Tag Archives: MLB.tv

MLB.TV 2018 Subscriptions Announced

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The signs of the new baseball season approaching keep on being ticked off.

Sunday was the Superbowl and the end of the NFL season.

Monday was ‘Truck Day’.

Tuesday is MLB.TV Day.

The 2018 MLB.TV subscription details have been announced today and the headlines are:

1. The annual MLB.TV subscription price has marginally increased by $3 to $116, with a favourable turn in the dollar/pound exchange rate meaning that we’ll actually be paying a bit less this year compared to 2017.

2. MLB.com will be offering a team-based subscription alongside the main service once again; however there is some doubt over whether that will be available to non-North American subscribers.

Team-based confusion

Let’s start with the team-based subscription. This was introduced from the start of the 2016 season as one of the consequences of the Garber Settlement in which MLB had to agree to various concessions as part of settling claims around fans being blacked out of local TV in the States.

There were differing experiences for UK fans in that first year with some struggling to sign up and being told by MLB.com support staff that it wasn’t avaliable overseas, yet that confusion appeared to be cleared up last year.

Well, MLB.com is touting their 2018 team-based subscription at $89.99 but when I go to the main MLB.TV page it refreshes and then greys out the team option, replacing it with a ‘Not Available At Your Location’ message.

It seems that as the Garber settlement really only relates to US customers, MLB are taking the stance of forcing everyone else to go for the newly-renamed ‘MLB.TV All Teams’ package.  The difference in price between the two isn’t huge in the general scheme of things, but it’s a shame for them to take that approach.  For some fans it’s the ability to watch their chosen team that makes them want an MLB.TV subscription, especially if they already have the BT Sports channels so can get their fix of other MLB teams and the post-season that way.

All we can do at the moment is wait and see if they will revise their stance, but right now it looks like the team-based option may not be an option for us after all.

MLB.TV All Teams subscription

The main subscription is still there in its usual form and all its glory.  The stated price of $116 goes up to $139.19 when you select ‘GB – United Kingdom’ and they add VAT on top.  Putting that into a currency converter brings up the figure of £99.70, so let’s just call it £100 for the year.

The 2017 subscription was $135 inclusive of VAT and that worked out at approximately £108 this time last year, so it’s a welcome little saving for us after a couple of years of seeing the dollar/pound exchange rate going the ‘wrong’ way.

If you want even more baseball, once again MLB.com is offering you the chance to add a Minor League (MiLB) subscription to your basket at the check-out too for $25, half its usual price.  Add that on and with VAT it works out at $169.19, or £121.

What you get for your money is succinctly set out on the main MLB.TV webpage, but in short it is every MLB game in the regular season and post-season live or on-demand (we are exempt from the US/Canada blackouts) plus lots of games from Spring Training too.  You can watch the home or road TV coverage (where both are available), listen to home or road radio feeds and even combine the two if you prefer to listen to a team’s radio crew whilst watching the action.

MLB At Bat

The MLB At Bat app is worth an explanation as it can catch newcomers out.

There is a free version that you can download onto your usual Apple/Android devices that gives news and video clips and then a paid-for version that costs $20 (usually about £12-13) that allows you to listen to radio coverage of games too.  Importantly, the paid-for app itself doesn’t allow you to watch games other than the MLB Free Game (more on that in a moment).

To watch games you need to have bought the MLB.TV subscription, but the key thing is that once you spend the £100 on that you don’t have to pay for the app on top as it is included in the cost.  Simply download the free app and then go into the settings to link it to your MLB.com account.

Connected Devices

I remember getting ready for the 2008 season by buying a small Asus laptop and excitedly watching some of the Washington Nationals’ game from the brand new Nationals Park (I think it was the exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles) thinking how wonderful it was to be able to watch baseball on a small device anywhere in the house rather than being tied to my PC.

It really wasn’t all that long ago, but the experience nowadays is completely different. Most of us have tablets and/or smart phones that allow us to watch ‘on the go’ and we also get to watch our online streaming content on our big TVs too.

