There are only two weeks of the MLB regular season left to play, which is a shame both due to the season soon coming to an end and the fact that this time of year always results in more games being played at night.

Consequently the early game line-up for this working week only offers Wednesday and Thursday as evenings to watch live baseball at a convenient time for us in the UK.

There are some good games among them though.

The Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees currently hold the two AL Wild Card spots and they meet in the Bronx for a three-game series, with the finale on Wedneday being an early start.

The LA Angels are the closest challengers to the Twins and they have a tough home series against the Cleveland Indians over the first part of this week. The game on Thursday is a 21.07 start.

All times are in BST.

Monday 18 September

No early games

Tuesday 19 September

No early games

Wednesday 20 September

18:05 Twins at Yankees (Colon (6-13), Tanaka (12-11))
18:10 Mets at Marlins (Montero, Urena (13-6)) *MLB.com Free Game
18:10 Athletics at Tigers (Mengden (1-1), Sanchez (3-4))
20:45 Rockies at Giants (Chatwood (8-12), Moore (5-14))

Thursday 21 September

18:05 Dodgers at Phillies (Maeda (12-6), Leiter (3-6)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:07 Indians at Angels (Bauer, Pridwell) *BT Sport2

Friday 22 September

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

We’ve potentially got some history in the offing this week among the MLB day-games (pre-midnight starts for us in the UK).

The Cleveland Indians enter the week having won 18 games consecutively. If they win the first two games of their series against the Detroit Tigers, their early game on Wednesday would be their chance to win 21 and match the all-time record.

Something tells me that might have played into the decision to make that the MLB.com Free Game for Wednesday.

Of course, alternatively the Tigers could win on Monday night and end it all. Still it should be a good chance to catch the Indians without missing any sleep.

Across the rest of the week, Monday is the only day that doesn’t offer any early contests. There are two games from the White Sox-Royals series in which Kansas City will be looking to keep in the AL Wild Card hunt.

The same goes for the Tampa Bay Rays. Wednesday’s game against the New York Yankees will be a strange one to watch, with the Rays at home but the teams playing in New York (at the Mets’ Citi Field) due to Hurricane Irna. This would be Chris Archer’s turn in the rotation but it’s still to be determined if he will definitely start following his recent arm injury concerns.

Thursday’s games include the finale from the four-game series between the current NL Wild Card spot holders, the D-Backs and Rockies, and the St Louis Cardinals are also in day-game action taking on the Reds. They’ll then head  to Chicago to start a huge series against the Cubs as the NL Central remains up for grabs.

All times are in BST.

Monday 11 September

No early games

Tuesday 12 September

18:15 White Sox at Royals (Covey (0-4), Gaviglio (3-5))

Wednesday 13 September

17:10 Tigers at Indians (Farmer (4-2), Clevinger (9-5)) *MLB.com Free Game
18:10 Yankees at Rays (Garcia (5-9), Archer (9-9))
19:15 White Sox at Royals (Giolito (2-2), Kennedy)

Thursday 14 September

18:10 White Sox at Tigers (Shields (3-6), Bell)
18:35 Athletics at Red Sox (Gossett (4-8), Pomeranz (15-5))
18:45 Reds at Cardinals (Garrett (3-7), Weaver (5-1))
20:40 Rockies at D-backs (Bettis (1-2), Godley (7-7)) *BT Sport1

Friday 15 September

19:20 Cardinals at Cubs (Martinez (11-10), Lackey (11-11)) *BT Sport/ESPN

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Monday is Labor Day in the States and that sets the agenda for the early games in MLB this working week.

Ten games begin before midnight UK time on Monday and they include plenty of teams in the play-off place race. The Yankees-Orioles series will be important for Baltimore if they want to claw back a few games in the AL Wild Card race and Dylan Bundy is slated to be the home starter against the Yankees on Monday.

Meanwhile the Rockies host the Giants at Coors Field knowing that they need to start picking up some wins as they’ve seen their NL Wild Card gap whittled down over the past few weeks.

It’s slim pickings for early games for the rest of the working week, though. Wednesday is the only other evening to catch some live baseball at a convenient time. All three early games include a Wild Card hopeful: the Brewers, Twins and Angels.

All times are in BST.

