MLB This Week: Three days out of five

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There are MLB day-games to enjoy on three days out of five this working week.

The week starts with the traditional Patriots Day early game from Fenway Park. The Red Sox host the Rays in the final game of a four-game series (Boston lead 2-1) with coverage beginning on BT Sport/ESPN at 16.00.

Wednesday offers up three day-games total from the NL Central and the AL West, plus an interleague match between the Miami Marlins and the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners got off to a slow start but have picked up in recent days and the King’s Court section should be in full voice for this game with Felix Hernandez set to start for the home team.

There are four early games on Thursday, all from the American League and currently scheduled to include appearances from Chris Sale, Corey Kluber and Ervin Santana among others.

Santana has been outstanding in his first three starts for the Twins so his outing against Cleveland will be worth watching to see if he can keep that run going.

All times are listed in BST. Unfortunately, none of the day-games have been selected to be the MLB.com Free Game this week.

Monday 17 April

16:05    Rays at Red Sox (Snell (0-1), Wright (0-1)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Tuesday 18 April

No early games

Wednesday 19 April

18:45    Pirates at Cardinals (Cole (1-1), Wacha (1-1))
19:20    Brewers at Cubs (Milone (1-0), Hendricks (1-1))
20:35    Rangers at Athletics (Perez (1-1), Hahn (0-1))
20:40    Marlins at Mariners (Volquez (0-1), Hernandez (1-1)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Thursday 20 April

17:37    Red Sox at Blue Jays (Sale (1-1), TBD)
18:10    Indians at Twins (Kluber (1-1), Santana (3-0))
18:10    Tigers at Rays (Norris (1-0), TBD)
19:10    Angels at Astros (Shoemaker (0-0), Keuchel (2-0))

Friday 21 April

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

British Baseball Beat: Hawks, Robots, and Glasgow Galaxy

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The British Baseball season moved into its second week this past weekend and there was plenty of drama along the way.

We’ll be able to digest the news further over the coming Easter weekend, with no games being played. The following weekend will see Triple-A and Single-A getting their league campaigns underway, with the rest of the teams continuing where they left off.

National Baseball League: Results to be determined

Last Sunday saw the Southampton Mustangs playing their first home games as reigning NBL champions.

Both games of their double-header against the Herts Falcons ended early, but for very different reasons.

The Falcons travelled south with two opening day wins in their pockets and a chance to make a statement by getting the better of the champion Mustangs on their own patch.

It looked like they might do just that in the first game, but the victor is still to be decided at time of writing. Herts lodged a protest with the scores tied 7-7 in the sixth inning, reportedly due to believing that the Mustangs had fielded an ineligible player. The BBF are considering the case and will issue a ruling in due course.

There are no such doubts over the winner of the second game, though. The Mustangs took out their frustrations by launching a ball-hitting blitz on Herts. They jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first inning and continued to pile on the runs before the game was called on the mercy rule with Southampton winning 18-2 in five innings.

The other NBL action took place at Townmead Field where the London Capitals and Essex Arrows split a double-header with two lop-sided results. The Arrows fired against the Capitals in the first game to take a 20-3 victory, before the Caps shot back with a 16-5 win in the second-half of the double-header.

The games were most memorable for the Arrows’ Ollie Thompson launching a grand slam on his NBL debut to bring Game One to a Mercy rule conclusion.

Full details of last Sunday’s NBL games can be found in Carli Stehle’s BBF report.

The results currently leave the Falcons and Mustangs tied at the top of the standings on 2-1 records, with the BBF’s ruling on Game One set to determine which one stands alone at the summit, for the time being at least.

Double-A: Hawks Hit the Heights

In the Double-A league, the East London Latin Boys followed up their opening day win with a 15-12 victory over Southampton Mustangs II. The game was tied 10-10 after four innings and remained close throughout the rest of the contest, but the Latin Boys were able to edge it and to set the early pace in the South Pool-A.

At Farnham Park, the big match brought together the reigning Double-A and Single-A champions. Herts Hawks showed they are up for the challenge of moving up the leagues by beating the Daws Hill Spitfires 20-13.

