any of his starts this season.
There is a bit of uncertainty around some of the probable pitchers in the early games this working week, not just because of the deadline.
Masahiro Tanaka is currently in line to face the Tigers on Wednesday, although that could change nearer the time depending on whether the Yankees do complete a further starting pitcher trade and decide to rejig their rotation.
On Thursday, the Milwaukee Brewers are sorting through their options for a starter to face the Cardinals after they decided to option Junior Guerra to the Minors. It’s quite a comedown for their Opening Day starter, albeit that assignment was somewhat by default.
There’s a potentially excellent match-up at Wrigley Field with Zack Greinke and Jose Quintana currently scheduled to face each other, whilst Jacob deGrom may be used by the Mets in the Thursday game at Coors Field against the Rockies.
The Cubs are then in early action again on Friday against the Washington Nationals in what would be Stephen Strasburg’s spot in the rotation, although currently it looks like he will still be out injured at that point.
All times are in BST. If you’re not already a subscriber, MLB.TV is now available for the rest of the season (including the post-season for us in the UK) for $50 (approx £46 including the 20% tax).
Monday 31 July
17:35 Braves at Phillies (Foltynewicz (9-5), Pivetta (3-6)) *MLB.com Free Game, BT Sport2
Tuesday 1 August
No early games
Wednesday 2 August
18:05 Tigers at Yankees (Zimmermann (6-8), Tanaka) *BT Sport/ESPN
19:10 Blue Jays at White Sox (Happ (3-8), Holland (5-10)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:40 Twins at Padres (Santana (11-7), Perdomo (5-5))
Thursday 3 August
19:10 Cardinals at Brewers (Wacha, TBD) *BT Sport/ESPN
19:20 D-backs at Cubs (Greinke (13-4), Quintana (6-9))
20:10 Mets at Rockies (deGrom, Marquez)
Friday 4 August
19:20 Nationals at Cubs (Strasburg?, Hendricks (4-3)) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:40 Cardinals at Reds (Leake, Adleman)
All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.
