Tag Archives: BBC

Giants vs Cardinals and more

Leave a reply

After a typically quiet start to the working week, we’ve got a good selection of MLB early games to enjoy from Wednesday onwards.

Wednesday’s games starting before midnight U.K. time take us into the heart of the battle in the AL West. The Texas Rangers will be in Boston taking on the Red Sox; the Angels and A’s meet in Oakland with two newcomers to their rotation set to take the mound.  Zack Greinke will make his third start for the Halos since his trade from the Milwaukee Brewers, while Dan Straily will make his second Major League start after impressing in his debut.

The BBC 5 Live Sports Extra game on Thursday should be a cracker, pitting the Giants against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.  ESPN America has an evening double-header, while the day’s action starts off at Citi Field with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey scheduled to pitch against Josh Johnson and the Marlins.

We finish the working week with a game at Wrigley Field.  The Cincinnati Reds begin a visit to the north side of Chicago on Thursday and Friday’s game will be the second of a four-game series.

All times are in BST.

Monday 6 August

No early games

Tuesday 7 August

No early games

Wednesday 8 August

17.05. Minnesota at Cleveland (Duensing – Masterson) *ESPN America
18.35. Texas at Boston (Harrison – Beckett)
19.10. Cincinnati at Milwaukee (Latos – Wolf)
20.35. LA Angels at Oakland (Greinke – Straily) *ESPN America
23.35. Chicago Cubs at San Diego (Samardzija – Richard)

Thursday 9 August

17.10. Miami at NY Mets (Johnson – Dickey) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.05. NY Yankees at Detroit (Kuroda – Fister) *ESPN America
18.10. Toronto at Tampa Bay (Romero – Moore)
18.45. San Francisco at St. Louis (Bumgarner – Wainwright) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
21.05. Arizona at Pittsburgh (Saunders – Rodriguez) *ESPN America

Friday 10 August

19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Bailey – Germano)

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Following Super Saturday

Leave a reply

The Olympic Super Saturday more than lived up to its billing.

We were treated to a spellbinding day of sport, capped off in the evening by three British track and field gold medals, that will live long in the memory.

Whether that can be followed up by a Super Sunday remains to be seen, but we do know that there is plenty of MLB action to add to the sporting mix this evening.

All times are in BST.

18.05. Cleveland at Detroit (Seddon - Scherzer)
18.05. Seattle at NY Yankees (Iwakuma - Garcia)
18.10. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (Burnett - Bailey) *ESPN America
18.35. Minnesota at Boston (Blackburn - Morales)
18.35. Houston at Atlanta (Norris - Medlen)
18.35. Miami at Washington (Nolasco - Strasburg) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
18.35. Arizona at Philadelphia (Cahill - Lee)
18.40. Baltimore at Tampa Bay (Gonzalez - Price)
19.10. LA Angels at Chicago White Sox (Haren - Liriano)
19.10. Texas at Kansas City (Holland - Hochevar)
20.10. San Francisco at Colorado (Lincecum - Chatwood)
21.05. Toronto at Oakland (Laffey - Milone)
21.05. NY Mets at San Diego (Harvey - Marquis)
21.10. Chicago Cubs at LA Dodgers (Germano - Blanton) *ESPN America

01.00. Milwaukee at St. Louis (Estrada - Lohse) *ESPN America

For so many years now Pittsburgh Pirates fans have attended games in early August knowing that with two months of the regular season left to play, they were already playing for pride alone. Things are different this year. Even though the first two games of their headline series against the Reds haven’t gone their way, the Pirates have every reason to be excited to be in this position and they have a good chance to take a win from the series today as A.J. Burnett – surely one of the best trade additions of the 2012 season – takes to the mound.

The Washington Nationals are also revelling in their new-found position as leading contenders in the National League. Danny Espinosa’s three-run shot in the eighth inning led the Nationals to a 10-7 victory over the Marlins yesterday. Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to pitch for Washington today with his team leading the four-game series 2-1. Coverage is due to start on BBC Radio from 18.30, although this potentially may be delayed depending on how the day’s play at Headingley turns out.

In Philadelphia, Cliff Lee is still a Phillie despite all of the rumours that have suggested he might be wearing another uniform by this point.  Roy Halladay delivered a very encouraging return to form yesterday with seven shut-out innings yesterday against the D-Backs and the Phillies will hope for something similar today from Lee.

Meanwhile, his former team mate Joe Blanton is scheduled to make his debut for the Dodgers against the Cubs.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents).

Greinke’s Angels debut and more

Leave a reply

Sunday brings a great group of games as the MLB trade rumours go into overdrive in the lead-up to the 31 July non-waiver deadline.