MLB likes to refer to all this as ‘Connected Devices’ and that basically means devices that you can watch MLB.TV on.  It usually means going to the app store (or equivalent) on your chosen device, installing the MLB app and then linking it to your MLB.TV subscription.  However, if you’ve got a specific device that you’re hoping to watch MLB.TV on then do consult the full Connected Devices FAQ section on the MLB.TV Help Center.

Unfortunately, sometimes the MLB app is only available in certain territories and so you should check the details to see if the UK is covered.  A good (well, good isn’t the right word here) example is that the app is available in the UK on xBox One but isn’t available on PS4.  Plenty of people have asked the question as to why over recent years and haven’t found a good answer, although they often have found potential ways around it (I’ll leave you to Google that!).

Working on a budget

Firstly, MLB.com publishes huge amounts of highlights and ‘game recaps’ for free every day, so if you’re not ready to go down the subscription route straight away that doesn’t mean you can’t keep up with all the action.

MLB.com in recent years has had a Free Game feature that has meant that one game every day is available to watch online without a subscription. It’s going to be hit-and-miss with how many of those games involve your team and if they are at a convenient time for us to watch live in the UK, but it at least should give you the chance to catch a game or two every week.

More importantly, MLB.com always does deals during the season offering an MLB.TV at a reduced price.  Sometimes this is simply to reflect the stage of the season (e.g. buy it for half-price when there’s half of the season left to go) but last year in particular seemed to offer up some extra deals around holidays such as Mother’s Day.  If signing up at the full price is a bit of a stretch on your budget right now, relying on the free games and highlights for a couple of months and then keeping an eye on the deals might be a great way to go.

The TV option

If a dedicated baseball streaming service isn’t for you right now, the TV option for MLB in the UK remains the BT Sport channels.

You get a good number of games every week (8-10 most weeks) alongside other shows such as the MLB Network’s Intentional Talk.  The only breaks are a few weeks where College/Little League World Series games take up the baseball quota (to some MLB fans’ annoyance, but I quite like the variety) and when X Games coverage cuts into things a bit.

You just can’t go wrong

Every year I write this column and I try to think of a different way to sum up my views, but there are only so many ways you can say the same thing.

Quite simply, MLB.TV is an absolute dream for baseball fans. It’s an outstanding streaming service, hence why Disney have paid a fortune to buy the technical company, MLBAM, behind it that, other than the very occasional temporary glitch, consistently works extremely well.

As for the content, well it can be summed up as ‘all the baseball’.  There’s no compromise needed here, no paying for other channels or box sets that you don’t really want, you are simply paying for all the MLB games.  If that sounds like a great thing to you then £100 is likely to seem a fair sum to pay for it compared to the cost of other streaming services you may buy.

If you want to watch occasionally then the annual subscription probably isn’t quite for you; watch some free games and highlights to start the season off and then take advantage of a reduced-price deal in the second half of the season.

However, if you really love baseball then you don’t need telling.  MLB.TV is amazing and you will more than get your money’s worth through following your chosen team and dipping in and out of games on an almost daily basis.

Any questions?

If you’ve got any questions, or want to share your experiences of using MLB.TV in the UK, please leave a note in the comments section below.  If I don’t know the answer, chances are another baseball fan here will be able to do so.

EDIT 10 Feb: I’ve also added the main Twitter post about this article below, which includes various questions and replies that may be of use.

Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Unhappy Pirates fans, Unhappy players, Happy MLBTV fans

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We’re another week closer to pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training camp and, other than a few minor deals, we still haven’t seen much movement on the free agent market.

The continued deadlock is prompting plenty of discussion.  One comment included in a recent Jon Heyman article (attributed to a “player-linked person”, a phrase that tickles me more than it should) made me think more than most:

“MLB has done a good job convincing fan bases not to demand winning … Fans used to only care about winning. Now they say, “Is (the player/deal) worth it?”.

The juxtaposition of that sentiment with the fevered nature of the football January transfer window is striking.  Football fans always want their club to spend money (“if we could just sign one more striker …”) and normally only object to a rumoured deal if they think they should be buying someone better instead (i.e. someone costing more money).

We have to set that in the context of a pyramid league structure in which the threat of relegation means every team has a reason to spend – stoking the market as a result – but the potential for relegation also creates a risk of financial devastation (Portsmouth FC would be a good example for any Americans not familiar with such tales).

