Tag Archives: Eurosport

World Baseball Classic: Semi-final and Final coverage

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The final three games of the 2013 World Baseball Classic will be broadcast live on ESPN America. Eurosport will also be showing repeats of the games during the daytime.

Semi-final 1: Puerto Rico v Japan.

First pitch is scheduled for just after 1 a.m. in the early hours of Monday 18th U.K. time (just after 6 p.m. on Sunday 17th local time in San Francisco). Right-hander Kenta Maeda is slated to take the mound for Japan with Mario Santiago starting for Puerto Rico. The game can be watched again from 6 a.m. on ESPN America on Monday, or from 8.30 a.m. on British Eurosport 2.

Semi-final 2: Netherlands v Dominican Republic.

First pitch is scheduled for just after 1 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday 19th (just after 6 p.m. on Monday 18th local time in San Francisco). The Dutch are continuing to fly the flag for European baseball and will face a tough test against a Dominican team that has yet to be beaten so far in the tournament. ESPN America will be showing the game live, whilst it will be repeated on British Eurosport 2 on Tuesday morning from 8.30.

The Final.

The 2013 WBC Final will begin at just after midnight in the early hours of Wednesday 20th (5 p.m. on Tuesday 19th local time). Once again, ESPN America will show the game live and they and British Eurosport 2 will then show a replay over Wednesday lunchtime (ESPN America starting at midday, Eurosport at 12.30 p.m.)

Eurosport to show Spain’s WBC games

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Update: as per the comments below, it looks like the published schedule may not be correct and these games are only available on International Eurosport, not Eurosport UK. Hopefully we’ll get clarification soon

Baseball fans in the U.K. will have two TV channels on which to watch games from the forthcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC), with Eurosport joining ESPN America in offering live baseball from the premier international tournament.

ESPN America, as the home of MLB in the UK and throughout Europe, was the natural host for the WBC and they’ve already confirmed that they will be showing games from the event.

However, the news that Eurosport are also broadcasting some games as well is a real bonus.

The channel has shown baseball games in the past, from European Baseball Championship games to the World Cup, so there was always a hope that they might get involved.

Their online UK TV guide shows that they are broadcasting games on Friday 8, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 March and a quick check of the WBC schedule reveals that Eurosport will be following the fortunes of Spain in these contests.

The Spanish national team will compete at the WBC for the first time in the third staging of the event after coming through a qualifying competition in September. Spain will join the traditional powerhouses of Italy and the Netherlands in representing European baseball at the tournament.

They face a very difficult task in emerging from their First Round group as they are up against Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, all of whom have several MLB All-Stars on their rosters. However, it will be a great challenge to compete against the likes of Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran, Robinson Cano, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval and Miguel Cabrera.

Details on MLB.com’s online coverage of the WBC are still to be announced. It is expected that a subscription package for the event, separate from the main 2013 MLB.TV Premium subscription, will be available to sign up to in the next couple of days.

Baseball coverage in 2009 – British TV

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CovHlSq2009 should be remembered with fondness by baseball fans.  The MLB regular season was full of the usual intrigue, drama, great games and memorable moments and the Fall Classic lived up to expectations, producing the best World Series for a number of years.

Yet it was a sad and disappointing year for many in Britain as Five, the terrestrial home of MLB since 1997, abandoned the sport and created a big hole in the British baseball way of life.  Meanwhile ESPN America, the subscription home of MLB, was embroiled in the demise of Setanta Sports.

Farewell ‘Baseball on Five’

It was almost exactly a year ago (21 Dec) that I published an article about the rumours of ‘Baseball on Five’ being cancelled.  The news was a bad way to start the festive season and left many of us pondering what 2009 would bring.  Hopes of a reprieve gradually diminished as the season opener drew near and we began to come to terms with the realization that Jonny and Josh wouldn’t be with us “fellow baseball nuts” for the Braves-Phillies game on 5 April.  The cause was highlighted in petitions and even in the House of Commons, but Five’s decision was final.  Continue reading →

2010 European Baseball Championship – schedule announced

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Team GBThe schedule for next year’s European Baseball Championship has just been announced, revealing the task that Great Britain will face in their attempt to follow up an impressive silver-medal showing in 2007.  The tournament will be held in Heidenheim, Neuenburg and Stuttgart, Germany between 23 July and 3 August.

There are twelve entrants in total, split into two groups of six for the first round.  Team GB have been grouped with Croatia, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden and need a top three finish to progress into the second round.  Italy and Spain would be considered as the two favourites to top the group, with GB and Sweden arguably in a straight battle for the other spot.  Of course, you never know quite how a tournament will play out so writing off Croatia, who Great Britain beat to earn their sole victory in the World Cup in September, and Greece would be dangerous.  However, Stephan Rapaglia’s men should go into the tournament with confidence.  Their 2007 performance showed that they are capable of competing with the best in Europe and while a World Cup win-loss record of 1-9 doesn’t look good on paper, the experience gained in playing the likes of Cuba, Korea, Japan and others will be invaluable for those players who go on to take part in the Euros next year. 

The other first round group contains Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Netherlands and Ukraine.  The Dutch should win the group comfortably, but there will be a good battle for the other two qualifying places.  Germany in particular should be fierce competitors, playing in front of home crowds and with the disappointment of their heart-breaking exit from the World Cup still being keenly felt.

Rumours that Thierry Henry will be France’s catcher are unconfirmed.  

The World Cup first round pool staged in Regensburg was a great success and, although that venue will not be used on this occasion, the Germans can be expected to host an excellent tournament.  Eurosport covered the event in 2007 and it’s very possible that they will be showing a selection of games live for the 2010 tournament as well.

For more info, please visit Mister-Baseball.  For further GB analysis, check out the Great Britain Baseball website.