Zack Greinke makes his debut for the Angels today having been traded by the Brewers a couple of days ago, while Roy Halladay is due to come off the Disabled List and make his return with the Phillies in a strong pitching match-up with Tim Hudson and the Braves.

Both BBC 5 Live Sports Extra and ESPN America are scheduled to broadcast the three-game series finale between the Dodgers and Giants. The Dodgers have won the first two games, including a 10-0 thumping yesterday, to move within one game of the Giants at the top of the NL West.

All times are in BST.

18.07. Detroit at Toronto (Fister – Cecil)
18.10. San Diego at Miami (Richard – Johnson)
18.35. Oakland at Baltimore (Blackley – Chen)
18.35. Philadelphia at Atlanta (Halladay – Hudson) *ESPN America
19.05. Pittsburgh at Houston (McDonald – Harrell)
19.10. Washington at Milwaukee (Gonzalez – Rogers)
19.10. Cleveland at Minnesota (Jimenez – Duensing)
19.20. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Wainwright – Maholm)
20.10. Cincinnati at Colorado (Latos – Sanchez)
20.35. Tampa Bay at LA Angels (Hellickson – Greinke)
21.05. LA Dodgers at San Francisco (Kershaw – Vogelsong) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra, ESPN America
21.10. Kansas City at Seattle (Smith – Hernandez)
21.10. NY Mets at Arizona (Dickey – Saunders)

00.05. Chicago White Sox at Texas (Floyd – Feldman)
01.00. Boston at NY Yankees (Doubront – Kuroda) *ESPN America

——

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents).

12 early MLB games this week

1 Reply

This is always an interesting part of the MLB calendar.

The All-Star Break is in the rear-view mirror while the 31 July non-waiver trade deadline is rapidly approaching, meaning that teams are asking themselves whether they are in the play-off race or not.

Sometimes a hot or cold streak during this little period can be the deciding factor on whether a team adds an extra player or two or decides to look ahead to next season.

We can also see probable pitchers suddenly change as a player scheduled to take the mound for one team gets moved onto another.

Looking at the pre-midnight starts this working week, the two names that jump out are the Cubs’ Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza. They are currently scheduled to start for Chicago on Wednesday and Friday respectively, but they may find themselves on another team by that point.  James Shields has also been touted as a potential trade chip if the Rays feel a pressing need to upgrade their offence before the window shuts, so he may or may not be facing Baltimore in the BBC 5 Live Sports Extra game this Thursday.

Here is the full list of MLB games scheduled to start before midnight U.K. time this working week. Wednesday looks to be a particularly promising day with Stephen Strasburg, Jake Peavy, Jered Weaver and Tim Lincecum (who has looked a bit more like his old self in his previous two starts against the Astros and Phillies) set to start for their respective teams.

All times are in BST.

Monday 23 July

No early games

Tuesday 24 July

No early games

Wednesday 25 July

17.10. Washington at NY Mets (Strasburg – Hefner)
17.35. Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (Dempster – Correia)
17.40. Atlanta at Miami (Hanson – Nolasco) *ESPN America
18.05. Milwaukee at Philadelphia (Estrada – Worley)
19.10. Minnesota at Chicago White Sox (Blackburn – Peavy) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.35. Kansas City at LA Angels (Hochevar – Weaver)
20.40. NY Yankees at Seattle (Nova – Iwakuma)
20.45. San Diego at San Francisco (Marquis – Lincecum)

Thursday 26 July

17.35. Tampa Bay at Baltimore (Shields – Tillman) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra, ESPN America
17.37. Oakland at Toronto (Milone – Laffey)
18.45. LA Dodgers at St. Louis (Capuano – Westbrook)

Friday 27 July

19.20. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Lynn – Garza) *ESPN America 

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Set for sweeps on Sunday

Leave a reply

I always look forward to the Sunday slate of baseball games, but my enthusiasm is especially high today thanks to the brilliant recent form shown by the Oakland A’s.

My expectations were suitably modest coming into the season; however it’s hard not to dream when your team has won 13 of their last 15 games, including the first three games of a four-game series against the New York Yankees (who have dominated the A’s at the Coliseum in recent times).

Oakland are one of nine teams trying to complete a series sweep today. All times are in BST.