Such a risk doesn’t exist in MLB.

Every team has a budget and a bad decision or two on a free agent contract can hamper efforts to build and/or maintain a competitive roster for smaller market teams. No fan wants to see their team chucking money away on bad players. However, I’m beginning to wonder if some fans are increasingly more interested in how their team stacks up in the immediate analysis awards (praised for a good free agent deal, hammered for prospect package given up in a trade etc) than what the transaction will could their team regardless of the cost to the owners.

In 2018 the small market Tampa Bay Rays can afford to give San Francisco $14.5m to go towards Evan Longoria’s salary when they trade him away. Every MLB team is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and every MLB owner or ownership group has huge financial resources, more than enough to cover a bad free agent contract for a few years whilst still maintaining a competitive payroll.

This is no criticism of the data-led, evidence-based conversations on transactions, but maybe there is an argument that rather than creating greater scrutiny on team spending, it’s actually giving front offices and owners an excuse not to take chances and keeping money out of the pockets of players (who ultimately are the ones generating the record levels of revenue) and keeping it in the pockets of the owners.

Pirates fans want owner to walk the plank

You can pour over advanced statistical metrics, consider future payroll commitments and analyse potential success cycles in your division all you want; whatever the facts are, for fans none of them ease the feeling in their stomach – and their heart – when they see one of their heroes sat in a press conference wearing another team’s cap for the first time.

Pittsburgh Pirates fans knew that the day was going to come when Andrew McCutchen would be suiting up for another team, yet that hasn’t made it any easier. Coming hot on the heels of Gerrit Cole being traded to the Houston Astros, McCutchen’s departure to the San Francisco Giants has landed Pittsburgh in a depression broken only by anger.

Fans can accept players leaving, but what has come out this week is the bottled-up frustration of those that feel the club’s owner Bob Nutting refused to open the purse strings between 2013 and 2015 when the team made three consecutive play-off appearances.

The team had been in the bottom four of MLB payroll for all of the nine years prior to 2013 when they rocketed up to 25th of 30, followed by 27th in 2014 (no better way to celebrate your first play-off appearance in 21 years than by reducing your competitiveness) and then the heady heights of 24th in 2015 (where they’ve stayed in the two years since).

ESPN’s Buster Olney among others has made the fair point that just a few results could have changed everything: the NLDS Game 5 decider in 2013 and then the two Wild Card game defeats that followed.  Spending money to add another player or two would have not guaranteed anything either; however nothing’s worse than feeling that your team got close and then didn’t really try to give itself the best chance of going all the way.

A petition has been started that calls for MLB to force Nutting to sell the team, but sadly that request exposes the reality of the situation.  MLB ultimately is the 30 ownership groups and unless you’re really bringing embarrassment on the game – such as ex-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt – such local angst is of no concern to them.

So long as most owners don’t do anything so rash as spend their own money to try to win – the late Mike Ilitch let that cat out of the bag more than once – they can all sit back as their assets grow in value year on year and then laugh their way to the bank when they cash in.

Pace of play

It was inevitable that further pace-of-play changes would be implemented in MLB for the 2018 season, yet it’s increasingly looking likely that they will be imposed on the players rather than as part of an agreed approach.

The most important point with it all is that those of us that regular watch baseball are not the issue here. The reason Rob Manfred wants to force these changes through is his oft-touted research that pace of play puts off casual sports fans (in the US).  In that context it seems as much about being seen to do something (‘we’ve done x,y,z to speed up the games, come and watch …’) than lopping significant time off the average game length.

I can’t say I’m greatly convinced these changes will make millions more tune into a ballgame, nor do I really see pace of play as a huge problem, but I don’t see any harm in cutting down some of the wasted time where possible.  My main issue is the hitters and pitchers that blatantly take the proverbial when it comes to getting on with their job. Effectively penalising the worst offenders, rather than implementing a blanket pitch clock, would be a better approach in my book.

I thought I’d have a look at that by doing a quick bit of rough research to look at the state of play in 2017. I used FanGraphs’ Pace statistic which is a measure of the seconds between pitches for both hitters and pitchers based on PITCHf/x timestamps, so the numbers come with the caveat that they aren’t recorded in exactly the way the proposed 20-second pitch clock would start from.

