When Joe Maddon came to Milton Keynes

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The enthusiasm and attention created by MLB Battlegrounds last Tuesday has been wonderful to witness.

We’ll have to wait and see what else MLB UK has planned to build on the momentum created by that event, but in any case it was great that there was a direct immediate benefit of the event in GB youngsters getting the chance to pick the brains of Cliff Floyd and Carlos Pena.

This is far from the first time that MLB – and those based this end – has played a part in bringing players and coaches across the pond to share their wisdom.

When Joe Maddon runs out of the dug-out at the All-Star Game in Miami on Tuesday night, many Brits watching might not realise that 22 years ago he was in Milton Keynes helping British baseball coaches.

The MLB International Coaching Clinic

There were a range of initiatives run by MLB International in the 1990s, but one of the most important was the Coaching Clinic series. These ran from 1993 to 1997 (as far as I can tell) and offered a weekend indoor course in January with a panel of MLB organisation coaches (and some umpires).

There were some good names among them, including:

  • Jim Lefebvre in 1997, who had managed the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs before then and went on to manage the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999
  • Buck Rodgers in 1994, who was the California Angels’ manager at the time
  • Bert Blyleven, also in 1994, who was part of the Angels’ coaching staff and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.
  • Terry Collins in 1996, who was managing the Houston Astros at that point and is currently the New York Mets’ manager.

The 1995 edition

The 1995 three-day MLB International Coaching Clinic was held at Cranfield University, Milton Keynes, from Friday 20th January to Sunday 22nd.

It was led by then Oakland A’s pitching Coach Dave Duncan, the long-term right-hand man of Tony La Russa, and the group included the California Angels’ Minor League Director of Player Development.

That was Joe Maddon.

The November 1994 edition of the Brit-Ball publication proclaimed that “the 1995 clinic crew are probably the most experienced baseball people to come to Britain”. It further explained what would be in store for attendees:

“The clinic will cover all aspects of the game, catering for all coaches from beginner to advanced. This year’s clinic will be practical in nature. Based in a sports hall setting the emphasis will be on drills and practices, providing opportunities for our coaches to see the big leaguers at work, and learn through direct experience of their sessions.

Running alongside the main sessions will be a junior clinic aimed directly at junior players and coaches. This will provide first class coaching for the junior players, and the opportunity for junior coaches to observe other coaches in action”.

The February 1995 edition of Brit-Ball included a review of the event and interviews with the coaches. Understandably, the hot topic of conversation at the event was the ongoing MLB player strike, but plenty of other matters were discussed too.

When asked what the best advice he could give to managers and players starting out, Maddon replied: “If you could develop the ability to scout players then you can break players down to their grass roots, in terms of all their physical talents, and be able to correct any fundamentals”.

That sounds just as relevant to coaches today – if not even more so – than it was at the time.

Prescient British baseball minds

Joe Maddon has earned a reputation as a bright, innovative coach and someone who connects with his players. He clearly made a strong impression with the attendees in 1995 too.

The same Brit-Ball edition included a couple of letters from attendees of the event, including one from Dean Davidson of Leeds City Royals. Davidson described the event as “the best yet”, stating that all the speakers “were able to break the game down to a level where a complete novice could understand but there was enough information so that an experienced player/coach could go away knowing he had learnt something”.

But then went on to add:

“I would like to end by thanking all the clinicians involved, especially Joe Maddon, who I feel was the most comprehensive clinician we have had to date”.

Few could have guessed at the time that Maddon would go on to become the man to lead the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series in over 100 years, but I like to think that Dean Davidson’s comments showed that – even back then – Maddon’s exceptional qualities shone through.

Recent years

BaseballSoftballUK, British Baseball Federation and the Great Britain set-up have brought some Major Leaguers over during the off-season in more recent times.

Most notable was the 2012 European Big League Tour led by Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk, who was joined by fellow Netherlands player Roger Bernadina, Chris Dickerson and Jeremy Guthrie (who would go on to pitch in a World Series for the Kansas City Royals). GB players such as Michael Roth and Jake Esch have also spent time in the UK in recent off-seasons.

With MLB clearly keen to bring games across to London at some point, and the hope for more MLB UK events too, it would be great if these MLB promotion events (which are certainly beneficial to British baseball in themselves) are joined by more opportunities for British players and coaches to learn from MLB players and coaches.

Brit-Ball publications on Project COBB

Brit-Ball was a newsletter described as “The Official Voice of the British Baseball Federation” and was published between 1993 and 1998. All but one of the volumes of the newsletters have been scanned and are available to access on the Project COBB (Chronicling of British Baseball) website.

They are one of a range of brilliant materials and resources available. If browsing the materials inspires you to take an active interest in British baseball history and research, or if you have any materials you are willing to share, please get in touch by using the contact details on the Project COBB website.

British Baseball Beat: 2017 so far

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The British baseball season doesn’t stop for an All-Star break, but with the North American version rapidly approaching it’s a good time to take a step back and reflect on which teams are catching the eye in our domestic leagues.

