Great Britain’s World Cup games will naturally be at the forefront of the minds of British baseball fans this week.  There is plenty of time to devote to the World Cup during the evening this week because only Wednesday and Thursday provide any early MLB games to enjoy.  There are seven games in total over those two days, with the potential highlight of the week being a Zack Greinke start on Thursday against the Tigers.

All times are listed in British Summer Time (BST).   

Monday 14 September

There are no early games today.  The Angels and Yankees are playing a make-up game at five past midnight, with Jered Weaver and Chad Gaudin listed as the probable pitchers.  David Price starts for the Rays against the Orioles (also 00.05), Justin Verlander goes for his seventeenth win of the season in the Tigers’ game against the Blue Jays (00.05), but the highlight of the day is the start of what should be a fascinating series between the Rockies and Giants.  Jason Hammel and Tim Lincecum are on the mound for the opener at 03.15.

Tuesday 15 September

We come up empty again tomorrow, but there’s no shortage of good match-ups in the early hours.  Roy Halladay and Joba Chamberlain meet in New York (00.05), Cliff Lee starts for the Phillies against the Nationals (00.05) and Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his long-awaited return for the Red Sox against John Lackey and the Angels at Fenway (00.10).  The Brewers-Cubs game should see Yovani Gallardo pitching against Carlos Zambrano (01.05), Adam Wainwright looks for his nineteenth win of the year in the Cardinals’ game against the Marlins (01.15) and the Rockies-Giants series continues with Ubaldo Jimenez pitching for the road team (03.15).

Wednesday 16 September

18.10. Indians @ Twins – Laffey (7-5), Blackburn (9-11)
19.15. Marlins @ Cardinals – Johnson (14-4), Pineiro (14-10)
20.10. Pirates @ Dodgers – Hart (4-6), Kuroda (6-6)
20.35. D-Backs @ Padres – Davis (7-13), Mujica (3-4)

The first batch of early games this week gives us four to choose from.

The Twins aren’t completely out of the AL Central race, but games are running out and they need some good starts from their pitchers. The second half of the season has been an almighty struggle for Nick Blackburn.  Over his first eighteen starts, Blackburn went 8-4 with a 3.06 ERA.  Since beating the White Sox on 10 July, he has gone 1-7 in eleven starts with a 7.36 ERA. 

Josh Johnson has been terrific as the Marlins’ ace this season, but he only managed five innings in each of his previous two starts due to high pitch counts.  Pineiro has pitched well for St Louis and he will probably be the third man in the Cardinals’ play-off rotation.  

Hiroki Kuroda hasn’t pitched the number of games the Dodgers had hoped for due to injuries, yet when he has been on the mound he’s been effective.  As for the battle between the NL West cellar-dwellers, Edward Mujica may get another start for the Padres.

Thursday 17 September

18.05. Royals @ Tigers – Greinke (13-8), TBD
19.20. Brewers @ Cubs – TBD, Wells (10-8)
23.40. White Sox @ Mariners – Floyd (11-10), TBD

Three games is a sub-standard return for a Thursday and the White Sox-Mariners game only just scrapes into the ‘early’ bracket, but at least the first game should be worth watching.

You can only take the ‘what if’ game so far, but it’s no great stretch to say that Zack Greinke would be the leading contender for the AL Cy Young if he wasn’t with the Royals.  The award selectors generally put a lot of store in win totals and, considering the way he has pitched all season, he should really be a twenty-game winner this year.  Kansas City haven’t given him the run support to reach that mark and he is likely to fall short in the Cy Young voting as a consequence.  He has consistently been the best pitcher in the AL this year for my money and this game gives us all a chance to see him at work.

Friday 18 September

There are no early MLB games on Friday, but several promising series begin in the later games: Phillies-Braves, Angels-Rangers, Tigers-Twins, Cubs-Cardinals and Giants-Dodgers.

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.