There are five MLB games starting before midnight UK time today, two of which are being shown back-to-back on ESPN America. 

All times are in BST.

18.10. Tampa Bay at Baltimore (Hellickson – Guthrie) * ESPN America

It’s a battle between two Jeremys at Camden Yards.  The Orioles started the season by sweeping the Rays at Tropicana Field.  That was part of an early malaise by the Rays in which they lost their first six games, and eight of their first nine.  Since then, Tampa Bay have been in scintillating form and that carried on in the series opener last night.  James Shields got the win as the Rays finished up 6-2 victors and improved to 18-14.

Guthrie’s season record is 1-4 but he’s pitched much better than that suggests.  The highly-touted Hellickson benefitted from 15 runs in support of his last outing against the Twins.

18.10. Minnesota at Boston (Duensing – Buchholz)

Like the Rays, both the Twins and Red Sox struggled out of the gate this year.  The Twins’ problems have carried on the longest of the three, but they may now be turning a corner having won their last three games.  That run includes a victory in the series opener at Fenway last night, during which the Red Sox contributed to their own downfall, including pitcher Tim Wakefield balking in a run.

Duensing has been one of the few Twins to consistently perform well so far this season, while Buchholz has yet to find his groove.  He enters today’s game with a 4.81 ERA and having walked more batters (18) than he has struck out (17).

18.10. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Arroyo – Coleman)

In yesterday’s early game at Wrigley, the Reds got the better of the Cubs in large part thanks to a three-run bomb by Jay Bruce.  Both of today’s starting pitchers had a rough outing in their most recent appearance.  Bronson Arroyo gave up three homers to the Marlins, while Casey Coleman walked five in five innings in a loss to the D-Backs.  If the wind’s blowing out at Wrigley, there could be quite a few runs on the board (and balls in the street) unless the pair can re-find their form. 

21.07. Detroit at Toronto (Verlander – Romero)

It’s a pitching match-up to be excited about.  Verlander is simply one of the best hurlers in the Majors.  In previous years he’s been known for starting the season slowly and his headline stats (2-3, 3.75 ERA) don’t immediately wow you, but his peripheral stats (51 K’s in 48 innings, a .215 batting average against him etc) suggest that if that’s his ‘slow start’ out of the way, he’s going to have another excellent year.

His opposing pitcher today largely goes under the radar due to playing in Toronto.  Ricky Romero is one of the better left-handed starters in the game and, one dodgy outing against the Red Sox aside, he’s pitched very well so far this season.  This should be an excellent contest.

21.10. Milwaukee at St. Louis (Gallardo – Lohse) * ESPN America

We nearly had another no-hitter last night, as the Cardinals’ Jamie Garcia took a perfect game into the eighth inning.  He lost out on his bid for history, but he still came away with a two-hit shut-out as the Cards won it 6-0.

The Brew Crew band wagon was charging along before the games started this year thanks to their positive offseason.  So far that positivity hasn’t translated into wins and Milwaukee enters today’s game joint-last in the NL Central, mired in a seven-game losing streak.  Their top offseason acquisition, Zack Greinke, did finally make his season-debut this week and there’s too much talent on the roster for the Brewers to stay down in an evenly-matched division. However, they need to get things going, not least with their supposed ace Yovani Gallardo, and today would be a great time to start.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  ESPN America’s games are highlighted above.  The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.