Full standings, results, fixtures and reports can be found on the British Baseball Federation website.

All details included in this article are as they were recorded on the BBF website on the morning of Tuesday 4 July.

Birmingham and Norwich remain unbeaten

Team Div GP W L Pct
Birmingham Bandits AA-C 16 16 0 1.000
Norwich Iceni A-S 9 9 0 1.000
Richmond Knights AAA-S 17 15 2 0.882
Essex Archers A-S 8 7 1 0.875
East London Latin Boys AA-SA 14 12 2 0.857

There are two teams that remain unbeaten in the BBF leagues.

Birmingham Bandits won both games of a double-header against Leicester Blue Sox on 25 June to improve their Double-A Central win-loss record to 16-0 before going into two free weekends. They’ll resume their league campaign on 16 July with a home double-header against Stourbridge Titans, who they have deafeated four times so far at a combined score of 46-6. If they come through that unscathed they will have two away double-headers against Long Eaton Storm and Milton Keynes Bucks respectively before a final home twin-set against the Blue Sox.

Norwich Iceni, newcomers to the BBF leagues this year, won 15-3 on Sunday at Finsbury Park against London Musketeers to make it nine in a row. They will be favourites to make it a perfect 10 this Sunday in a home game against the 1-7 Tonbridge Bobcats, with four league games to follow in an attempt to go 14-0 in their debut season.

Elsewhere, Richmond Knights started the Triple-A season 12-0 before losing their unbeaten record on 11 June in a narrow 10-9 loss to Taunton Tigers. They avenged that straight away by winning the second game of the double-header 21-11 and whilst London Mammoths also got the better of them this past Sunday, the Knights are clearly a force to be reckoned with this season.

The most dominant teams

So far this season Single-A games have averaged approximately 32 combined runs, Double-A South 24 runs, Double-A Central and NBL 18 runs and Triple-A South 16 runs.

If we want to compare teams across the leagues one of the best simple measures is run differential, that is the team stat that looks at offence and defence by subtracting the total runs allowed from the total runs scored.

Team Div Run diff. RS/G RA/G
Birmingham Bandits AA-C 156 12.81 3.06
Norwich Iceni A-S 112 16.78 4.33
London Mets NBL 108 11.88 5.13
Richmond Knights AAA-S 102 11.06 5.06
Tonbridge Wildcats AA-SB 96 14.31 6.92
East London Latin Boys AA-SA 93 14.64 8.00

It’s quite possible, and not uncommon, for a team to be ahead of another in the standings despite having a worse run differential (take a look at the Minnesota Twins in MLB who, prior to Wednesday’s games, were posting a winning record of 43-40 despite having a minus 54 run differential). That generally means they are not blowing the opposition away, and often winning an unusually high number of close games.

Teams with the highest positive run differentials are generally those that are consistently winning well and so the fact that the top six teams are the current six BBF division leaders suggests all are worthy of their lofty positions (accepting, as always with British baseball stats, that we’re only dealing with a small number of games).

You can see that Birmingham’s pitching is being incredibly stingy in allowing just a touch above 3 runs per game, whilst Norwich’s batting lineup is dishing out plenty of punishment on Single-A hurlers.

Honourable mentions should go to Double-A Herts Hawks who have scored the most runs so far of any team (206) and Single-A London Musketeers who have the highest runs scored per game mark at 22 (note that the top 9 teams, and 11 of the top 13, in this category are in Single-A, reflecting the free-scoring nature of games at that level).

Teams looking to improve

Much as we should avoid being negative, it’s only fair to look at the bottom end of the run differential chart too.

Team Div Run diff. RS/G RA/G
Brentwood Stags AA-SA -144 6.69 17.77
Guildford Mavericks AA-SB -117 8.83 18.58
Herts Falcons NBL -110 5.22 11.33
Bracknell Inferno A-S -91 8.67 18.78
Tonbridge Bobcats A-S -84 15.00 25.50

There are a few unsightly runs allowed per game figures among this group and it likely will contain some newcomer pitchers and more than a few liberties being taken on the bases.

The line that stands out for me is the NBL’s Herts Falcons. Clearly they are up against the toughest competition and the NBL can be a harsh environment when things aren’t going your way. The Falcons are 5-13 and whilst they are certainly conceding more runs than they’d like, what’s really hurting them so far is the relatively low number of runs they are scoring.

Close competition

Another thing that we can look at when comparing the leagues is how competitive each division is based on the gap between the best run differential and the worst.  The idea being, the smaller the difference, the closer the competition is.

Div Best run diff Worst run diff Difference
AAA-S 102 -77 179
A-S 112 -91 203
AA-SB 96 -117 213
NBL 108 -110 228
AA-SA 93 -144 237
AA-C 156 -83 239
AA Combined 156 -144 300

This is only a quick guide and far from the full story, but nonetheless it’s interesting to see Triple-A coming out as the closest using this measure. I’ve added Double-A combined (as the other divisions all represent a single level of play) and they produce the widest difference, suggesting there’s a broader range of ability in this level of play, which would make sense with it being the level up from the lowest rank.

