Sunday marks the end of the 2012 London Olympic Games and I’m sure I’m far from the only person to have found myself watching, and appreciating, lots of sports that I normally would not get to see.
It’s been wonderful to witness minority sports receiving this level of attention, albeit with the lingering disappointment that baseball and softball haven’t been able to benefit from the Olympic effect.
Unless the sports do ever get back into the Olympics – and I’m not optimistic despite the recent sensible decision for baseball and softball to once again pool their efforts to try to achieve this – all we can do is sell the sport to as many people as we can through our own enthusiasm and enjoyment of it.
With BBC 5 Live Sports Extra broadcasting the Yankees – Blue Jays game from 18.00, and ESPN America hosting their usual Sunday triple-header, there is plenty of baseball to enjoy if another three-hour Olympic ceremony doesn’t appeal to you.
All times are in BST.
18.05. Boston at Cleveland (Lester - Kluber)
18.07. NY Yankees at Toronto (Hughes - Happ) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
18.10. LA Dodgers at Miami (Capuano - LeBlanc) *ESPN America
18.35. Kansas City at Baltimore (Chen - Hunter)
18.35. St. Louis at Philadelphia (Lynn - Worley)
18.35. San Diego at Pittsburgh (Ohlendorf - Bedard)
19.05. Milwaukee at Houston (Gallardo - Lyles)
19.10. Oakland at Chicago White Sox (Colon - Sale)
19.10. Tampa Bay at Minnesota (Shields - Diamond)
19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Cueto - Raley)
20.05. Detroit at Texas (Porcello - Darvish)
20.35. Seattle at LA Angels (Vargas - Weaver)
21.05. Colorado at San Francisco (White - Zito) *ESPN America
21.10. Washington at Arizona (Detwiler - Corbin)
01.00. Atlanta at NY Mets (Sheets - Niese) *ESPN America
The Yankees received a blow yesterday with the news that CC Sabathia is heading to the Disabled List due to soreness in his elbow; however they won their fourth consecutive game with a 5-2 victory over the Blue Jays and have a six-game lead in the AL East to cushion the impact of losing their ace. Phil Hughes will take to the mound for the Yankees today.
Elsewhere, a five-run fifth inning yesterday helped the Washington Nationals to their eighth straight victory and they will turn to Ross Detwiler in their attempt to increase the streak to nine.
The Rays’ resurgence continued with a 4-2 win over the Twins on Saturday to put them in a Wild Card winning spot with ‘Big Game’ James Shields facing the Twins today.
Meanwhile the Padres may be out of the play-off running but they have won six in a row and the most recent two victories have come at the expense of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Buccos are 4.5 games behind the Reds in the NL Central and 1.5 games in front of the Cardinals heading into today’s game in which Erik Bedard will be matched up against former Pirate Ross Ohlendorf.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents).
