Early Sunday evening baseball returns to BBC 5 Live Sports Extra today.  The Atlanta Braves attempt to complete a three-game series sweep over the New York Mets at Citi Field, with the BBC’s coverage beginning at 18.00 and the game scheduled to start ten minutes later.

The Braves-Mets game will be followed on 5 Live Sports Extra by more sporting action from New York, (well, more specifically from New Jersey) as the New England Patriots take on the New York Jets in the second week of the NFL. 

With plenty of other exciting MLB and NFL games taking place as well, it promises to be a great evening for North American sports fans in the UK. 

Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets

Regardless of the standings or the circumstances, games between the Braves and Mets are always fiercely contested.  Add in the Braves’ battle for a postseason place and the subplot of this being the last time Bobby Cox will lead a team against the Mets and you’ve got all the ingredients for a great game in prospect.

The Braves need to hit some form after falling to second in the NL East behind the Philadelphia Phillies.  They’ve started their current road trip in the best possible way by taking the first two games of this series against the Mets, but they need to keep that trend going today as they head into a crucial series against the Phillies on Monday. 

Philadelphia have shuffled their rotation so that they can throw Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt at the Braves in the three-game series.  With the Padres-Giants-Rockies group challenging for the Wild Card as well as the NL West, Atlanta could soon find themselves firmly on the outside of a race that they were leading just two weeks ago.  So now’s the time to sweep their bitter rivals at Citi Field and to head into that Phillies series full of confidence and in prime form.

Derek Lowe takes the mound for the Braves and he has been solid enough for most of the season without dominating or really justifying his $15m salary.  Concerns over the return on investment will be put to one side if Lowe can help the Braves into the postseason and his performances are going in the right direction as he pitched extremely well last time out against the Nationals to make it two good outings in a row.

The Mets will counter with one of the few bright spots from an otherwise forgettable season.  Knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey was effectively plucked from the scrapheap by the Mets and he has responded with by far the best season of his career since being called up from the Minor Leagues on 19 May.  ‘Tricky’ Dickey pitched a complete game in his most recent outing against the Pirates on Tuesday.  Whether he can keep this form going next year is up for debate (read more about that in my Weekly Hit Ground Ball column tomorrow), but he’s on a roll in 2010.

The rest of today’s early games

Andy Pettitte is scheduled to make his return for the Yankees at Camden Yards.  He’s been out with a groin injury since 18 July and the Yanks need him to get some starts under his belt heading into the postseason because, CC Sabathia aside, their rotation has looked vulnerable over the last couple of months.  The Yankees basically have a playoff spot wrapped up and they will be using the next two weeks to get themselves ready for another World Series run.  The Tampa Bay Rays are also close to securing a postseason return; however they may place a bit more emphasis than the Yankees on winning the division rather than making it via the Wild Card.  They face former pitcher Scott Kazmir and the Angels today.

The NL West battle continues to serve up fascinating twists and turns.  The Padres grabbed an important win yesterday with Ryan Ludwick hitting a three-run homer in the ninth against his former team.  Building on that victory will be a tough ask today though with Adam Wainwright on the mound for the Cardinals.  The Giants will be keen to pounce on any slip by San Diego and they’ve got Barry Zito starting for them today at AT&T Park against the Brewers.  Meanwhile the charging Colorado Rockies, led by the hottest hitter in baseball Troy Tulowitzki, will have their recent excellent form tested by the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, who was utterly dominant last time out against the Giants.

All times are in BST.

18.10. Atlanta at NY Mets (Lowe – Dickey) * BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
18.10. Chicago Cubs at Florida (Samardzija – Miller)
18.35. NY Yankees at Baltimore (Pettitte – Tillman)
18.35. Toronto at Boston (Marcum – Lester)
18.35. Washington at Philadelphia (Maya – Blanton)
18.35. Arizona at Pittsburgh (Hudson – Duke)
18.40. LA Angels at Tampa Bay (Kazmir – Niemann)
19.05. Cincinnati at Houston (Wood – Myers)
19.10. Cleveland at Kansas City (Tomlin – Hochevar)
19.10. Oakland at Minnesota (Cramer – Liriano)
19.15. San Diego at St. Louis (Garland – Wainwright) * ESPN America
21.05. Milwaukee at San Francisco (Narveson – Zito)
21.10. Texas at Seattle (Hunter – Fister)
21.10. Colorado at LA Dodgers (Hammel – Kershaw)

The ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game is Detroit @ Chicago White Sox at 01.00 a.m on 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 the Padres-Cardinals game and the Sunday Night Baseball contest.  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.