18.05. Chicago White Sox at Detroit (Humber vs Turner) *ESPN America
18.10. Milwaukee at Cincinnati (Fiers – Cueto)
18.10. LA Dodgers at NY Mets (Eovaldi – Niese)
18.35. Toronto at Boston (Alvarez – Lester)
18.35. Atlanta at Washington (Jurrjens – Detwiler)
18.35. San Francisco at Philadelphia (Zito – Blanton)
18.35. Miami at Pittsburgh (Sanchez – Karstens)
18.40. Seattle at Tampa Bay (Beavan – Moore)
19.10. Minnesota at Kansas City (Deduno – Guthrie)
19.15. Chicago Cubs at St. Louis (Wood – Lynn) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
20.05. Baltimore at Cleveland (Britton – Tomlin)
21.05. NY Yankees at Oakland (Sabathia – Colon) *ESPN America
21.05. Colorado at San Diego (Friedrich – Ohlendorf)
21.10. Houston at Arizona (Lyles – Collmenter)

01.00. Texas at LA Angels (Harrison – Haren) *ESPN America

Of the other broom-bearers, arguably the most determined will be the Detroit Tigers. They’ve used the first two games of their current series to climb over the Chicago White Sox into first place in the AL Central. Taking the third and final game against the Sox would be seen by Detroit as a real statement of intent, while Chicago has an opportunity to not only salvage a win from the series but to jump straight back to the top of the division in the process.

Elsewhere, the top NL Central and West teams are all pushing each other to keep their winning runs going. The Giants, Dodgers and D-Backs in the West, and the Pirates, Reds and Cardinals in the Central, will all be trying to complete series sweeps today.

Yesterday St. Louis produced one of the more unlikely results we’ll see in the 2012 season as they beat the Cubs 12-0 with all of the runs being scored in a single inning (the bottom of the seventh).  I don’t know what the Cardinals did during the seventh-inning stretch, but they would be well advised to replicate it exactly today. Coverage of that game can be found on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra from 19.15 after the day’s play at The Oval.

Meanwhile the Rangers and Angels are tied 1-1 heading into the rubber match of their latest series in the ESPN Sunday Night Game that will complete an MLB triple-header on ESPN America.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). 

2012 MLB All-Star Game

Leave a reply

The 83rd MLB All-Star Game takes place in the early hours of Wednesday morning U.K. time.

This year’s event is being staged at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and Josh Chetwynd is in town for the BBC as they will be broadcasting the game live on 5 Live Sports Extra from 1 a.m. The game can also be viewed on ESPN America and MLB.com for subscribers to those services.

Here are the probable starting line-ups for the 2012 Mid-summer Classic.

American League

1. Derek Jeter, NYY R SS
2. Robinson Cano, NYY L 2B
3. Josh Hamilton, TEX L LF
4. Jose Bautista, TOR R RF
5. Prince Fielder, DET L 1B
6. Adrian Beltre, TEX R 3B
7. David Ortiz, BOS L DH
8. Mike Napoli, TEX R C
9. Curtis Granderson, NYY L CF

‘Bombs away’ should be this team’s slogan. Lead-off hitter Derek Jeter is the only starter who isn’t a major home run threat and even he has 247 career round-trippers. Twenty-eight of those have come when he was leading-off an inning, so Matt Cain will know that he can’t just groove a fastball down the middle against him to settle into the game. Ideally a manager likes to alternate left and right-handed batters in the lineup and the only place that doesn’t happen is in the 2nd and 3rd slots. Seeing as those two same-handed players are Robinson Cano and Josh Hamilton, Ron Washington hasn’t had to make much of a compromise there.

National League

1. Carlos Gonzalez, COL L DH
2. Melky Cabrera, SF S CF
3. Ryan Braun, MIL R LF
4. Joey Votto, CIN L 1B
5. Carlos Beltran, STL S RF
6. Buster Posey, SF R C
7. Pablo Sandoval, SF S 3B
8. Dan Uggla, ATL R 2B
9. Rafael Furcal, STL S SS

The National League’s starting nine doesn’t look quite as imposing as the AL line-up, but there is still plenty of danger to avoid for Justin Verlander and his fellow AL pitchers. ‘Tinkerman’ Tony La Russa has chosen Carlos Gonzalez to bat lead-off as the DH instead of a more prototypical choice like Rafael Furcal; however it’s hard to argue against the idea of getting ‘CarGo’ into the game right from the start. He can launch a bomb over the fence and has a .389 OBP on the season so far compared to Furcal’s .337 OBP. Perhaps these small margins don’t count for much in an All-Star Game, but ultimately Gonzalez is the better hitter so why not make Verlander face him right from the off.

Starting pitchers
Ron Washington has turned to reigning MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to start on the mound for the ‘home’ team and few could argue with that. La Russa has seemingly caused a minor controversy by selecting Matt Cain over R.A. Dickey, but both are excellent pitchers having great seasons so it’s a coin toss decision as to who you would go with.