Monday 4 September

18:10 Royals at Tigers (Junis (6-2), Lewicki (0-0))
18:10 Brewers at Reds (Anderson (8-3), Bailey (4-7)) *BT Sport/ESPN
18:10 Phillies at Mets (Leiter (2-4), Montero (3-9))
19:05 Yankees at Orioles (Garcia, Bundy (13-8))
19:10 Indians at White Sox (Bauer (14-8), Shields (2-5))
20:10 Giants at Rockies (Moore, Bettis (0-2))
21:05 Cubs at Pirates (Arrieta (14-8), Kuhl (6-10)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:05 Angels at Athletics (Bridwell (7-2), Smith (0-4))
21:40 Cardinals at Padres (Martinez (10-10), Perdomo (7-8))
23:40 Astros at Mariners (Keuchel (11-3), Ramirez (5-5))

Tuesday 5 September

No early games

Wednesday 6 September

17:35 Brewers at Reds (Nelson, Castillo (2-7))
18:10 Twins at Rays (Slegers (0-0), Snell (3-6)) *BT Sport/ESPN
20:35 Angels at Athletics (Skaggs (1-4), Manaea (9-9))

Thursday 7 September

No early games

Friday 8 September

No early games

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Can you believe we’re almost into the final month of the MLB regular season?

There’s still plenty to be played for, even for teams that are out of the running for a play-off place.

Rhys Hoskins’ home-run exploits for the Phillies are a great example and we can watch Philadelphia take on the Braves for free in the MLB.com Free Game on Wednesday from 18.05 BST.

Other pre-midnight BST games that catch the eye are early contests between the Indians and Yankees, Cardinals and Brewers, Mariners and Orioles, Marlins and Nationals (all on Wednesday) and the Dodgers and D-Backs (Thursday).

Friday is a rarity with two early games on offer. We quite regularly get to enjoy a game from Wrigley Field to start the weekend, and the Cubs host the Braves on BT Sport/ESPN this week, but we also get a Cleveland-Detroit early game too as part of a Friday double-header for those clubs.

All times are in BST.

Monday 28 August

No early games

Tuesday 29 August

No early games

Wednesday 30 August

18:05 Braves at Phillies (Teheran (8-11), Eickhoff) *MLB.com Free Game
18:05 Indians at Yankees (Tomlin (7-9), Sabathia (10-5)) *BT Sport/ESPN
19:10 Cardinals at Brewers (Martinez (10-9), Anderson (7-3)) *BT Sport2
20:05 Mariners at Orioles (Miranda (8-6), Jimenez (5-9))
20:10 Tigers at Rockies (Verlander (9-8), Bettis (0-1))
21:05 Marlins at Nationals (Conley (6-5), TBA)

Thursday 31 August

17:35 Mets at Reds (deGrom (14-7), Stephenson (2-4))
18:10 White Sox at Twins (Gonzalez (7-10), Colon)
20:40 Dodgers at D-backs (Maeda (12-5), Greinke (15-6)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Friday 1 September

18:10 Indians at Tigers (Clevinger, Norris)
19:20 Braves at Cubs (Foltynewicz, Lackey) *BT Sport/ESPN

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

There are a limited number of MLB early games this working week, with only Wednesday and Thursday offering the chance to catch some baseball at a convenient time for us in the UK.

The early games do tend to reduce in August and September compared to earlier in the season; however we shouldn’t take for granted the wonders of MLB.TV, plus having TV coverage via BT Sport, as only 15 years ago watching day-games was simply not an option.

We do get to watch teams play on a regular basis nowadays and it’s a good time to catch up on the early-game rankings.

Here are the current leaders in the working week early game stakes:

1. Chicago Cubs (27 working week early games)
2. Cleveland Indians (23)
3. Milwaukee Brewers (20)
4. Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, St Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals (all 19)

The Cubs are on top, as always, and joined by their 2016 World Series rivals, whilst we’ve been able to catch plenty of games from the surprising Milwaukee Brewers.

At the other end of the scale:

30. Texas Rangers (8)
29. Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Angels (9)
27. Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees (10)

The midday heat in Arlington always means the Rangers tend to play a sparse day-game schedule, whilst the two LA teams don’t play many mid-week day-games either. That’s been a shame in respect of the Dodgers this season as their incredible performances over the past couple of months haven’t been quite so easy to follow across the pond.

Here are the games we can enjoy this working week, with all times in BST.

Monday 7 August

No early games

Tuesday 8 August

No early games

Wednesday 9 August

17:10 Rockies at Indians (Senzatela, Bauer (10-8)) *BT Sport/ESPN
17:10 Rangers at Mets (Hamels (6-1), Montero (1-7))
20:35 Mariners at Athletics (Gallardo (5-7), Cotton (5-8)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:37 Orioles at Angels (TBD, Scribner)
20:45 Cubs at Giants (Hendricks (4-4), Bumgarner (1-5)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Thursday 10 August

17:35 Padres at Reds (Lamet, Castillo)
18:10 Pirates at Tigers (Cole (9-8), VerHagen) *BT Sport/ESPN

Friday 11 August

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

It’s the last day of July on Monday and that means we have the trade deadline day to enjoy.

