It looks set to be a great weekend of sport.
The Premier League kicks off again, which is particularly exciting if you support a team that’s just returned to the top tier (‘Come on you Yellows!’, ‘On the ball, City!’, ‘Let’s be ‘avin you!’ etc). England look assured of claiming the number one Test ranking in cricket as they pummel a sorry-looking Indian team, while the Rugby Union World Cup preparations continue for England and Wales.Â
Alongside the traditional British sporting events, MLB offers some exciting games to look forward to at a convenient time this weekend. Here’s a guide to the games staring before midnight UK time (all times in BST).
Saturday 13 August
18.07. LA Angels at Toronto (Weaver – Romero) *ESPN America
21.10. Pittsburgh at Milwaukee (Correia – Estrada) *ESPN America
21.10. Tampa Bay at NY Yankees (Hellickson – Hughes)
21.10. Texas at Oakland (Lewis – Cahill)
The evening starts with an excellent pitching match-up. Jered Weaver is one of the main contenders for the AL Cy Young award this season, while Ricky Romero has been in great form of late. The Angels won the series opener on Friday with Ervin Santana pitching brilliantly yet again.
The Angels-Blue Jays game will be followed on ESPN America by the Pirates against the Brewers. Milwaukee have won fourteen of their last sixteen games to take a four-game lead in the NL Central. In contrast, the Buccos lost ten in a row recently to put a big dent in their hopes of making it to the playoffs. They did win two from three in a road series against the San Francisco Giants heading into this series in Milwaukee, but Zack Greinke got the better of them on Friday night.
Phil Hughes makes his sixth start since coming off the DL for the Yankees, the latest following an emergency relief appearance against the Red Sox.Â
Sunday 14 August
18.05. Minnesota at Cleveland (Slowey – Huff) *ESPN America
18.05. Tampa Bay at NY Yankees (Shields – Garcia)
18.07. LA Angels at Toronto (Haren – Cecil)
18.10. San Diego at Cincinnati (LeBlanc – Willis)
18.10. San Francisco at Florida (Vogelsong – Hensley)
18.35. Detroit at Baltimore (Fister – Reyes)
18.35. Chicago Cubs at Atlanta (Garza – Beachy) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
18.35. Washington at Philadelphia (Wang – Halladay)
19.10. Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (Francis – Danks)
19.10. Pittsburgh at Milwaukee (Morton – Marcum)
21.05. Texas at Oakland (Harrison – Harden)
21.10. Boston at Seattle (Wakefield – Furbush)
21.10. Houston at LA Dodgers (Lyles – Kuroda)
21.10. NY Mets at Arizona (Capuano – Marquis) *ESPN America
All but the Rockies-Cardinals game will be played during the day-time in North America on Sunday.
Against the odds, the Cleveland Indians have kept in the AL Central race and come into the weekend three games behind the Detroit Tigers, having taken two from three at home against Detroit this week.. They beat the Twins 3-2 on Friday night and they’ll head into an important road trip after this series, playing three games in Chicago against the White Sox and then three in Detroit.
Meanwhile the D-Backs have raced to the top of the NL West and a win in the series opener against the Mets on Friday made it four wins in a row for the Snakes. Like the Indians, Arizona will come out of this weekend series to face a tough road trip, playing three games against the Phillies and then three against the Braves.
As for the BBC game, the Braves are continuing their charge to the NL Wild Card, powered in part by Dan Uggla’s 32-game hitting streak (and counting). Atlanta belted five home runs on Friday night as they beat the Cubs 10-4, with Chicago’s starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano being ejected from the game and then making an early departure from the ballpark with rumours of him possibly retiring from the sport.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. The games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above. You can listen to the 5 Live Sports Extra game via Digital Radio, Digital TV or online on the BBC website (UK residents only). The full schedule for this weekend’s games can be found on MLB.com.
