Opening Week in MLB is a joyous event for us all. Not only do we finally have competitive baseball back in our lives for another seven months, the opening week always offers plenty of quality pitching match-ups and a host of day-games in the States, which make for perfect evening viewing for us in the UK.
If you’re new to BGB this year, one of the regular features we run throughout the season every Monday is a guide to the games that are scheduled to take place before midnight UK time that working week. These games take on a special importance to Brits as they allow us to catch some live baseball without having to sacrifice too much sleep.
On a typical working week, you’ll find there are 8 to 10 ‘early’ games (as I call them), with Wednesday and Thursday being the most popular days of the week for teams to play mid-week games under daylight rather than floodlights. Opening week is always a bit different as teams tend to schedule home openers in the day-time where they can, so we get an unusually high number to enjoy.
The full list for this working week is below, with times stated in BST and a note on the end of those games that are broadcast on British TV or have been selected to be the MLB.com Free Game that day (meaning you can watch online even without an MLB.TV subscription). All games are available to watch live or on-demand for MLB.TV subscribers.
It’s difficult to pick one stand-out game from them all, but if we look beyond Monday then the obvious potential pitching match-up that catches the eye comes on Thursday in Washington.
Stephen Strasburg is due to start for the Nationals against the Mets’ Matt Harvey, the latter making his return after missing all of the 2014 season following elbow surgery. Starting pitcher assignments are always subject to change, not least due to postponements due to bad weather early in the year, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed that nothing changes over the next few days and Strasburg and Harvey do indeed take the mound on Thursday.
Monday 6 April
18:05 Blue Jays @ Yankees (Hutchison (0-0) – Tanaka (0-0)) *ESPN
18:08 Twins @ Tigers (Hughes (0-0) – Price (0-0)) *MLB.com Free Game
19:10 Rockies @ Brewers (Kendrick (0-0) – Lohse (0-0))
20:05 Red Sox @ Phillies (Buchholz (0-0) – Hamels (0-0))
20:10 Orioles @ Rays (Tillman (0-0) – Archer (0-0))
21:05 Mets @ Nationals (Colon (0-0) – Scherzer (0-0))Â *ESPN
21:10 Braves @ Marlins (Teheran (0-0) – Alvarez (0-0))
21:10 White Sox @ Royals (Samardzija (0-0) – Ventura (0-0))
21:10 Angels @ Mariners (Weaver (0-0) – Hernandez (0-0))
21:10 Pirates @ Reds (Liriano (0-0) – Cueto (0-0))
21:10 Padres @ Dodgers (Shields (0-0) – Kershaw (0-0))
Tuesday 7 April
No early games
Wednesday 8 April
18:08 Twins @ Tigers (Nolasco (0-0) – Sanchez (0-0))
19:20 Cardinals @ Cubs (TBD – Hammel (0-0))
Thursday 9 April
17:35 Pirates @ Reds (Burnett (0-0) – DeSclafani (0-0))Â *MLB.com Free Game
18:05 Mets @ Nationals (Harvey (0-0) – Strasburg (0-0))
18:08 Twins @ Tigers (Gibson (0-0) – Greene (0-0))
19:10 White Sox @ Royals (Danks (0-0) – Volquez (0-0))
19:10 Indians @ Astros (Bauer (0-0) – Wojciechowski (0-0))
20:35 Rangers @ Athletics (Martinez (0-0) – Graveman (0-0))
23:40 Giants @ Padres (TBD – Kennedy (0-0))
Friday 10 April
20:05 Blue Jays @ Orioles (Buehrle (0-0) – Norris (0-0))
21:05 Astros @ Rangers (McHugh (0-0) – Holland (0-0))
21:10 Cubs @ Rockies (Wood (0-0) – Matzek (0-0))
21:10 Tigers @ Indians (Simon (0-0) – McAllister (0-0))
21:10 Twins @ White Sox (TBD – Noesi (0-0))