The Hawks put up six runs in the second inning and, perhaps crucially, responded to the Spitfires cutting into that lead with two runs in the bottom of the third by hitting back with another five runs in the top of the fourth.

Daws Hill scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 15-9, but the Hawks ensured there would be no ninth-inning heroics by adding six more runs to their lead in the top of the ninth to seal an impressive win.

There were also victories for the Sidewinders, London Marauders, Brighton Redhawks and Tonbridge Wildcats.

North British Baseball League: Beware the Robots of Doom

The Robots of Doom exterminated Durham Spartans in a double-header, although the scores of 9-7 and 15-10 showed that the Spartans gave their tech-filled tormentors a tough fight.

Liverpool Trojans swept Halton in their first two games of the season, whilst the Twojans fell to 1-3 following two defeats at the hands of Harrogate Tigers.

As for the clash between Sheffield Bladerunners and Hull Scorpions, Sheffield made some noise in the early running of Game One but were unable to stamp on the Scorpions, who prevailed in both encounters by scores of 8-4 and 17-8.

Scottish League: Glasgow Galaxy lead the way

In the Scottish baseball league, Glasgow Galaxy were fresh off a one-run win against the Edinburgh Diamond Devils on Opening Day when they welcomed Edinburgh Giants to Tollcross Field on Sunday.

Glasgow’s pitcher Luke Powell brought the Giants down to size with 10 strike-outs as the Galaxy completed a seven-inning 10-0 win to give them an early lead in the league table.

In the other game played that day, Edinburgh Cannons beat the Granite City Oilers 13-2 at Bobby Thomson Field.

Young Mets on tour

And finally, good luck to the London Mets teams competing in Prague this weekend.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week One

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The fantasy baseball season is under way. Read on to see how the first week of the 2017 BaseballGB league shaped up.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 21 4 12 1 .210 .624 2 0 61 1 4.26 1.11 2
Norwich No II 28 8 25 7 .256 .727 4 3 51 3 3.70 1.36 10

Norwich are off to a flying start after a 10-2 win against Jesmond. Odor, Freeman, Tomas and Trumbo powered an offensive sweep while Duffy was the pick of the starters and Kimbrel and Neris took care of saves and holds. McCullers notched 17 strikeouts for Jesmond, teaming with deGrom to take WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 16 3 27 2 .236 .626 1 2 32 3 2.61 1.16 3
The Bath Bombers 31 9 26 7 .285 .861 4 4 61 2 2.95 1.11 9

Bath go second with a 9-3 win against the Maltsters. Mazara hit two homers and drove in nine while Perez hit four solo homers. Trea Turner stole three bases before going on the DL. Britton had three saves while Strasburg picked up a win and 11 strikeouts. Ozuna and Santana each knocked in six for the Maltsters while Brach had three holds and Sale helped take ERA.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 25 7 24 1 .227 .669 3 4 51 1 4.02 1.19 3
Weston-Super-Sox 31 14 35 3 .235 .800 2 1 27 2 1.47 0.77 9

The Sox started well with a 9-3 win against the Knights as Springer hit four homers and Puig, McCann, Myers and Braun all hit a pair in an offensive sweep while Gordon stole two bases. Madson had two holds while Harvey, Iwakuma, Sanchez and Keuchel put up great ERA and WHIP stats. Verlander struck out 10 and had a win for the Knights while Treinen notched three saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 34 11 30 2 .308 .903 2 6 61 1 4.04 1.22 7
Batteries Essential 27 8 26 3 .247 .745 3 2 59 1 3.09 1.07 4

The defending champs started 2017 with a win against Batteries Essential. Khris Davis hit three homers while Diaz, Arenado and Realmuto all went deep twice. Cueto struck out a dozen to go with his two wins while early returns on Greg Holland are good with four saves. Batteries Essential had the edge in steals thanks to Blackmon, Hamilton and Pollock while Fulmer and Syndergaard helped take ERA and WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 21 4 15 5 .212 .644 3 2 47 2 4.57 1.11 4
Richie’s RBI’s 34 10 36 7 .237 .719 4 1 43 2 5.71 1.51 7

