It’s the first Sunday of the NFL season and while that’s a great thing for gridiron fans, it does have the unfortunate knock-on effect of bumping BBC 5 Live Sports Extra’s MLB coverage to half past midnight.

The good news is that the BBC’s NFL coverage is focusing on national games starting at 21.05 and the only reason that an MLB game isn’t on before it this week is the Rugby League play-off between Wigan and Leeds.  MLB coverage will return to a convenient hour next week with an 18.00 start.

St. Louis Cardinals @ Atlanta Braves

Until then, it’s a 00.30 show start time, with first pitch set for 01.05 a.m., as the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Atlanta Braves.  The Braves are back in a tie for first place with the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East after their rivals lost to the Mets yesterday and Atlanta won in dramatic fashion.

Mid-season recruit Alex Gonzalez hit a three-run home run in the twelfth inning as the Braves walked off 6-3 winners.  Tim Hudson pitches for Atlanta today and he matches up against the only pitcher he has ever hit a home run off.  Kyle Lohse will no doubt be reminded of the longball he gave up to his opposite number prior to today’s game, not least because it occurred on exactly the same date a year ago: 12 September.

The rest of the day’s games

There is a full schedule of games taking place before the Cardinals-Braves game and I’m sure the 5 Live team will round up all the action during the show.  If you’ve got access to any of the MLB.com subscriptions then you’re in for a treat this evening as there are a host of exciting encounters to follow. 

Top of the list has to be the Giants-Padres game in which Tim Lincecum and Mat Latos are scheduled to take the mound.  San Diego won on a strike-him-out, throw-him-out play yesterday to give themselves a chance to win today’s contest and earn a split from this important four-game series between the top two teams in the NL West. 

They are being chased in the West by the Rockies.  Colorado has now won nine in a row and they’ve got the impressive rookie Jhoulys Chacin starting for them against the D-Backs in their attempt to stretch the streak to double figures. 

In the American League, the big game begins at 20.05 as Cliff Lee pitches for the Rangers against the Yankees.  New York’s lead in the AL East is now down to half a game as Texas has won back-to-back walk-off victories, with yesterday’s win coming on a walk-off, hit-by-pitch delivered by Mariano Rivera.  Cliff Lee has battled with back problems of late, but he’s scheduled to return to the mound to face the team many expect him to join as a free agent over the offseason.

Here is today’s full MLB schedule, with start times in BST.

18.05. Minnesota at Cleveland (Slowey – Talbot)
18.05. Baltimore at Detroit (Tillman – Verlander)
18.07. Tampa Bay at Toronto (Niemann – Marcum)
18.10. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (Burres – Cueto)
18.10. Philadelphia at NY Mets (Oswalt – Niese)
18.35. Florida at Washington (Volstad – Zimmermann)
19.05. Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (O’Sullivan – Harrell)
19.05. LA Dodgers at Houston (Monasterios – Figueroa)
19.10. Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee (Coleman – Gallardo)
20.05. NY Yankees at Texas (Moseley – Lee) * ESPN America
20.10. Arizona at Colorado (Kennedy – Chacin)
20.35. Seattle at LA Angels (Vargas – Haren)
21.05. Boston at Oakland (Beckett – Braden)
21.05. San Francisco at San Diego (Lincecum – Latos)
01.05. a.m. St. Louis at Atlanta (Lohse – Hudson) * 5 Live Sports Extra, ESPN America

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv).  ESPN America is showing both the Yankees-Rangers game and the Cardinals-Braves game.  5 Live Sports Extra’s MLB coverage can be found on DAB radio, digitial TV and, for UK residents, on the BBC.co.uk website.