The NBL

Finally, let’s take a closer look at the top-tier of British baseball.

Team W L Pct GB GP RF RA Run Diff RS/g RA/g
London Mets 13 3 0.81 – 16 190 82 108 11.875 5.125
London Capitals 10 7 0.59 4 17 160 127 33 9.412 7.471
Southampton Mustangs 7 6 0.54 5 13 116 79 37 8.923 6.077
Essex Arrows 8 7 0.53 5 15 144 164 -20 9.600 10.933
Brighton Jets 3 10 0.23 9 13 112 160 -48 8.615 12.308
Herts Falcons 5 13 0.28 9 18 94 204 -110 5.222 11.333

The Mets are once again proving to be a formidable side and they are doing so by leading the way on both sides of the ball.

Reigning NBL champions the Mustangs have been close to them when it comes to keeping runs off the board though, with their 6.08 runs allowed per game being the fifth best mark in the BBF, one behind the Mets. Southampton have some games in hand on both the Mets and the Capitals so we’ll see if they can keep that up, whilst improving their run scoring, over the next few weeks.

BaseballGB Fantasy League 2017 Week 13

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With the first half of the season almost over, which teams are riding high in the BaseballGB Fantasy League – and who would come out on top in the battle of the top two?

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 38 10 45 9 .341 .992 7 5 79 0 2.04 0.91 10
Richie’s RBI’s 38 8 28 3 .270 .846 2 1 49 1 4.31 1.29 1

The Maltsters held onto top spot in some style, defeating the RBIs 10-1 in the battle of the top two. It was a team effort as Altuve stole four bases, McCutchen hit .533, Jose Ramirez hit three homers and Santana and Abreu each knocked in eight.

Sale, who struck out 20 and Pomeranz each won twice and helped take ERA and WHIP while Reed had three saves. Carpenter scored seven runs for the RBIS while Barnes had the lone hold.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 24 11 34 1 .249 .764 5 1 63 1 4.37 1.09 10
Newcastle Knights 17 6 19 0 .233 .715 4 2 34 1 6.04 1.68 1

The Slugs used an offensive sweep to defeat the Knights 10-1. Cano was the star hitter, launching four homers, driving in nine and batting .350 while Souza Jr scored five runs. Paxton and Nelson each had a win, double-digit strikeouts and helped take ERA and WHIP. Bush and Ramos salvaged saves for the Knights.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 27 11 29 1 .264 .860 6 6 63 1 2.39 1.01 8
The Bath Bombers 28 8 27 10 .243 .757 6 2 60 2 4.62 1.40 3

The A&E Dept closed the gap on the Bombers with this 8-3 win. Orlando Arcia hit three homers – as did Frazier – and hit .524 for the week while Pederson drove in six. Scherzer won twice, struck out 18 and helped take ERA and WHIP. Rodney and Greinke also won twice while Iglesias had three saves.

Trea Turner swiped seven bases for the Bombers before his injury while Justin Turner scored five runs. Rosenthal collected a pair of holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 34 17 33 5 .293 .963 2 1 61 3 2.44 0.86 8
The Cheddar Chasers 24 8 37 3 .245 .776 4 2 61 1 3.42 1.22 3

Another matchup, another 8-3 as Batteries Essential defeated the Chasers. In what I’m pretty sure must be a BaseballGB record, Maikel Franco was the only Batteries Essential hitter not to homer.

Andrus belted four homers, scored seven times, stole two bases and joined JD Martinez in hitting .400. Gonzalez, Gray, Bauer and Volquez each put up stingy ERA and WHIP numbers while Givens had two holds. Duvall drove in 10 for the Cahsers while Gyorko knocked in eight. Gausman won twice and Wilson had two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 32 11 26 4 .294 .911 5 1 46 1 3.64 1.31 4
Weston-Super-Sox 36 11 35 3 .300 .898 3 2 42 2 2.87 0.82 7

The Sox picked up a 7-4 win against the Isotopes thanks to Mookie’s monster Sunday. Betts scored 10 runs and knocked in 11 this week, batting .483. Hill helped take ERA and WHIP while Maurer had two saves. Khris Davis had a steal and helped the Isotopes take OPS while Samardzija won twice while striking out 10.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 31 6 25 4 .251 .733 2 4 36 2 4.33 1.48 4
Norwich No II 30 6 30 3 .244 .675 5 4 58 5 1.74 0.97 6

Norwich climb up to second with a 6-4 win against Iron Men. The pitchers did most of the heavy lifting, falling a save shy of a sweep. Nola led the staff with nine strikeouts and was one of six pitchers with a win. Two others, Stroman and Matz, did not allow earned runs and helped take WHIP.

