We have twelve early MLB games to enjoy over the coming working week. That’s a decent return; however they are grouped together into two days, leaving three live-baseball free evenings.  That might not be a bad thing though. Just arrange all your other activities, chores and commitments for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and completely set aside Tuesday and Thursday for MLB action.Â
‘Simples’, as the meerkat in the adverts likes to say.Â
As always, all times are listed in British Summer Time (BST).
Monday 4
It may be a Bank Holiday Monday here in Britain, but it’s a normal working day in the States. That’s part of the reason why there are no early games today. Later on, the Red Sox and Yankees face each other for the first time in the new Yankee Stadium, with Jon Lester and Phil Hughes set to start.
Tuesday 5
17.35. Astros @ Nationals – Oswalt (0-2), Olsen (1-3),
17.37. Indians @ Blue Jays – Reyes (1-0), Cecil (-),
19.20. Giants @ Cubs – Lincecum (2-1), Marshall (0-1),
21.08. Orioles @ Rays – Uehara (2-2), Garza (2-2),
21.40. Rangers @ Mariners – Padilla (1-2), Bedard (2-1).
There are six early games tomorrow. It’s hard to ignore a Tim Lincecum start and his battle against the Cubs’ batting lineup should be an exciting contest. Roy Oswalt is still without a win in 2009 and he will fancy his chances of breaking his duck against the Nationals, while Matt Garza will be hoping to bring his ‘Red Sox killer’ form into a game where he isn’t facing a team with a Boston B on their caps.
Wednesday 6
Wednesday has been good to us in recent weeks, but there are no early games this time around. Highlights from the later games include: Kevin Slowey attempting to improve his record to 5-0 in the Twins’ game against the Orioles, the Rays taking on the Yankees, Carl Pavano making a start (pending an injury developing beforehand) against the Red Sox, Jake Peavy facing the D-Backs at PETCO Park and the Giants’ Randy Johnson meeting the Rockies with career win number 298 in his sights.
Thursday 7
17.10. Braves @ Marlins – Jurrjens (2-2), Sanchez (1-3),
18.40. Cardinals @ Pirates – Ohlendorf (3-2), Wellemeyer (2-2),
19.10. Mariners @ Royals – Washburn (3-1), Bannister (2-0),Â
20.10. Giants @ Rockies – Cain (2-1), Marquis (4-1),Â
20.35. D-Backs @ Padres – Haren (3-3), Young (2-1),  Â
20.35. Rangers @ Athletics -Â McCarthy (3-0), Cahill (0-2).
It’s another six-pack on ‘getaway’ Thursday and west coast teams dominate the schedule. We start on the east coast as Dutch pitcher Jair Jurrjens takes the mound for the Braves against the Marlins. Moving across the US, we then travel to the beautiful PNC Park where the Pirates host the Cardinals and the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City provides an eye-catching backdrop to the Royals-Mariners match.Â
Matt Cain and Jason Marquis battle the altitude in Colorado, while Dan Haren and Chris Young toe the rubber in the pitcher-friendly expanses of PETCO Park. Finally, a home game against the Rangers could be the perfect opportunity for Trevor Cahill to earn his first Major League win. This A’s fan will be cheering him on.
Friday 8
No early games to end the week, but several key weekend series will begin in the early hours of Saturday. Most notably, the Braves are in Philadelphia, the Rays are in Boston, the Cubs are in Milwaukee, the Royals are in Anaheim and the Giants are in LA.
All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, Gameday Audio and MLB.tv), while ESPN America’s MLB schedule can be found here.
I’ve only just joined up and I’m already miffed about no live games! Come on America, just one early start for us Brits. :p Yankees v Red Sox would have made good bank holiday viewing.
Is there any rhyme or reason to the early starts? I notice they always seem to have a few on one day about three days a week. Is it always three days a week? Does it vary at all?
Hi Darren. It does change from week to week, but typically two or three days provide some live early baseball (even if it’s just one game on one of those days).
Wednesday and Thursdays are your best bet for early games.
Tuesday day games are rare for some reason, so this week is a bit of a novelty, but you do get one or two on Mondays every now and then.
Fridays largely depend on whether the Cubs are at home or not. The vast majority of teams play their Friday home games at night (unsurprisingly), but a Cubbie Friday home game almost always begins at 1.20pm Central Time (19.20 BST).
It would be great if the Red Sox-Yankees game was on at a convenient time for us tonight, but obviously convenient for us means it’s inconvenient for the majority of Stateside fans. Overall, we don’t get a bad choice and there’s always the archive games to look at (not the same as live, but very useful if you’re at a loose end).
Hi Matt, think I’ll watch the Cubs game today. I was tempted to stay up last night to watch the beginning of the Red Sox – Yankees game but wimped out. Glad I did as there was a rain delay of two or three hours. I started watching the archive this morning. I managed to avoid the score. I began watching it on the TV downstairs then moved up to my office. So I pressed to go to the 2nd inning. Ooops! I didn’t realise the inning index has the run scores!
Hi Darren. Thankfully MLB.com do now have a solution to that problem (which has cuahgt me out many times before!). When you open a game and get to the main screen, there is a ‘Settings’ button in the top left corner. Tick the box under the Spoilers section (‘Hide scores for all games’) and click save. This will stop the scores appearing on all games, including where you select an inning for an archived game.
Found it, thanks. Watched last night Yankees – Red Sox game without seeing the score.