You can’t ask for much more than having at least one early game to follow live every day in the working week.
That’s what we’ve got to look forward to this week. Cubs fans are particularly spoiled as they can follow their team in four games this week, covering three different series, without having to lose any sleep in the process.
This week’s schedule of MLB games set to begin before midnight UK time is listed below, with all times in BST.
Monday 27 June
19.20. Colorado at Chicago Cubs (Chacin – Garza) * ESPN America
23.05. Toronto at Detroit (Stewart – Scherzer)
The ‘Week of the Cubs’ begins with Colorado heading out of their series in New York with the Yankees for a day trip to Chicago. This is a make-up contest for a game that went the way of the weather back in April.
Tuesday 28 June
19.20. San Francisco at Chicago Cubs (Vogelsong – Davis) * ESPN America
After their single game against the Rockies, the Cubs switch their attention to a series against the Giants.Doug Davis was terrific against the Yankees two starts ago, but took a loss against the White Sox last time out. As for Ryan Vogelsong, he’s been a welcome success story for the Giants so far this season and enters this game with a 1.86 ERA from his 13 appearances (11 as a starter).Â
Wednesday 29 June
17.10. Cincinnati at Tampa Bay (Volquez – Shields)
18.10. LA Dodgers at Minnesota (De La Rosa – Baker)
20.35. Kansas City at San Diego (Chen – Stauffer)
20.40. Atlanta at Seattle (Lowe – Hernandez)
20.40. Cleveland at Arizona (Carrasco – Duke)
No Cubbies today in the early portion of the schedule; however there are several other games to look forward to. The contest that really stands out is the earliest of them all as the Reds-Rays series could be one of the highlights of the week. James Shields may well be the hottest starter in the Majors as he’s pitched three straight complete games.
Thursday 30 June
18.05. NY Mets at Detroit (Pelfrey – Verlander)
18.05. Milwaukee at NY Yankees (Wolf – Burnett)
18.05. Boston at Philadelphia (Lester – Kendrick)
19.20. San Francisco at Chicago Cubs (Cain – Zambrano)
20.10. Chicago White Sox at Colorado (Peavy – Cook)
20.35. Florida at Oakland (Nolasco – Moscoso)
The Cubs return to the early slot on ‘getaway’ Thursday and the series finale promises an excellent pitching contest between Matt Cain and Carlos Zambrano.
If James Shields isn’t quite the hottest starter in the Majors, we may be seeing him on Thursday instead. Justin Verlander has been in dominating form of late and struck out a career high 14 D-Backs on Saturday.
Alongside the Reds-Rays series, the two marquee match-ups of the week see the Brewers in New York facing the Yankees and the Red Sox traveling to Philadelphia. If you want to see a game from either of those series on ESPN America then head over to their website as they are two of the options, alongside the Mets-Tigers game, in their ‘Viewers’ choice’ poll.
Friday 1 July
18.07. Philadelphia at Toronto (Hamels – Romero)
19.20. Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs (Jackson – Wells) * ESPN America
We end the working week with two more exciting contests. The Phillies-Blue Jays series will be dominated by Roy Halladay’s return to Toronto, but a Hamels-Romero match-up isn’t one to be overlooked. Meanwhile the latest battle of Chicago gets going at Wrigley.
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.