For hitters, using 100 plate appearances as the minimum criteria produced a list of 435 hitters.  The Phillies’ Cesar Hernandez and the Mets’ Amed Rosario were quickest at 20.7/20.8 seconds, with the Astros’ Marwin Gonzalez the slowest at 29.3 (not that you needed the stats to suspect he was slowest if you’ve ever watched any of his plate appearances). The median average pace number for the 435 batters was 23.6 seconds. As that’s 3 seconds above the quickest pace number, I’ve used 23.6 + 3 as a cut-off point to see how many (and who) were beyond that, what we might call an acceptable level.

26.6 seconds and above produces a list of 26 hitters (6% of the total hitters in the sample).

Player Team Pace
Marwin Gonzalez Astros 29.3
Daniel Nava Phillies 29
Odubel Herrera Phillies 28.8
Logan Morrison Rays 28.3
Jorge Alfaro Phillies 28.2
Robinson Cano Mariners 28.2
Victor Martinez Tigers 28.1
Mark Canha Athletics 28
Hanley Ramirez Red Sox 27.9
Danny Espinosa (Multiple) 27.9
Kole Calhoun Angels 27.6
Nick Castellanos Tigers 27.5
Mitch Moreland Red Sox 27.5
Alex Avila (Multiple) 27.4
Gerardo Parra Rockies 27.3
Kurt Suzuki Braves 27.2
Corey Dickerson Rays 27.1
Bryce Harper Nationals 27
Avisail Garcia White Sox 27
A.J. Pollock Diamondbacks 26.9
Jett Bandy Brewers 26.9
Ryan Braun Brewers 26.7
Christian Vazquez Red Sox 26.7
Gary Sanchez Yankees 26.6
Evan Gattis Astros 26.6
Martin Maldonado Angels 26.6

Unsurprisingly there are quite a few catchers on this list.

For pitchers I used 30 innings pitched as the minimum criteria, which produced a list of 462 pitchers. The quickest from that group was Milwaukee’s Brent Suter (17.4 seconds) and the slowest was the LA Dodgers’ Pedro Baez (30.7).  So, there’s a bigger difference in pace among pitchers than among hitters, with the pitcher median average being 23.9 (those at the figure included Jake Arrieta and Clayton Kershaw).

When you look at the slowest pitchers one finding sticks out like a sore thumb (Rob Manfred would tell you a sore thumb caused by changing channel on the TV remote control).  Among the top 76 slowest pitchers, going down to an average of 26.3 seconds, only 7 were either predominantly starting pitchers or, in the case of Joe Biagini, made a decent number of starts.

Name Team Pace G GS
Matt Garza Brewers 27.9 24 22
Matt Andriese Rays 27.8 18 17
Sonny Gray (Multiple) 27.6 27 27
David Price Red Sox 27.1 16 11
Matt Shoemaker Angels 26.7 14 14
Vince Velasquez Phillies 26.3 15 15
Joe Biagini Blue Jays 26.3 44 18

And, yes, just as there were no surprises that Marwin Gonzalez was on the hitters’ list, David Price was a shoo-in to be on the pitchers’ one.

What you see though is that a lot of slower pitchers are relievers.  That’s no great revelation as relievers, due to the way they are used, are more likely to be deliberate with every pitch they throw; however it shows how pace of play can be affected by lots of things.  The increasing use of relievers for strategic purposes is likely but one part of that, due not only to the time taken for pitching changes and mound visits but also the more deliberate style of pitching.

Looking ahead to 2018 MLB.TV

Pace of play isn’t going to influence whether any of us are signing up for MLB.TV this year.

One of the landmark ‘baseball is coming’ moments for many of us every year is the day on which the MLB.TV subscription details are released.  MLB.com announced the packages and prices on 7 February last year, so we should expect to see the details in the next two to three weeks.

The 2017 main MLB.TV annual subscription cost $113.  We have to pay 20% VAT on top (which made it $135.59) and then factor in the dollar/pound exchange rate, so last February/March that worked out at approximately £108.  Things have turned in our favour over the past year on the dollar/pound front (as opposed to previous years of it going against us) and that same $135.59 would work out at at approximately £100, so a bit of a saving.

