There are fourteen MLB games starting before midnight U.K. time this working week.
On Monday we are taken into the heart of the battle in the AL West in which the Texas Rangers have won seven consecutive games to leap ahead of the Oakland A’s. The A’s will finish off their series in Toronto on Monday, whilst the Rangers start a Lonestar State series against the Houston Astros.
We then have ten early games combined on Wednesday and Thursday, with the pick of the bunch being the NL Central battle between the Pirates and Cardinals with Francisco Liriano and Lance Lynn listed as the probable pitchers.
The Royals and Tigers are playing a double-header on Friday as part of a five-game series covering Thursday to Sunday. Kansas City have played well since the All-Star break but are still a fair way behind in the AL Central. A 4-1 or even a 5-0 series win against the division leaders is probably needed to really get them in the race and that will be tough to do against this strong Detroit team.
All times are in BST
Monday 12 August
17.37. Oakland at Toronto (Straily – Johnson)
19.10 Texas at Houston (Darvish – Oberholtzer) *ESPN
Tuesday 13 August
No early games
Wednesday 14 August
18.10. Cleveland at Minnesota (Carrasco – Gibson)
19.10. Detroit at Chicago White Sox (Porcello – Danks)
19.10. Miami at Kansas City (Turner – Santana)
19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Arroyo – Rusin)
20.10. San Diego at Colorado (Cashner – De La Rosa)
20.40. Baltimore at Arizona (Tillman – Corbin)
Thursday 15 August
18.05. LA Angels at NY Yankees (Wilson – Hughes) *BBC 5LSX, ESPN
18.45. Pittsburgh at St. Louis (Liriano – Lynn)
20.35. Houston at Oakland (Bedard – Gray)
21.05. San Francisco at Washington (Vogelsong – Haren) *ESPN
Friday 16 August
18.05. Kansas City at Detroit (Shields – Verlander)
21.05. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Westbrook – Villanueva)
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. The early games being shown on ESPN are highlighted above. 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