Edwards Jr and Hand had two holds each. Gardner knocked in seven runs. Encarnacion scored six runs while Sano homered twice and knocked in six. Rendon also launched a pair of homers and hit .360. Johnson had two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 23 6 26 4 .286 .815 1 3 31 1 2.86 1.23 6
Durham Riverkings 26 7 25 4 .217 .668 2 2 32 1 4.58 1.66 4

Finally, Jesmond defeated the Riverkings 10-4. Correa knocked in 10 and hit .500 but was outdone by Votto, who hit .524 and helped take OPS. De Grom helped take ERA and WHIP and three relievers had a save as the staff just made it over the 20-inning minimum. Shaw scored five runs and homered twice for the Riverkings, while Murphy also touched home five times and Healy went deep twice. Arrieta picked up a win and struck out 10.

The week 14 matchups are as follows:

Maltsters (1st) v Bombers (4th)

Norwich (2nd) v Jesmond (12th)

RBIs (3rd) v Iron Men (1th)

Isotopes (5th) v Batteries Essential (8th)

A&E Dept (6th) v Chasers (7th)

Slugs (9th) v Riverkings (10th)

Sox (13th) v Knights (14th)

Thank You For The A’s: Looking forward to a Break

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Let’s be honest, it’s not been a good few weeks for Oakland.

If ever a run of four games should lead to better things, a four-game sweep over the New York Yankees should be it.

Not for these A’s, though.

We win four games, then get swept in four by the Houston Astros, then win four games in a row (sweeping the White Sox and then a rare win against the Astros) before losing six on the spin (and counting). Three of those losses being swept at home by the Atlanta Braves, during which we were very nearly on the wrong end of a no-hitter.

The best you can say is that we’re consistent with our inconsistency.

Vogt-ed out

In among it all was the somewhat surprising departure of team leader Stephen Vogt.

Whether those in the Coliseum bleachers still did believe in Stephen Vogt like they sang is up for debate. Bruce Maxwell looked like he should be given a shot and carrying three catchers always seems a waste of a roster spot, so something had to give and that something was the 32-year-old struggling to hit above .200 whilst earning a shade under $3m, rather than the 29-year-old Josh Phegley struggling to hit .200 whilst earning the Major League minimum.

Leadership is an intangible that is easy to overstate, so whether Vogt would really have been a big help to the new wave of young talent is difficult to judge. All you can say is that if the A’s wanted to go with Phegley and Maxwell then it’s fair to conclude they need plate appearances to develop more than they need another good teammate taking playing time away from them.

Still, if Vogt was going to leave the Green and Gold, at least he’s landed with a team that’s difficult to dislike in the Milwaukee Brewers and it was hard not to enjoy watching him launch two homers in one game with his new team.

Three over the wall

Another good moment – clasping hold of anything that resembles such a thing – came on 24 June when Franklin Barreto made his Major League debut against the White Sox and hit a home run in the same game that fellow rookies Jaycob Brugman and Matt Olson went deep for the first time in the Big Leagues.

The Oakland Youth Movement is in full effect and that does make the losses a little easier to take. Even on Saturday, losing the second game against Atlanta, we could enjoy Paul Blackburn’s solid six innings on his Major League debut. Sean Manaea also pitched well in the series finale to add to what’s been a very encouraging season so far for the left-hander.

His name was met with modest enthusiasm from most prospect writers that I saw when he was acquired from the Royals a couple of years ago and he doesn’t look like someone who will develop into a true front-line starter, but if he can build on his first-half of the season then he has the makings of a dependable number three starter and those guys get plenty of money when they hit free agency.

Alonso to be A’s All-Star (if he’s not traded this week)

As for free agency, Yonder Alonso’s days with the A’s seem numbered as the days on his current contract tick down. Much as he has raised the possibility of signing an extension with the A’s, you can’t help but feel that’s unlikely given Oakland’s track record and the presence of prospective first basemen Ryon Healy and Matt Olson.

A potential scene for Moneyball Two is ready to be written with Alonso turning up to the All-Star Game as the A’s representative only to be told he’d been traded during the flight to Miami.

That’s unlikely to happen in real life – although we know better than to put anything past Billy Beane – and we should at least be able to enjoy seeing him in the Green and Gold at the event. It will feel a bit like watching a player from your football team at the World Cup knowing that they’re going to scarper before pre-season training begins, but I guess we have to take what we can get.

Truth be told, Alonso has come back down to earth after his power surge in May and if he wants to build on his first half ahead of a free agent contract then a change of scenery to a play-off contender would do him good. As someone who wouldn’t have been fussed if he had been cut over the winter, there will certainly be no hard feelings on my side when he departs.

Who else?

Who else will join Alonso in the ‘Roll Up, Roll Up, A’s for sale’ cattle market remains to be seen.

Oakland do have a player option for 2018 with Jed Lowrie so technically he’s not a pending free agent, yet that’s more likely to be used as another reason to trade him than to keep hold of him for the remainder of the season.

San Francisco Chronicle A’s beat writer Susan Slusser has relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle on the trade block as well as the annual rumours about Sonny Gray.