La Russa’s idea of bringing in Dickey later in the game when Carlos Ruis takes over from Buster Posey behind the plate does make sense and it’s sure to be fun watching the knuckleballer pitch against the best hitters in the American League whenever he does actually come into the game.

Home field advantage

Home field advantage in this year’s World Series is on the line. The National League won that honour last year and the St. Louis Cardinals made it count by winning the final two games of a thrilling seven-game series at their own Busch Stadium to defeat the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers’ manager, and the American League’s manager tonight, Ron Washington has played down the impact that this had on his team missing out in the Fall Classic, but I’m sure he would love to lead his league to victory tonight regardless. As for Tony La Russa, this is almost certainly going to be the last game in his illustrious managerial career, so he will want to go out on a high too.

Meanwhile, all of the players involved know that the All-Star Game remains one of the marquee events of the sport and one great moment they produce tonight could live long in baseball history.

It should be a great occasion.

Thirteen early MLB games this week

1 Reply

There are 13 MLB games scheduled to begin before midnight U.K. time this working week.

Fans of the Marlins and Brewers can enjoy three games of their four-game series at a convenient time, while there are two early installments in the Giants-Nationals series.

The game at Nationals Park on Tuesday only just falls into the pre-midnight bracket, starting at 23.35, although it should be one worth staying up for with Tim Lincecum and Jordan Zimmerman being the probable starting pitchers.

There is a varied cast of games scheduled for Wednesday, including potential starts by David Price for the Rays and the scuffling Cliff Lee for the Phillies.  ESPN America concentrated on the X Games event over the past weekend at the expense of live baseball, but they make up for it with a triple bill on Wednesday – alongside early games on Tuesday and Thursday – with the two early games being followed by a Rangers v White Sox game from midnight.

After taking a break last week, BBC 5 Live Sports Extra will be bringing us some live baseball again this Thursday. The programme is scheduled to start at 19.00 although we’re still awaiting final confirmation on which of the 19.10 first pitch games will be featured (probably Rangers v White Sox) UPDATE: confirmed that it is Rangers v White Sox.

All times are in BST.

Monday 2 July

No early games

Tuesday 3 July

21.10. Miami at Milwaukee (Sanchez – Estrada) *ESPN America
23.35. San Francisco at Washington (Lincecum – Zimmermann) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day

Wednesday 4 July

16.05. San Francisco at Washington (Bumgarner – Jackson)
18.10. Philadelphia at NY Mets (Lee – Young) *ESPN America
18.35. Houston at Pittsburgh (Keuchel – Correia)
20.10. NY Yankees at Tampa Bay (Phelps – Price)
21.05. LA Angels at Cleveland (Santana – Lowe) *ESPN America
21.05. Boston at Oakland (Morales – Griffin)
21.10. Miami at Milwaukee (Johnson – Wolf)
21.10. Baltimore at Seattle (Arrieta – Noesi)

Thursday 5 July

18.05. Minnesota at Detroit (Diamond – Porcello)
19.10. Texas at Chicago White Sox (Harrison – Quintana) *ESPN America, BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
19.10. Miami at Milwaukee (Buehrle – Fiers)

Friday 6 July

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

First England, then early MLB games

1 Reply

There are no early MLB games on the first two days of the working week, so the conclusion of the First Round of Euro 2012 can take precedence on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday gives England fans time to worry about all the possible permutations of the game against the Ukraine before we are put through the mill again on Tuesday.

Baseball then takes over on the next two days.

Visitors to the ESPN America website can cast their vote as to which of two games they want to watch on Wednesday. The Houston Astros’ good form in the late 1990s and early 2000s, coinciding with 5’s MLB coverage, means that they have a decent core of fans in the U.K.; however I would be surprised if a Royals v Astros clash won in the popularity stakes over Blue Jays v Brewers.

Toronto have suffered dreadfully bad luck over the last week in losing Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison to injuries. Former Brewer Brett Lawrie, who was sent to Toronto in the December 2010 trade for Shaun Marcum, didn’t leave his former team on the best of terms and you can be certain that he will want to make a big statement in Milwaukee.

On Thursday, the Cardinals and Tigers complete their series with Jacob Turner, the Tigers’ top young pitching prospect, expected to be called up from Triple-A. Turner made three spot starts for Detroit last year and he has a 2.83 ERA over 11 starts in the Minors this season after dealing with shoulder tendinitis during Spring Training.

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will provide coverage of the Dodgers-A’s game on BBC Radio and it’s an excellent pitching match-up in prospect with established star Clayton Kershaw and a promising rookie in Jarrod Parker [EDIT: the A’s have shuffled their rotation, so Australian Travis Blackley will now start this game instead].