As part of settling a US lawsuit about TV subscriptions and blackouts in 2015/16, MLB had to agree to only increase their online subscription packages by 3% or the rate of inflation (whichever is higher, currently would be the 3%) year-on-year until 2020.

If we add 3% to the 2017 price ($113 plus $3.39, so let’s call it a US price of $116), include the VAT and take the current dollar/pound exchange rate into account then that would make for a UK cost of £102.  The team-specific subscription would be approximately £79.

We’ll have to wait for the official announcement to see quite what packages they will be selling and the price, so treat those as an educated guess for now; however, in theory the US prices should only go up a small amount and – due to the dollar/pound exchange rate – should actually work out a bit cheaper for us than a year ago.

MLB 2017 Early Game Review

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We’re a month on from the climax of the World Series, making it a month since we got to enjoy watching some live MLB games.

That makes it a good time to look back at the 2017 regular season from a British perspective and to review how we were able to follow games live at a convenient time.

My Monday previews every week during the regular season highlight all of the games that are scheduled to begin before midnight UK time during the working week (Monday to Friday).  I class these as ‘early games’ and have made a point to write about them for many years as they offer the perfect opportunity to catch some games during the working week without having to sacrifice too much sleep.

Mid-week is best

The main thing to note is that the 2017 experience was very similar to what we’ve come to expect in recent years.

Wednesday and Thursday are usually our best bet to catch some early games.  This is due to them being the days when working-week series come to a close (Game Three of a three-game series etc) and teams will schedule those at around 1pm local time so that one or both teams can make an earlier start on travelling to their next series.

Tuesday always comes up with the lowest total and this year’s was even slightly inflated courtesy of the 4th of July holiday falling on that day.   Similarly, Monday always gets a boost from a couple of holidays.

Months peaking early

Whilst there’s a hump in the middle when it comes to the days of the week, the month-by-month picture starts off with a peak in April and then tails off.

June is always a bit of a let-down after the first two months and looks even smaller in comparison to July when you consider that the best part of one week during that month is taken up by the All-Star Break.

However, even in June and September the total still averages out at 10 early games per working week. When you add on the early weekend games – and the fact that MLB.TV subscribers can watch back games ‘as live’ whenever they like to catch any night games – that still makes for plenty to watch.

The Top Teams

The top team for working-week early games in 2017 was the team that always comes out on top.

1st. Chicago Cubs (33 gms)
2nd. Cleveland Indians (31)
=3rd. Cincinnati Reds (26)
=3rd. Colorado Rockies (26)
=3rd. Detroit Tigers (26)
=3rd. Milwaukee Brewers (26)
=3rd. Oakland Athletics (26)

The Cubs play more home games in the afternoon than any other team due to restrictions on floodlit night-games at Wrigley Field.  However, they normally lead this list by a good margin, yet this time Cleveland ran them close (and worth taking a second to appreciate that we got watch the 2016 World Series participants so much this season).

Whether this was just one-off (perhaps linked to them being reigning World Series champs) or the new normal following renovations at Wrigley Field will be something to keep an eye on in 2018.

You’ll note that five of the seven teams listed all play in one of the two Central divisions, with the other two based in the West.  The first East division team were the rebuilding Philadelphia Phillies, who were involved in 24 working-week early games.

The Bottom Teams

At the other end of the scale we have a familiar bunch of teams.

30th. Texas Rangers (9 gms)
=29th. Baltimore Orioles (13)
=29th. Los Angeles Angels (13)
=29th. Los Angeles Dodgers (13)
=26th. Atlanta Braves (14)
=26th. Boston Red Sox (14)

The two teams based in LA, teams in the Eastern divisions and Texas usually can be found in the group that play the least amount of working-week early games.  There are established reasons for this, for example the oppressive mid-day heat in Arlington, Texas means that fewer home day-games tend to be played by the Rangers.

Their current ballpark does not have a retractable roof to moderate the temperature; however their new ballpark (provisionally scheduled to open in 2020) will do so this may see a slight increase in day-games in future.