There is talk of Gray potentially heading to the AL West-leading Houston Astros. In the recent two series against them (A’s record 1-6) David Paulino faced the A’s and he was discussed as a potential part of a deal by the commentators. He didn’t pitch particularly well against the A’s in either game and the announcement a few days ago that he’s been banned for 80 games for a drug suspension has nixed that one, although – as we know to our cost – the Astros have plenty more young talent available that could be packaged up.

It’s a tough one with Gray. I remember watching him pitch for Vanderbilt in the College World Series a short while after he was our first round pick in the 2011 draft and being excited at his potential. Last year’s injury and performance struggles were all the more frustrating because of how brilliantly he had pitched in 2015, when he took a step up from promising young starter to one of the best in the American League.

The harsh truth is that 2018 may well be another development year for Oakland and Gray will then only have one more year before he becomes a free agent. So if we can get a good haul for him now then it would be difficult to turn down, regardless if that means seeing him in a rival’s uniform.

Oakland A’s UK

Click for the full image

As I’ve reached the point where I’m not only writing off this season, but also next year as well (I’ll caveat that by saying that there’s potential for a few players to really jump forward and – with a bit of luck – an outside Wild Card run isn’t out of the question), the launch of the new UK Oakland A’s Twitter account deserves a mention.

Think of it as an online therapy group to support each other through the hard times.

A UK version of the July schedule of games can be found by clicking on the image above. You can then download and print it out.

Something tells me that All-Star break will feel particularly welcome once we get there this time next week.

MLB This week: Early games every day

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We have a bumper week of early-game action to go alongside the Tuesday night #MLBBattlegrounds event in Hyde Park.

There are MLB games to watch live during the British evening every day this working week.  BT Sport/ESPN is showing an early game every evening and from Monday to Thursday one of the early games is also the MLB.com Free Game to watch live online.

Note that MLB.com is currently doing a Fourth of July promotion so that if you sign up before the end of Tuesday night you can buy MLB.TV Premium for the rest of the season for only $20.17 (plus $4.03 to cover VAT for UK residents, so $24.20 or approximately £18.70).

Sixteen teams are playing at least two games that dip below the pre-midnight UK cut-off (accepting that four of the games are only just falling into that bracket).

Chicago Cubs fans, always likely to enjoy an early game or two most weeks, can see their team in action four times this working week (Monday being the only blank), with the Brewers, Phillies and Pirates all playing three early games each too.

All times are in BST.

Monday 3 July

19:10 Orioles at Brewers (Miley (3-6), Suter (0-1)) *MLB.com Free Game, BT Sport/ESPN
23:05 Mets at Nationals (Matz (2-1), Strasburg (9-2))

Tuesday 4 July

16:05 Mets at Nationals (Lugo (3-1), Ross (4-3)) *MLB.com Free Game, BT Sport/ESPN
18:05 Blue Jays at Yankees (Happ (2-5), Sabathia (7-2))
18:10 Giants at Tigers (Cain (3-7), Fulmer (7-6))
19:10 Angels at Twins (Ramirez (7-6), Gibson (4-6))
19:15 Marlins at Cardinals (Urena (6-3), Lynn (6-5))
19:20 Rays at Cubs (Archer (6-5), Lester (5-4))
21:05 White Sox at Athletics (Shields (2-1), Gossett (1-3))
21:05 Pirates at Phillies (Taillon (4-2), Leiter (1-0))
21:10 Orioles at Brewers (Jimenez (3-3), Nelson (6-4))
23:40 Royals at Mariners (Vargas (12-3), Hernandez (3-2))

Wednesday 5 July

18:05 Blue Jays at Yankees (Estrada (4-6), Pineda (8-4)) BT Sport/ESPN
19:20 Rays at Cubs (Snell (0-5), Lackey (5-9))
20:35 White Sox at Athletics (Pelfrey (3-6), Gray (3-4)) *MLB.com Free Game

Thursday 6 July

18:10 Giants at Tigers (TBD, Sanchez (0-0)) BT Sport/ESPN
18:45 Marlins at Cardinals (Koehler (1-3), Wacha (5-3)) *MLB.com Free Game
19:20 Brewers at Cubs (Davies (9-4), Montgomery (1-5))
20:10 Reds at Rockies (TBD, Chatwood (6-9))
23:05 Pirates at Phillies (Kuhl (2-6), Hellickson (5-5))

Friday 7 July

19:20 Pirates at Cubs (TBD, Butler (4-3)) BT Sport/ESPN
23:35 Padres at Phillies (Richard (5-8), Pivetta (2-4))

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 Early Games so far in 2017

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We’re three months into the 2017 MLB regular season, heading towards the All-Star Break next week and then the non-waiver trade deadline at the end of the month.

Much has happened over the past three months with the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals marching out in front, the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers and (surprisingly) Milwaukee Brewers building small leads at the top of their respective divisions, and the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays falling a fair way off their expectations heading into the season.

The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge has captured the imagination with the huge slugger launching towering home runs to lead the Majors with 27, whilst the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger has created plenty of headlines too with 24 long-balls.