The RBIs got off to a winning start with a 7-4 score against Iron Men. Torreyes knocked in seven while Villar and Harper went deep twice in an offensive sweep. Sano knocked in eight for Iron Men, who took four pitching categories thanks to Giles, Kershaw and Carlos Martinez.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 21 3 13 6 .202 .602 4 8 52 0 2.15 1.03 5
The Cheddar Chasers 31 8 25 8 .231 .722 1 3 41 1 5.37 1.42 7

The Chasers got the better of a tight matchup against Beckenham, winning 7-5. Goldschmidt and Lindor powered an offensive sweep while Wilson picked up a crucial hold. Greinke, Scherzer and Lester helped the A&E Dept take ERA and WHIP while Davis, Rodney, Iglesias and Allen each had two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 33 12 39 2 .256 .872 4 3 59 7 2.85 1.09 6
Durham Riverkings 23 9 35 2 .295 .897 5 1 63 1 3.03 1.01 5

Finally, the Slugs edged past the Riverkings 6-5. Belt made the difference in runs, homers and RBIs for the Slugs while Strop and Ottavino had three holds each, Colome notched three saves and Paxton helped take ERA. Wieters and Murphy helped the Riverkings take average and OPS while Arrieta had two wins and joined MadBum in racking up 16 strikeouts.

The week two matchups are as follows:

Norwich (1st) v Slugs (7th)

Bombers (2nd) v Iron Men (11th)

Sox (3rd) v Batteries Essential (10th)

Isotopes (4th) v A&E Dept (9th)

RBIs (5th) v Jesmond (14th)

Chasers (6th) v Maltsters (12th)

Riverkings (8th) v Knights (13th)

MLB This Week: Sale-Verlander on Monday

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We’ve got an exciting week ahead of early games in MLB.

Every day of the working week offers some day-game baseball that we can watch during the evening British time.

BT Sport are showing MLB day-games on Monday to Wednesday and there are a couple of MLB.com Free Games too.

The whole week offers games to enjoy, but there’s no mistaking the stand-out marquee match-up. Monday offers us Boston-Detroit with Chris Sale and Justin Verlander scheduled to take to the mound. You’ll struggle to find a better pitching match-up than that all season.

All times are in BST.

Monday 10 April

18:05    Rays at Yankees (Cobb (1-0), Pineda (0-1))
18:10    Red Sox at Tigers (Sale (0-0), Verlander (1-0)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:15    Athletics at Royals (Cotton (0-1), Kennedy (0-1)) *MLB.com Free Game
21:35    D-backs at Giants (Walker (1-0), Moore (0-1)) *BT Sport/ESPN
22:10    Astros at Mariners (Morton (0-0), Paxton (0-0))

Tuesday 11 April

18:10    Twins at Tigers (Santiago (1-0), Boyd (0-1))
21:10    White Sox at Indians (Shields (1-0), Carrasco (1-0)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Wednesday 12 April

18:05    Rays at Yankees (Snell (0-1), TBD)
18:10    Twins at Tigers (Gibson (0-0), Fulmer (0-0))
20:10    Padres at Rockies (Perdomo (0-0), Freeland (1-0))
21:05    Cardinals at Nationals (Leake (0-1), TBD) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:10    White Sox at Indians (Holland (0-1), Salazar (0-0)) *MLB.com Free Game

Thursday 13 April

18:10    Twins at Tigers (Hughes (1-0), Zimmermann (1-0))
19:05    Pirates at Red Sox (TBD, TBD)
19:20    Dodgers at Cubs (TBD, Anderson (0-0))
20:37    Rangers at Angels (Darvish (0-1), Nolasco (0-1))
23:10    White Sox at Indians (Gonzalez (1-0), Tomlin (0-1))

Friday 14 April

19:20    Pirates at Cubs (TBD, Hendricks (1-0))
21:05    Phillies at Nationals (Nola (1-0), TBD)

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

Weekly Hit Ground Ball: The 2017 MLB Opening Week

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It’s a Scorchio Sunday in Britain today and what better way to relax in the evening after a glorious day in the sun than catching a baseball game or two.