The full list

Here’s the table of total number of working-week day-games for all 30 MLB teams in the 2017 regular season.

TeamGames
Chicago Cubs33
Cleveland Indians31
Cincinnati Reds26
Colorado Rockies26
Detroit Tigers26
Milwaukee Brewers26
Oakland Athletics26
Chicago White Sox24
Philadelphia Phillies24
Minnesota Twins23
St Louis Cardinals23
Pittsburgh Pirates21
San Francisco Giants21
Washington Nationals21
Arizona Diamondbacks19
Kansas City Royals18
Miami Marlins18
San Diego Padres18
Tampa Bay Rays18
Houston Astros17
New York Yankees17
Seattle Mariners17
Toronto Blue Jays17
New York Mets16
Atlanta Braves14
Boston Red Sox14
Baltimore Orioles13
Los Angeles Angels13
Los Angeles Dodgers13
Texas Rangers9

If you’re new to MLB and haven’t yet picked a team then looking at the number of day-games they tend to play in a season might well be something to factor in to your decision.

For example, UK-based fans of Texas this year got to watch their team at a convenient hour during the working-week less than a third of the occasions that fans of the Cubs and Indians did for their respective teams.  If you’re happy to catch up on games later on or watch them live in the early hours then no need to worry, but if you really want to watch as many games as possible live during the British evening then that’s a significant difference to take into account.

World Series 2017 Preview

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Every year we hope that the World Series will bring the baseball season to an exciting close.

After the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians served up a seven-game stunner one year ago, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers will look to follow suit this time around and produce a classic contest that will live long in the memory.

The omens are good as, alongside the vanquished Cleveland, the two teams involved were the best in the Majors this season. That may sound like an obvious thing to say, but the short-format post-season can – and often does – throw up a surprise or two.

This time around we have two teams that put together incredible regular season campaigns. Only one can claim the ultimate prize at the end of the post-season though.

Both are due

It’s the first time that the Los Angeles Dodgers have made the World Series since 1988, whilst the Houston Astros were last there in 2005 but lost 4-0 to the Chicago White Sox in their only previous appearance in the Fall Classic.

The Dodgers have made lighter work of their play-off run so far, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0 in the Division Series and taking down the reigning champs, the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 in the Championship Series.

That’s allowed them to have a few days off and to get ready for Game One whilst the Astros were fighting like mad to get past the New York Yankees. They saw a 2-0 series lead turn to a 3-2 deficit before winning the final two games at home to book their place in the Fall Classic. They did that after beating the Boston Red Sox 3-1 in the Division Series.

Position players

The Houston Astros went through a mini-crisis in their NLCS against the Yankees when their hitherto unstoppable batting lineup suddenly started to misfire. The Astros scored 9 runs combined during the first 5 games of the ALCS, but then came back to life with 13 in the final 2 games. Given the depth of talent they have, the Dodgers will know containing the Astros bats will be a huge task.

Whilst you can pick out most of the Astros’ regulars as deserving a mention, it’s hard to look past Jose Altuve. The MVP candidate is the heartbeat of the team. At just 5 feet 6 inches tall, Altuve demonstrates better than most that baseball is a game for everyone.

The Dodgers don’t lack for impact bats at the plate either. Whether it’s Justin Turner, the rookie Cody Bellinger or the ball of energy that is Yasiel Puig, they keep on coming at opposing pitchers and offer plenty of threats.

The big unknown is Corey Seager, arguably their best position player. He’s been declared fit to play after he was surprisingly omitted from the NLCS roster due to a back injury. Quite how close he is to 100% remains to be seen.

Pitchers

Whilst the Astro’s bats returned in Games 6 and 7 of their ALCS, they also limited the Yankees to a single run combined across the two games. Justin Verlander pitched seven score-less innings in the former and the duo of Charlie Morton (5 innings pitched) and Lance McCullers (4) shut out the Bronx Bombers in the decider.

They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the ALCS in large part due to Dallas Keuchel and Verlander’s starting pitching efforts. They’ll look to the same two pitchers to do the same in the World Series, although this time needing to do it on the road rather than the home comforts of Minute Maid Park.