All times are in BST.

Monday 18 June

No early games

Tuesday 19 June

No early games

Wednesday 20 June

18.05. Atlanta at NY Yankees (Hanson – Hughes)
19.05. Kansas City at Houston (Mazzaro – Lyles) *ESPN America?
19.10. Toronto at Milwaukee (TBA – Gallardo)  *ESPN America?
20.40. Seattle at Arizona (Vargas – Cahill) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
23.35. Texas at San Diego (Darvish – Bass)

Thursday 21 June

18.05. St. Louis at Detroit (Lohse – Crosby) *ESPN America, *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.35. LA Dodgers at Oakland (Kershaw – Blackley) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra

Friday 22 June

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Interleague plus Astros v Giants

Leave a reply

The working week is bookended by the first two England games of Euro 2012 in among the ‘early’ MLB games.

There isn’t any live baseball on Monday to divert your attention, or maybe help you forget, the England v France game, but we do have a rare Boston visit to the north side of Chicago on Friday evening that may prove to be a welcome distraction – particularly if the France game goes badly – while England face Sweden.

ESPN America will also be showing the first game of the College World Series following the Red Sox v Cubs game.

Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to start for the Nationals against Kyle Drabek and the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Strasburg struck out 13 Red Sox hitters last Friday and will hope for similar success against another AL East opponent next time out.

There are five games starting before midnight U.K. time on Thursday, including Johan Santana’s second start since pitching a no-hitter. Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be on air from 20.30 for the Astros-Giants game on BBC Radio, which should include a start by Wandy Rodriguez who is once again being touted as a prime candidate to be heading to a contender prior to the trade deadline.

All times are in BST.

Monday 11 June

No early games

Tuesday 12 June

No early games

Wednesday 13 June

17.37. Washington at Toronto (Strasburg – Drabek) *ESPN America

Thursday 14 June

17.35. Cleveland at Cincinnati (Tomlin – Latos) *ESPN America
18.10. NY Mets at Tampa Bay (Santana vs Hellickson)
19.20. Detroit at Chicago Cubs (Porcello – Wood)
20.10. Oakland at Colorado (Milone – Francis) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.45. Houston at San Francisco (Rodriguez – Zito) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra, ESPN America

Friday 15 June

19.20. Boston at Chicago Cubs (Matsuzaka – Samardzija) *ESPN America

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Ten early games this working week

Leave a reply

There’s a good mix of early games from the American and National Leagues this working week, heading into Interleague play over the weekend.

We’ve got a couple of games on Monday leading up to the First Year Amateur Draft at midnight.

The Cardinals have managed only one run in the first three games of their series against the Mets and New York’s starter today, Dillon Gee, has been in good form recently too. St. Louis have lost five in a row in total and have slipped into third in the NL Central, with the Pittsburgh Pirates sneaking past into second. They’ll be very keen to take a positive from this series with a win today before starting a three-game series in Houston.

Like the Mets, the Giants have taken the first three games of their current home series and are going for the four-game sweep today. The Cubs have now lost fifteen of their last eighteen games, although Jeff Samardzija’s conversion into a Major League starter has been one of the very rare good news stories from Chicago’s season so far. He’ll go against Ryan Vogelsong at AT&T Park.

Later in the week, the Giants have two further day games, albeit with the game on Wednesday only narrowly coming in under the pre-midnight U.K. time ‘early’ game bracket.

Thursday is the main day for early games this week and there are some good potential pitching match-ups on the provisional list. The Mets’ game against the Nationals would be Johan Santana’s next  scheduled start; however he may be given some extra rest after his no-hitter exertions last Friday so we’ll need to wait and see who manager Terry Collins decides to go with on that day.

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be covering all of the latest stories in MLB while broadcasting the Cubs-Brewers game on BBC Radio.

All times are in BST.

Monday 4 June

18.10. St. Louis at NY Mets (Lohse – Gee) *ESPN America
20.45. Chicago Cubs at San Francisco (Samardzija – Vogelsong)

Tuesday 5 June

No early games

Wednesday 6 June

23.35. San Francisco at San Diego (Bumgarner – Richard) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day

Thursday 7 June

18.05. Cleveland at Detroit (Lowe – Crosby) *ESPN America
18.05. NY Mets at Washington (TBA – Wang)
18.05. LA Dodgers at Philadelphia (Harang – Hamels)
19.10. Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee (Garza – Wolf) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
20.35. Texas at Oakland (Darvish – McCarthy) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
20.35. San Francisco at San Diego (Cain – Volquez)

Friday 8 June

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.