It would be enough simply to have MLB back, but to start out with 27 early games – those that take place during the evening, U.K. time – in total this working week makes it even better.
Twenty-six of the thirty MLB teams are playing at least one day-game this working week, with only fans of Arizona, Atlanta, Cleveland and Toronto needing to stay up late to watch their team during their opening few games.
BBC 5 Live Sports Extra is broadcasting two live games this week on digital radio, starting on Monday with Yankees v Red Sox and following that up with Detroit v Minnesota on Thursday.
With plenty of live games on ESPN America and all of the action available online via an MLB.TV subscription, we can all dive headfirst into the 2013 MLB season.
Here’s the list of games starting before midnight U.K. time this working week, with all times stated in BST.
Monday 1 April
18.00. Boston at NY Yankees (Lester – Sabathia) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra, ESPN America
18.05. Miami at Washington (Nolasco – Strasburg)
18.10. San Diego at NY Mets (Volquez – Niese)*MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.35. Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (Samardzija – Burnett)
19.10. Colorado at Milwaukee (Chacin – Gallardo)
21.00. San Francisco at LA Dodgers (Cain – Kershaw)*ESPN America
21.10. Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (Shields – Sale)
21.10. Detroit at Minnesota (Verlander – Worley)
21.10. LA Angels at Cincinnati (Weaver – Cueto)
Tuesday 2 April
20.10. Baltimore at Tampa Bay (Hammel – Price) *ESPN America, MLB.com Free Game of the Day
Wednesday 3 April
19.10. Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (Santana – Peavy)
19.10. Texas at Houston (Ogando – Humber) *ESPN America
21.10. Detroit at Minnesota (Sanchez – Correia) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
Thursday 4 April
17.35. LA Angels at Cincinnati (Blanton – Arroyo)*ESPN America
17.35. Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (Wood – McDonald)
18.10. Detroit at Minnesota (Porcello – Pelfrey) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
18.10. San Diego at NY Mets (Stults – Gee)
19.10. Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (Guthrie – Floyd)
20.10. Baltimore at Tampa Bay (Gonzalez – Hernandez)
20.35. Seattle at Oakland (Maurer – Griffin)*ESPN America
21.05. Miami at Washington (LeBlanc – Zimmermann)
Friday 5 April
18.05. NY Yankees at Detroit (Nova – Fister)*ESPN America
19.05. LA Angels at Texas (Vargas – Holland)
20.05. Minnesota at Baltimore (Hendriks – Arrieta)
21.05. Kansas City at Philadelphia (Davis – Kendrick)
21.10. San Diego at Colorado (Marquis – Francis)
21.35. St. Louis at San Francisco (Westbrook – Zito)*ESPN America
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 full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website. 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). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com