Or maybe catching some more baseball if you’ve spent the afternoon at a British baseball league game.

Games to watch

Every team is playing during the day-time in the States (therefore in the evening for us) other than the usual ESPN Sunday Night game (Marlins at Mets) on at 1am. None of the day-games are being shown on the BT Sport channels, unfortunately, although the MLB.com Free Game (available for everyone to watch via MLB.com) is Dodgers at Rockies from 20.05 BST.

The rest of the games can be watched or listened to on MLB.TV and MLB Gameday Audio.

The first week

The Baltimore Orioles are the one remaining team that are yet to be defeated. They put their 4-0 record on the line against CC Sabathia and the Yankees today looking for their second consecutive series sweep to start the season.

New York suffered a blow yesterday as Gary Sanchez came out of the game, likely on his way to the Disabled List, with a strained bicep injury. Sanchez, Greg Bird and Aaron Judge – their three top young position players – have all scuffled in the first week. Most players will have a week or two when the hits don’t come so we shouldn’t read too much into that, yet it is perhaps a reminder that most young players take a couple of seasons to really hit their stride in the Majors.

The Minnesota Twins took their first loss of the season yesterday having started out 4-0. Even Twins fans will not be putting too much stock in their early wins, but it’s been good to see Byron Buxton and Max Kepler showing their talent in the outfield and, considering they started 2016 with nine consecutive losses, some early victories gives them something to cheer about after a string of dismal campaigns.

In the National League, it’s two teams from the NL West that have shot out of the traps. You might have expected that to be the LA Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, but instead it’s the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies who have picked up the victories and both have 5-1 records.

The D-Backs needed a positive start after their horror show in 2016 and that’s what they’ve had, even getting a mildly encouraging pitching performance from last-year’s flop Shelby Miller in the process.

As for the Rockies, hopes that their third-placed finish (albeit with a 75-87 record) from 2016 could lead to better things in 2017 seemed to have been dashed by a string of injuries. That may still prove to be the case, but when you can get the better of Clayton Kershaw – as they did on Saturday, including Kershaw giving up back-to-back home runs for the first time in his career – then you just might be on to something.

On the other end of the scale, the Giants and Seattle Mariners haven’t given their fans much to cheer about over the first week as they’ve both lost five of their six games played.

The Giants were undone by their bullpen in 2016 and responded by signing closer Mark Melancon to a four-year, $62m contract over the off-season. His first act as a Giant last Sunday was to cough up a  5-4 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning against Arizona.

Matt Cain also looked shaky in his first start of the season on Friday against the San Diego Padres. For all he has done for the Giants, you have to wonder how much more he has left to give. Cain has pitched less than 100 innings in each of the past three seasons and has had an ERA over five in the last two campaigns.

As for the Mariners, it was expected that their batting lineup would be a strength but their bats have been absent in the first week. They lost three from four against the Houston Astros and now the first two games of their series against the LA Angels. More concerning is the sight of losing off-season recruit Drew Smyly to an elbow injury that will see him out of action until June at the earliest.

The M’s could get into the play-off running; however they look like a team that needs plenty of things to break right for that to happen. Maybe they’re just getting their bad luck out of the way early.

Finally, I have to include a mention for the Oakland A’s and Kendall Graveman in particular. He was the A’s Opening Night starting pitcher, with Sonny Gray’s start to the season delayed by an injury, and it would be fair to say he isn’t a classic ace-type hurler.

However, he’s been brilliant in his first two appearances, winning both and taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning of last night’s game against the Texas Rangers. If he can keep that sinker moving the way he wants to and getting ahead of hitters, this could be a break-out season for the right-hander.

British Baseball Beat: 2017 Season gets underway

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Last Sunday wasn’t just Opening Day in MLB.

It also marked the start of the British baseball regular season for several of the leagues.

NBL: Mets-Mustangs split as Falcons take two

The National Baseball League began with a pair of double-headers.