That could be significant for Keuchel in particular, as he has a notable split between his career performances at home (2.94 ERA) and elsewhere (4.43). In 2017 he had a 2.26 ERA at home compared with 3.53 on the road, so he’s not exactly struggling when he leaves Houston, but considering how dominating he has been at Minute Maid Park the Dodgers will be keen to exploit any slight chink in his armour.

As for chinks in armour, the Dodgers’ Game One starter Clayton Kershaw doesn’t have many in his but there is one big one that some like to focus on.

The Kershaw play-off story truly began in 2013 (looking past his 5 appearances split across 2008 and 2009 early in his career) when he was lit-up for seven runs by the St Louis Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS, having also taken a hard-luck loss in Game 2.  The fact that he was outstanding in his first play-off start that year against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS (12K’s across 7 innings) was quickly forgotten. They say first impressions count, but in baseball it’s how things end that tend to define how the story is written.

The story got worse for Kershaw a year later when those same Cardinals torched him for 8 runs in Game 1 of the NLDS and then was handed another loss in Game 4 in a 3-2 defeat.  He had a mixed experience in 2015 and 2016 with ups and downs, yet once again it ended with a negative as the Cubs knocked him out after five innings in Game 6 of their NLCS.

In short, Kershaw has been handed a loss in the decisive NLCS Game 6 in 2013, the decisive NLDS Game 4 in 2014 and the decisive NLCS Game 6 in 2016.  The flip-side of this is that he was in the position to take those losses because he was the guy LA always wanted on the mound.  Regardless of the past, that’s no different this time around.

Pick a team

There are so many good things to find with these two teams, perhaps one way to make your choice as a neutral is trying to find a reason to hope one of them doesn’t win.

For the Dodgers, that argument comes from their sky-high payroll ($241m on Opening Day). For the fourth year in a row they have led the Majors in spending and, much like Manchester City in football, whilst you can appreciate the team they have put together, you can equally look at them and shrug your shoulders. Given how much money they spend, they should be winning a World Series or two.

It gives them a significant advantage over many other teams, from being able to re-sign their experienced players when they hit free agency rather than losing them to rivals (as they did with Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen and Rich Hill over the 2016/17 off-season), to being able to absorb deals that don’t work out. They’ve spent just over $47m this year on payroll commitments to players not on their roster (highlighted by the $22m owed to Carl Crawford) and the fact that three of their top four earners (Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir and Andre Ethier – combined pay of $55.5m) have missed significant playing time has barely troubled them.

They’ve got a smart Front Office and do lots of things right, but being able to shrug off a good $100m of dead money makes life much easier (the Oakland A’s, for example, had an Opening Day 25-man payroll of $82m).

As for the Astros, their rise came about through a ruthless, calculated plan that stripped the team (and payroll) of virtually all assets so that they could save money and gobble up high amateur draft picks that have enriched their team with the likes of Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and Lance McCullers.  With no relegation threat to worry about, the rules make deliberately fielding a terrible team an eminently attractive approach to take. You might not blame the Astros for exploiting that as a result, but you equally might not like to see it rewarded so handsomely, especially after the Chicago Cubs won it all last year after taking a similar approach.

Series Schedule

Every year a few baseball romantics throw out the idea of a World Series game being played during the day-time, harking back to years ago when the ‘Boys of Summer’ would play the Fall Classic under sunny skies.  That would be great for us as it would mean a game or two taking place at a more convenient hour.

However TV rights deals and primetime viewing figures dictate that all of the games start at just gone 8.09 pm Eastern Time, making for early-hours starts for us in the UK. The first four games will begin at 1.09 am BST.  We move out of Summer Time this coming Sunday, one week before they do in the States, so Games 5 to 7 (if needed) will start an hour earlier for us, at nine minutes past midnight.

The schedule for the best-of-seven series is as follows, with each game actually starting on the following day (Game One is the early hours of Wednesday etc).

Tuesday 24th – Game One at Dodger Stadium

Wednesday 25th – Game Two at Dodger Stadium

Friday 27th – Game Three at Minute Maid Park (Houston)

Saturday 28th – Game Four at Minute Maid Park (Houston)

Sunday 29th – Game Five at Minute Maid Park (Houston)*

Tuesday 31st – Game Six at Dodger Stadium*

Wednesday 1st – Game Seven at Dodger Stadium*

* If necessary.

