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
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