The London Mets and Southampton Mustangs, the 2016 NBC finalists, split a double-header at Farnham Park.

The Mustangs raced out to a 6-2 lead after two innings in the opener, only for the Mets to charge back by putting up five-spots in two innings on their way to a 13-9 victory.

Southampton fought back in the second game, edging a close contest 5-4.

In the other double-header, the Herts Falcons got their season off to a perfect start by claiming two victories at home against the Brighton Jets.

Further details can be found in Carli Stehle’s NBL report on the BBF website.

This weekend

The Falcons will put their 2-0 record on the line this Sunday against the Mustangs (1-1) in what will be the latter’s first home games in Southampton since winning their maiden NBL title last season.

In the other double-header, the Essex Arrows host last year’s surprise package, the London Capitals. The Capitals put together an impressive debut season in the NBL in 2016, finishing third in the regular season standings with a 16-11 record. They’ll be hoping to get 2017 off to a positive start against the 2014 national champions.

Smile for the camera!

Cameras were out in force at the NBL openers:

Double-A begins

With Triple-A and Single-A not getting their seasons started until 23 April, the only other BBF league action currently is taking place in Double-A.

Last Sunday, the East London Latin Boys earned a 19-9 win against the Brentwood Stags, whilst the battle of Richmond between the Barons and Dragons went the way of the former by a score of 18-14. The Barons will look to go 2-0 to start the season this Sunday as they take on the always-competitive Sidewinders, with the Latin Boys taking on Southampton Mustangs II.

The reigning Double-A champions, the Daws Hill Spitfires, start the defence of their title at Farnham Park this Sunday as they take on the Herts Hawks. First pitch is scheduled for midday.

Northern openers

The new British Baseball league competition began in the North on Sunday.

Although the games between the 2016 Northern champion Liverpool Trojans and the Cartmel Valley club unfortunately got postponed due to rain, other games were able to go ahead and splits were the order of the day.

The results included Hull and Halton splitting a double-header (13-8 to Hull in the opener, 8-4 Halton in the second), the Manchester A’s and Sheffield Bladerunners shared a win apiece (14-4 to A’s, 10-1 to Bladerunners) as did the Liverpool Twojans and Manchester Torrent

Manchester and Sheffield joined other teams in the country in paying their respects to British Baseball Hall of Famers Norman Wells and Ted Gerard-Thesingh who both sadly passed away over the off-season.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSbq5LkA4uM/

Fixtures this Sunday include the Trojans hopefully getting their season underway at Bootle Stadium against the Halton Jaguars, the Twojans taking on the Harrogate Tigers (who defeated the Durham Spartans last week) and Sheffield travelling to Hull to take on the Scorpions.  Further details can be found on the BBL Facebook site.

And finally …

Herts Falcons’ newcomer Hector Miguel learned an important lesson in his debut: where not to park his car at Grovehill Ballpark.

Keeping Score: Braves vs Mets 2017 season-opener

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Opening Day on Monday was a real treat, with a batch of good games to watch live during the British evening.

The first two games of the day were both available to British fans without an MLB.TV subscription: the first – Marlins vs Nationals – being the MLB.com Free Game of the Day, the second – Braves vs Mets – was the first of three games on TV (BT Sport/ESPN).

I went for the latter and as it was a strong pitching match-up, Julio Teheran and Noah Syndergaard, I thought I’d get a bit of score-keeping practice in for the season ahead by jotting down the first three innings.

When I use colours on my scorecard I mark hits, walks and base advancement in blue, and outs in red. My expectation that my red pen would get most of the work proved to be correct.

Syndergaard’s first three innings. Click to enlarge

It’s not stating anything outrageous to say that Syndergaard is one of the best pitchers in the Majors, but what’s been really noticeable over the past year and a bit is how he has elevated himself into an elite group of pitchers whose starts are an event. Even accounting for the pomp and ceremony of Opening Day, that was abundantly clear at Citi Field on Monday.

Syndergaard was in dominant form right from the off, his blazing fastball (98 MPH was his run-of-the-mill average offering) and ridiculous slider were a nightmare for the Braves hitters.