Familiar names have dazzled on the mound with Chris Sale immedately taking to wearing his Red Sox uniform (and so far avoiding another Edward Scissorshands moment), Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg doing all they can ahead of yet another faltering Nationals’ bullpen, and Clayton Kershaw has carried on being Clayton Kershaw.

MLB Early games

Away from the performances of teams and players, one topic that matters more to British (and wider European) baseball fans than those in the States are the day-games played by different teams.

These early games are prime evening baseball viewing for us and allow many to watch more baseball than the usual night-games where other commitments and practicalities make games in the early hours less convenient to watch regularly.

My study of the MLB working-week early games from 2011 to 2013 was included in Volume 1 of Project COBB’s ‘This Diamond Isle’.

Here’s how things have looked over the first three months of the 2017 season.

Teams to watch

Over the first three months of the 2017 MLB regular season we’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to watch more games involving last year’s World Series teams than anyone else.

Cleveland Indians (20 games)
Chicago Cubs (16)
Colorado Rockies (15)
Detroit Tigers (15)
Milwaukee Brewers (14)
Minnesota Twins (14)
Oakland Athletics (14)
Washington Nationals (14)

The Chicago Cubs are always near or at the top of the early-game list due to restrictions on the number of night-time games that can be played at Wrigley Field. The Cleveland Indians are usually more of a mid-tier early-game team so we’ll see if their increased number of early games is a first-half phenomenon or a trend that will continue.

The Rockies, Brewers and Twins have all started the season well and we’ve had plenty of opportunities to watch them. The Oakland A’s are always one of the highest early-game teams; however unfortunately for A’s fans like myself neutrals would be drawn to the games more to watch their opponents this season.

Baltimore Orioles (5)
New York Yankees (5)
Los Angeles Angels (6)
New York Mets (6)
Atlanta Braves (7)
Texas Rangers (7)
Toronto Blue Jays (8)
Seattle Mariners (9)

At the other end of the scale you’ll find some of the more popular teams among British-based fans. The Orioles, Yankees, Angels, Braves and Rangers are teams that regularly reside in the lower-third of working week early-games. The surprise among them are the New York Mets who are usually one of the higher-placed teams.

April and May lead the way

April and May are usually the two months with the most early games, followed by a sizeable dip in June.

2017 looks to be no different. July normally stays around the same level as June, followed by an up-tick in August and September, albeit one that doesn’t quite get back to the April/May levels.

Wednesday and Thursday

As for the weekly distribution of early games, the 2017 experience so far also fits the usual trend with Wednesday and Thursday being the best evenings to watch MLB at a convenient hour, followed by Monday (helped by the occasional bounty of games on a Public Holiday).

Tuesday is the least likely day to catch an early game, whilst Friday’s are propped up by the Chicago Cubs often opening a home weekend series with an afternoon contest.

 

There have been a number of promotions recently on MLB.com offering the amazing MLB.TV subscription at discount prices. There are various guides online to games available, including ‘early-game’ round-ups on Monday’s here, Batflips and Nerds and other UK-fan sites.

As the above shows, there are plenty of opportunities to watch live MLB games without sacrificing sleep – as well as plenty of day-games on Saturday and Sunday to enjoy – so if you’re not already a subscriber why not sign up and follow what’s shaping up to be another memorable MLB season.

BaseballGB Fantasy League 2017 Week 12

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Week 12 of the BaseballGB fantasy league saw a heavyweight clash at the top of the standings.

Would Cheshunt hang on to top spot or would Norwich reclaim the place they have held for much of the season?

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 34 13 30 1 .285 .879 5 4 59 0 2.06 0.85 9
Norwich No II 31 10 28 6 .216 .694 3 2 63 5 3.20 1.11 3

In the battle at the top it was the Maltsters who came out ahead, winning 9-3. McCutchen hit two homers, scored six runs and knocked in seven, while Jose Ramirez and Bradley Jr joined him in helping to take average and OPS. Kluber picked up a win, did not allow an earned run and struck out 24 while Osuna had two saves.

Gardner stole two bases for Norwich, who saw Bellinger hit five homers and knock in 12 in vain. Six different pitchers struck out eight, including Devenski out of the pen. Hand and Edwards Jr had two holds each.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 33 10 39 3 .242 .762 4 1 59 2 5.62 1.33 9
Weston-Super-Sox 24 9 25 5 .240 .737 1 2 20 3 5.81 1.45 3

The Slugs defeated the Sox 9-3 in a matchup which was closer than the final score suggests. Dickerson scored seven runs while Zimmerman hit .368 for the Slugs, with Cano homering twice and driving in 11. Berrios had a win, eight strikeouts and helped take ERA and WHIP. Gordon stole four bases for the Sox while Maurer had two saves and Dayton collected a pair of holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 36 12 31 8 .256 .806 4 0 55 4 4.06 1.32 8
The Bath Bombers 31 10 27 6 .264 .809 4 1 43 1 4.46 1.36 3

Batteries Essential had reason to celebrate after defeating the Bombers 8-3. In a close matchup, Batteries Essential had the better of the offense as Grandal scored six runs and joined Kinsler, who stole three bases, in belting a trio of homers.