Non-waiver deals have to be completed by 21.00 BST on Monday, so it’s a convenient time for us to follow all the last-minute rumours and the immediate fall-out. ESPN’s Baseball Tonight programme will be shown live on BT Sport/ESPN from 19.00-21.00.

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies will be there in the background before the deadline on BT Sport 2 and Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz is well worth a watch if you haven’t catched any of his starts this season.

There is a bit of uncertainty around some of the probable pitchers in the early games this working week, not just because of the deadline.

Masahiro Tanaka is currently in line to face the Tigers on Wednesday, although that could change nearer the time depending on whether the Yankees do complete a further starting pitcher trade and decide to rejig their rotation.

On Thursday, the Milwaukee Brewers are sorting through their options for a starter to face the Cardinals after they decided to option Junior Guerra to the Minors. It’s quite a comedown for their Opening Day starter, albeit that assignment was somewhat by default.

There’s a potentially excellent match-up at Wrigley Field with Zack Greinke and Jose Quintana currently scheduled to face each other, whilst Jacob deGrom may be used by the Mets in the Thursday game at Coors Field against the Rockies.

The Cubs are then in early action again on Friday against the Washington Nationals in what would be Stephen Strasburg’s spot in the rotation, although currently it looks like he will still be out injured at that point.

All times are in BST.  If you’re not already a subscriber, MLB.TV is now available for the rest of the season (including the post-season for us in the UK) for $50 (approx £46 including the 20% tax).

Monday 31 July

17:35 Braves at Phillies (Foltynewicz (9-5), Pivetta (3-6)) *MLB.com Free Game, BT Sport2

Tuesday 1 August

No early games

Wednesday 2 August

18:05 Tigers at Yankees (Zimmermann (6-8), Tanaka) *BT Sport/ESPN
19:10 Blue Jays at White Sox (Happ (3-8), Holland (5-10)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:40 Twins at Padres (Santana (11-7), Perdomo (5-5))

Thursday 3 August

19:10 Cardinals at Brewers (Wacha, TBD) *BT Sport/ESPN
19:20 D-backs at Cubs (Greinke (13-4), Quintana (6-9))
20:10 Mets at Rockies (deGrom, Marquez)

Friday 4 August

19:20 Nationals at Cubs (Strasburg?, Hendricks (4-3)) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:40 Cardinals at Reds (Leake, Adleman)

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

We’ve got early MLB games to watch live during the British evening on four days out of five this working week.

It starts with two games from the latest Windy City series, with the Cubs hosting the White Sox. Both games are on BT Sport/ESPN and Monday’s contest is also available for all to watch free online at MLB.com.

Wednesday’s batch of games includes a number of teams in the hunt for a play-off spot.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have played extremely well of late to get themselves back into the NL Central race and they will be looking to build on that against a Giants team that is a long way out.

Meanwhile Chris Sale is scheduled to take the mound at Safeco Field for the Red Sox against the Mariners, being shown in the UK on BT Sport1.

Thursday’s games include the finale of a three-game series between the Brewers and Nationals (BT Sport/ESPN) as Milwaukee try to get themselves back on track after a difficult spell coming out of the All-Star break.

The MLB.com Free Game is an early game between the A’s and Blue Jays and currently is scheduled to be a good pitching match-up featuring Sean Manaea and Marcus Stroman.

All times are in BST.

Monday 24 July

19:20 White Sox at Cubs (Gonzalez (4-9), Hendricks (4-3)) *MLB.com Free Game, BT Sport/ESPN

Tuesday 25 July

19:20 White Sox at Cubs (Rodon (1-3), Lackey (6-9)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Wednesday 26 July

17:10 Orioles at Rays (Jimenez, Cobb) *BT Sport/ESPN
18:05 Reds at Yankees (Bailey (2-4), Severino)
20:40 Braves at D-backs (Garcia (4-7), Godley) *MLB.com Free Game
20:40 Red Sox at Mariners (Sale (12-4), Moore (1-2)) *BT Sport1
20:45 Pirates at Giants (Williams (4-4), Samardzija (4-11))

Thursday 27 July

17:05 Brewers at Nationals (Garza (4-5), Roark) *BT Sport/ESPN
17:10 Angels at Indians (Ramirez (9-8), Bauer (8-8))
17:37 Athletics at Blue Jays (Manaea, Stroman) *MLB.com Free Game

Friday 28 July

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.