The games are being shown live on BT Sport1, with late-afternoon re-runs the following day on BT Sport/ESPN. Alternatively MLB.TV subscribers can watch the games live or on-demand online.

MLB This Week: Lots to watch

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It’s always with a bit of sadness that we approach the final week of the MLB regular season. The play-offs should make for an entertaining October, yet it’s still not quite the same as the daily routine of 14 or 15 games to devour.

We should make the most of this week and, thankfully, there are quite a few opportunities to catch some live baseball at a convenient time in the UK.

The Yankees are in early action on Monday and Friday, looking to have a big final week to try to overhaul their gap to the Red Sox in the AL East.

The Rockies are desperately trying to hold onto their NL Wild Card and they have an early game on Wednesday in the finale of their series against the Marlins. Meanwhile the Minnesota Twins are also looking for a few more wins to make sure of their play-off place and they finish their series against Cleveland in Thursday with an early start.

Add on a game from Wrigley Field on Friday for the Cubs against the Reds and it should be a great week. It’s worth noting that all of the games from Friday through Sunday are available to watch free online via MLB.com.

All times are in BST.

Monday 25 September

18:05 Royals at Yankees (Junis, Sabathia (12-5)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:10 Braves at Mets (Sims (2-5), Lugo (6-5))

Tuesday 26 September

No early games

Wednesday 27 September

19:05 Astros at Rangers (Verlander (14-8), Martinez (3-7))
20:10 Marlins at Rockies (Conley (7-7), Gray)
20:35 Mariners at Athletics (Ramirez (5-6), Graveman (6-4)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:40 Giants at D-backs (Samardzija (9-15), Greinke (17-6))

Thursday 28 September

17:10 Twins at Indians (Gibson, Bauer)
21:10 Reds at Brewers (Romano, Suter (3-2))

Friday 29 September

18:05 Blue Jays at Yankees (Biagini, Garcia) *BT Sport/ESPN, MLB.com Free Game
19:20 Reds at Cubs (Stephenson, Quintana) *MLB.com Free Game

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.

MLB This Week: Two weeks to go

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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.

MLB This Week: History beckons (maybe)

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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.

MLB This Week: Early games on Monday and Wednesday

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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.

MLB This Week: September approaching

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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.

MLB This Week: Monday to Thursday

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There are chances to catch some live baseball at a convenient time from Monday to Thursday this working week.

The two early games across Monday and Tuesday are part of double-headers from Chicago and Philadelphia.

Wednesday’s games include Wild Card hopefuls the Baltimore Orioles hosting the Oakland A’s, and the NL Central-chasing Milwaukee Brewers facing the Giants at AT&T Park.

There are six early games scheduled for Thursday and some good ones in prospect among them, not least an inter-league match-up between the Rockies and Royals and a chance to catch the white-hot Dodgers as they take on the Pirates at PNC Park.

BT Sport are showing a couple of the games live whilst also dedicating time to the Little League World Series and three of the games are also available to watch for free on MLB.com.

All times are in BST.

Monday 21 August

22:10 Twins at White Sox (TBD, Fulmer (0-0)) *BT Sport3

Tuesday 22 August

21:05 Marlins at Phillies (Straily (7-8), Pivetta) *MLB.com Free Game

Wednesday 23 August

20:05 Athletics at Orioles (Manaea (8-8), Hellickson) *MLB.com Free Game
20:45 Brewers at Giants (Garza (6-7), Moore)

Thursday 24 August

17:10 D-backs at Mets (Ray (9-5), Montero (2-8)) *MLB.com Free Game, *BT Sport/ESPN
18:05 Marlins at Phillies (Worley (2-3), Eickhoff)
18:10 Yankees at Tigers (Garcia (5-8), Zimmermann)
18:10 Blue Jays at Rays (Happ, Cobb)
19:15 Rockies at Royals (Marquez (10-5), Junis (5-2))
21:05 Dodgers at Pirates (Ryu (4-6), Kuhl)

Friday 25 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.