Morrison drove in seven. Gray struck out 12, Fiers helped take ERA and WHIP while Bedrosian and Neshek had a pair of holds each. Turner and Broxton each hit well over .400 and helped take OPS for the Bombers while Shaw had the lone save.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 28 7 27 0 .266 .792 2 3 23 4 4.13 1.09 3
Durham Riverkings 31 8 41 0 .293 .807 3 3 46 2 4.50 1.33 7

The Riverkings are getting closer to .500 after defeating Iron Men. Travis Shaw had a three-homer week while Murphy drove in eight and Inciarte hit .414. Santana led the staff with two wins and 13 strikeouts. Harris had four holds for Iron Men while Kershaw helped take ERA and WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 38 6 27 4 .270 .779 1 4 34 1 4.15 1.15 3
Newcastle Knights 32 9 28 3 .295 .861 4 4 54 1 2.79 1.16 7

The Knights picked up a 7-3 win against Jesmond as Corey Seager had a big week. He hit .538, hit three homers – as did Stanton – and knocked in seven. Montgomery had a win, struck out 10 and did not allow an earned run. Forsythe and Correa each scored seven runs for Jesmond while Bregman stole two bases. De Grom helped take WHIP by a hair.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 21 9 26 1 .273 .819 2 2 53 0 4.56 1.13 5
Richie’s RBI’s 30 15 35 5 .240 .812 3 0 48 2 3.38 1.29 7

The RBIs go second after edging past the A&E Dept 7-5. Judge led the team with six runs, three homers and six RBIs while Perez and Maybin swiped two bases each. Joe Ross had a win and helped take ERA while Barnes had two holds.

Schoop helped the A&E Dept take average and OPS while Davis had two saves and Scherzer and Lester each struck out 11 and helped take WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 21 4 27 3 .266 .721 3 4 60 1 3.80* 1.17 6
The Cheddar Chasers 32 7 27 1 .264 .820 4 1 44 0 3.80* 1.27 5

Finally, the Isotopes did just enough to get past the Chasers 6-5. Khris Davis hit .345 and stole a base while Estrada struck out 10. Herrera had three saves while Watson had the lone hold. Straily made the difference in WHIP.

Goldschmidt scored eight runs, homered twice and helped take OPS for the Chasers, while Cole won twice and Quintana helped take ERA on a tiebreak.

The week 13 matchups are as follows – and include another top-two battle:

Maltsters (1st) v RBIs (2nd)

Norwich (3rd) v Iron Men (9th)

Bombers (4th) v A&E Dept (8th)

Isotopes (5th) v Sox (14th)

Chasers (6th) v Batteries Essential (10th)

Riverkings (7th) v Jesmond (13th)

Knights (11th) v Slugs (12th)

Looking back at baseball at the Oval as MLB Battlegrounds approaches

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The MLB UK Battlegrounds event at Hyde Park is now one week away. All the details can be found on the MLB UK Twitter and Facebook accounts.

When this was announced at the start of June, I took a look at some of the other events MLB has played a part in staging on these shores in the past.

One of those was twenty-four years ago when the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets sent some minor leaguers across the pond to play an exhibition game at the Oval.

I’d never seen any photos from that game before MLB’s Murray Cook took to Twitter recently to share a wonderful photo of the event:

Building a temporary baseball field on a cricket or football/rugby site always brings challenges and some slightly unusual field dimensions, but it can be done.

Here’s hoping MLB will be furthering their attempts to put a diamond in the London Stadium in the next few years.

MLB This Week: Last week of June

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Incredible as it seems, we’re in the last week of June already.

There are nine early games for us to enjoy during the British evening this working week.

Monday provides a couple of games from the National League, including Zack Greinke taking the mound for Arizona against the Phillies.

The Phillies will be in early action again on Wednesday and they’ll have another tough starting pitcher assignment with Felix Hernandez currently slated to start at Safeco Field.

We then have five early games on Thursday including two games on BT Sport and the A’s-Astros a free live game on MLB.TV.

All times are in BST.

Monday 26 June

20:40 Phillies at D-backs (Pivetta (1-3), Greinke (8-4)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:15 Reds at Cardinals (Finnegan, Wacha (3-3)) *MLB.com Free Game

Tuesday 27 June

No early games

Wednesday 28 June

20:40 Phillies at Mariners (Leiter, Hernandez (3-2))
20:45 Rockies at Giants (Senzatela, Blach (4-5)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Thursday 29 June

17:10 Rangers at Indians (TBD, Kluber (6-2)) *BT Sport/ESPN
18:10 Royals at Tigers (Vargas (11-3), Fulmer (6-6))
19:10 Athletics at Astros (Cotton, Peacock) *MLB.com Free Game
20:40 Cardinals at D-backs (Lynn (5-5), Corbin (6-7))
21:05 Cubs at Nationals (Lester, Ross) *BT Sport1

Friday 30 June

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.

