The football season has started yet again, but that’s no reason to divert attention from this enthralling MLB season. There are four games starting before midnight UK time today. All times are in BST.
18.05. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Edinson Volquez – Randy Wells) * ESPN America
Bronson Arroyo pitched seven score-less innings yesterday as the Reds defeated the Cubs 3-0 and maintained their half-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. Arroyo walked just one batter in that performance, something Edinson Volquez is unlikely to match considering he has given up thirteen free passes over nine innings in his last three starts. Volquez is coming back from Tommy John surgery and it’s difficult to predict what type of performance he will serve up today: a source of concern for the Reds but a source of intrigue for the rest of us. Randy Wells struggled through May and June, pitched well in his five starts during July but came back down to earth with a bump last time out, being chased by the Brewers after giving up seven runs in four innings. The Wrigley faithful will be looking for a return to July form from him today.
18.07. Tampa Bay at Toronto (James Shields – Brad Mills)
Matt Garza and Brett Cecil put on a great display of pitching yesterday as the Blue Jays came out on top 2-1 and dropped the Rays to their third loss in a row. It could be just as tough for the batters today. James Shields has been in dazzling form of late, most recently blanking the Yankees over 7.1 innings. Meanwhile Mills made an impressive ‘spot start’ back on 28 July against the Orioles and he is in line to be called up again for today’s game. This is an important series for the Rays as their closest AL East rivals are battling each other in New York, giving Tampa the chance to improve their position over at least one of those teams if they can win the remaining games in the series.
21.10. Boston at NY Yankees (John Lackey – CC Sabathia) * ESPN America
Yes, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is back in full swing yet again and yesterday’s series opener was full of incident as per usual. Francisco Cervelli’s dropped catch proved costly for the Yankees and called to mind some of the dreadful fielding that Pakistan have committed so far in their Test Match against England this weekend. There will be no sympathy from Boston as they aim to compound the frustration with another win today. A Lackey-Sabathia pitching match-up sells itself, although Lackey hasn’t dominated in the way the Red Sox hoped he would following his signing over the offseason, while Sabathia has been a little out of sorts of late. Today’s big game could be just what both pitchers need to get them back on track.
21.10. Texas at Oakland (Rich Harden – Gio Gonzalez)
Their East coast rivals will get most of the attention, but don’t overlook the other game taking place at ten past nine this evening. The Rangers received a typically strong performance from Cliff Lee last night as they took the series opener 5-1 and increased their lead over the A’s in the West to 9.5 games. The oft-injured Rich Harden returns to face his former team having pitched well in his first game back off the Disabled List against the Angels last Saturday. Gio Gonzalez was even more impressive in his last outing live on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra against the White Sox, but a four-run fifth inning proved to be his downfall.
All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv). There’s a feast of baseball on ESPN America with the two games noted above being followed by Mets-Phillies at midnight (or whenever the Red Sox and Yankees finish their game). A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com