Stephen Strasburg’s 2012 playing season is now officially over. He will join the ranks of the millions of us that live through every single pitch from the sidelines helpless to affect the outcome of the game, save for the help that lucky charms, prayers and rally caps can bring.

It’s a role Strasburg is familiar with following his recovery period from Tommy John surgery. That won’t make it any easier for him, in fact he will probably feel he’s missed enough time already without being asked to sit out again now when he is healthy.

Even though the Nationals’ caution is understandable, it’s going to be painful for Strasburg to sit in the dugout and watch his teammates perform without being able to play an active part the rest of the way.

Strasburg will continue his watching brief in Washington today as Edwin Jackson takes to the mound intent on helping the Nats win the rubber game of their series against the Miami Marlins and to maintain their decent lead at the top of the NL East ahead of the surging Atlanta Braves.

The full schedule of Sunday’s games is listed below, with all times in BST.

18.05. Colorado at Philadelphia (Chatwood – Hamels)
18.10. Houston at Cincinnati (Gonzalez – Cueto)
18.10. Atlanta at NY Mets (Hanson – Young)
18.35. NY Yankees at Baltimore (Garcia – Britton)
18.35. Toronto at Boston (Villanueva – Buchholz)
18.35. Miami at Washington (Nolasco – Jackson)
18.35. Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (Rusin – Locke)
18.40. Texas at Tampa Bay (Oswalt – Shields)
19.10. Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (Guthrie – Santiago)
19.10. Cleveland at Minnesota (Kluber – Vasquez)
19.15. Milwaukee at St. Louis (Marcum – Kelly)
20.35. Detroit at LA Angels (Sanchez – Greinke)
21.05. Arizona at San Diego (Corbin – Werner)
21.10. Oakland at Seattle (Milone – Vargas) *ESPN America
23.35. Colorado at Philadelphia (Pomeranz – Cloyd)

01.00. LA Dodgers at San Francisco (Kershaw – Zito) *ESPN America

Every team needs a win at this stage of the season, but perhaps none more so than the Pittsburgh Pirates. A six-game home-stand against the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs was an ideal opportunity to get their playoff push back on track. Instead, they must win today behind Jeff Locke to salvage a 3-3 split.

The Dodgers and Giants have shared a win apiece so far in their series at AT&T Park and Clayton Kershaw will pitch for L.A. tonight trying to bring his team to within 3.5 games of their rivals in the NL West. Meanwhile the Yankees need to channel their anger from a controversial loss to the Orioles yesterday to earn a victory and a 2-2 series split at Camden Yards today.

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.