News reports of a drought in parts of Britain on Saturday gave way to plenty of rain on Sunday. It’s a similar story with MLB games starting before midnight UK time.
We had a relative drought last week with only five early games, but this week our quota jumps up to twelve. We have to wait until Wednesday before we can watch live baseball at a convenient time, but there are three games that day, eight on Thursday and then a marquee match-up on Friday.
All times are in BST.
Monday 13 June
No early games, although if you are looking for a baseball fix then ESPN America is showing re-runs of two games from Sunday: Cardinals at Brewers (17.00) and the ESPN Sunday Night game between the Reds and Giants (19.30).
Tuesday 14 June
No early games
Wednesday 15 June
18.05. Florida at Philadelphia (Sanchez – Kendrick)
20.10. Cincinnati at LA Dodgers (Wood – Billingsley)
20.10. San Diego at Colorado (Latos – Chacin) * ESPN AmericaÂ
The Marlins-Phillies game is the first of a double-header. It looks like Kyle Kendrick will take the mound in this one, with Roy Halladay starting the night game (understandable for the locals but a shame for us in the UK). The Phillies’ batting lineup is scheduled to face Anibal Sanchez, who has been in terrific form of late barring a rough outing against the Brewers on 5 June (5 earned runs in 5 innings).
Reds-Dodgers should be a good game as Billingsley looks to recover from another indifferent start against the Rockies. Colorado will be in action, hosting the Padres on ESPN America. Nether team is a regular on the channel, so it’s a good opportunity to catch them, especially with the Padres’ young ace Mat Latos scheduled to start.
Thursday 16 June
17.37. Baltimore at Toronto (Guthrie – Reyes)
18.05. Cleveland at Detroit (Talbot – Scherzer)
18.05. Texas at NY Yankees (Wilson – TBD)
18.05. Florida at Philadelphia (Hand – Lee)
18.10. Chicago White Sox at Minnesota (Jackson – Duensing)
19.05. Pittsburgh at Houston (McDonald – Lyles)
19.20. Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs (Greinke – Garza)
20.35. Kansas City at Oakland (Francis – Godfrey)
This is what Thursday should be like. The traditional ‘getaway’ day in MLB offers us eight early games. Sadly none are being shown on ESPN America, although they will be broadcasting the Mets-Braves game from midnight.
Brewers-Cubs stands out as a promising match-up as if the rotations stay on schedule it will bring together two pitchers who were traded to the National League over the offseason. Zack Greinke is really starting to find some top form for the Brew Crew and Matt Garza has pitched much better than his win-loss record suggests.
Elsewhere, a Cliff Lee start is always worth watching and he should be pitching for the Phillies against the Marlins. We’ve got some interesting games from the AL Central with the Indians facing the Tigers and the White Sox facing the Twins, while two of the top teams in the American League are meeting in New York as the Yankees host the Rangers in the final game of a three-game series.
Friday 17 June
19.20. NY Yankees at Chicago Cubs (Garcia – Davis) * ESPN America
Interleague play is with us once again and this is one of the match-ups that makes it seem worthwhile. The Yankees make a rare visit to Wrigley Field to take on the Cubs.
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 ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website. The full schedule for this week’s games can be found on MLB.com.
I’m looking forward to my Brewers visit to Wrigley. What you say about Greinke and Garza is true; I think they have both been pitching better than their win – loss records would suggest. It should make for a good match up!
I also have the added incentive of Greinke being on my fantasy team, so I’ll be cheering on the Brew Crew that day!