BaseballGB Fantasy League 2017 Week 11

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Week 11 of the BaseballGB fantasy league is complete – and we have a new leader. Read on to find out who has taken over at the top.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 45 15 42 2 .353 1.088 3 2 49 1 3.31 1.05 9
Durham Riverkings 32 12 37 2 .298 .866 2 5 42 1 4.97 1.50 1

We have a new leader as the Maltsters go top with a 9-1 win against the Riverkings. Cheshunt fell a steal shy of an offensive sweep as four players had three-homer weeks, including Jose Ramirez (nine runs, .516) while Abreu knocked in nine. Vargas won twice while Kluber and Sale struck out 10 each and helped take ERA and WHIP.

The Riverkings had a nice week offensively and would have won more categories in practically any other week, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles in H2H sometimes. They salvaged saves thanks to four from Jansen.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 28 4 17 2 .224 .697 6 0 54 1 3.54 1.33 3
Richie’s RBI’s 36 8 33 4 .303 .926 2 1 57 3 5.56 1.58 9

The RBIs used an offensive sweep to defeat Batteries Essential 9-3. Carpenter was the pick of the bunch, batting .455 with nine runs, two homers and six RBIs. Tanaka struck out 18, Rivero picked up the lone save and Barnes had two holds. Six Batteries Essential pitchers collected wins, with Gio Gonzalez the pick as he helped take ERA and WHIP too.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 29 12 23 3 .297 .885 0 4 21 0 5.57 1.71 4
Mighty Slugs 30 9 36 6 .284 .805 5 1 69 4 2.98 1.19 8

The Slugs picked up a much-needed win against Jesmond 8-4. Taylor was the offensive star, leading the team with five runs, seven RBIs and three steals. The addition of Faria really paid off, as he won twice, striking out 17 and helping take ERA and WHIP in the process. Ottavino had two holds.

Jesmond had multi-homer week from four players and took saves thanks to Knebel but came perilously close to forfeiting all the pitching categories after amassing just 21 innings during the week.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 26 5 29 3 .262 .717 4 3 34 0 4.91 1.44 4
The Bath Bombers 28 11 28 6 .313 .983 4 1 55 3 5.67 1.50 7

The Bombers slugged their way to a 7-4 win against the Isotopes. Thames belted four homers, Turner swiped four bases, Cabrera scored six runs, Perez hit .421 and Brantley .600 in a team effort. Strasburg struck out 15 and Baez had three holds. Arenado’s heroics on Sunday helped the Isotopes nick RBIs while Herrera had two saves. It was hardly a great week for WHIP and ERA but Straily and Alex Wood made the difference.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 33 11 32 3 .312 .929 3 4 48 2 5.23 1.28 7
Norwich No II 38 12 35 6 .297 .920 1 3 39 1 4.93 1.34 5

Beckenham knocked Norwich off the top with a 7-5 win. Rizzo made the difference in average and OPS while Lester and Scherzer helped take WHIP and had a win and 10 strikeouts. Allen had two holds and Rodney four saves. Walker helped Norwich win ERA and Belling led the team with seven runs, four homers and eight RBIs. Gardner stole two bases.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 33 15 38 2 .284 .931 2 1 22 0 3.12 1.04 5
Newcastle Knights 26 4 19 3 .249 .661 3 1 53 1 5.43 1.55 7

The Knights defeated Iron Men, who failed to met the 20-inning minimum innings limit, 7-5. Rupp, Le Mahieu and Conforto each swiped a base for Newcastle while Bradley had two wins and a hold without allowing an earned run. Peacock had 10 strikeouts and Bush collected a save. Iron Men had monster offensive weeks from Cain (four homers, .458) and Encarnacion (four homers, 10 runs, 10 RBIs).

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
The Cheddar Chasers 33 11 40 0 .305 .881 4 0 35 1 3.51 1.17 5
Weston-Super-Sox 37 11 31 9 .342 .962 1 2 31 3 5.67 1.41 6

Finally, the Sox squeezed past the Chasers 6-5 in a matchup packed with good offense for both teams. Betts scored eight runs and joined Puig in belting three homers while Gordon hit .435 and stole four bases. Maurer had two saves and Madson picked up a pair of holds. Fowler hit four homers and knocked in 11 for the Chasers, while Cole and Kennedy each picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP. Gausman and Ray struck out seven each.

Minimum innings reminder

Please make sure you set your teams up to meet the 20 inning minimum limit. It would be a shame to see teams lose categories by falling short. If you are suffering with injuries, make the most of your DL slots, scour the free agent or start trade talks with teams with a surplus.

Week 12 matchups

There’s a mouthwatering clash as the new leaders take on second-placed Norwich.

Maltsters (1st) v Norwich (2nd)

RBIs (3rd) v A&E Dept (7th)

Bombers (4th) v Batteries Essential (13th)

Isotopes (5th) v Chasers (6th)

Iron Men (8th) v Riverkings (9th)

Jesmond (10th) v Knights (12th)

Sox (11th) v Slugs (14th)