The first five went down in order before Brandon Phillips, making his debut for Atlanta after his off-season trade from the Cincinnati Reds, was able to notch a single. The Mets’ starter was unfussed by this and Adonis Garcia subsequently grounded into a force-out at second to end the inning before Syndergaard set the Braves down in order in the third.

Three innings, one hit, three strike-outs.

Julio Teheran’s first three innings. Click to enlarge

Teheran was able to keep pace by blanking the Mets through the first three innings too.

It wasn’t quite so clean as Syndergaard’s innings as Teheran allowed a base-runner in each (two singles and a walk); however he was able to strand them on all three occasions.

The starting pitchers continued to match each other over the next three innings before the game was turned over to the bullpens for the final third of the game.

Things immediately went wrong for the Braves from there as the Mets put up a six-spot in the seventh inning for what proved to be the only runs of the game.

Had I continued to keep score of the entire game I would have received an Opening Day score-keeping lesson. Score-keepers soon learn that you must never assume a play or call will be made and should watch it to a conclusion before noting anything down, but in MLB now we also have to take into account that an umpire’s initial call is no longer final.

Wilmer Flores came into the game as a pinch-runner and was originally called out at a very close play at the plate. The Mets called for a replay and this showed that Flores had just beaten out the throw from centre-field. The course of the game may well have been very different had the replay challenge not been available and it was the type of key decision that replay review helps greatly with (there was no blame attached to the home plate umpire’s original call as it was very marginal and looked out on first viewing).

Had I marked down the original out call in my red pen it would have been a messy job to correct it. That’s the type of situation that makes keeping score in pencil a preference for many; however I’ve found that once you start using coloured pens it makes such a big visual difference that you really don’t want to go back to plain-old pencil (unless that’s all you have to hand).

The answer is simply practicing so that you reduce the amount of mistakes and/or corrections on a scorecard and here was a perfect example of holding back on committing pen to paper on a play that might be challenged.

Whilst I didn’t directly learn that lesson here – as I didn’t score that part of the game – I did find out that the new pens I had bought bleeded through into the other side of the paper.

The Atlanta Braves need to find a way to get the better of the Mets’ outstanding pitching (Jacob deGrom is next up when the series resumes on Wednesday); I need to buy some new pens.

I think I’ve got the slightly easier task of the two.

MLB 2017 Opening Week

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The three games on Opening Sunday gave us two exciting walk-off victories, a couple of home runs by pitcher Madison Bumgarner and some excellent pitching from Chris Archer and Carlos Martinez.

Opening Week is sure to provide plenty more entertainment and the great thing is that there are lots of opportunities for us to catch the action at a convenient time in the UK.

Every Monday I set out the games for the working week ahead that get going before midnight BST. The idea is that the day-games in the States, and therefore evening games for us in the UK, are particularly important to us because we can catch them live at a convenient time.

Being up in the early hours undoubtedly is part of the British baseball fan experience – the ‘Hardcore’ tribe as Jonny and Josh liked to say on Baseball on 5 – but following games like that every day isn’t feasible for most of us and is a difficult way to attract newcomers to the sport.

So, here are the early games for this working week. Start times are listed in BST, with a note where the game is being shown on British TV (i.e. one of the BT Sport channels) and also if the game has been chosen as that day’s MLB.com Free Game.

The Free Game is exactly as named: anyone can watch it live online using MLB.TV without having a subscription. All games are available to view on MLB.TV if you have a subscription.

Monday 3 April

18:05    Marlins at Nationals (Volquez, Strasburg ) *MLB.com Free Game
18:10    Braves at Mets (Teheran, Syndergaard ) *BT Sport/ESPN
19:05    Pirates at Red Sox (Cole, Porcello )
19:10    Rockies at Brewers (Gray, Guerra )
20:05   Blue Jays at Orioles (Estrada, Gausman )
21:10    Tigers at White Sox (Verlander, Quintana )
21:10    Royals at Twins (Duffy, Santana )
21:10    Phillies at Reds (Hellickson, Feldman )
21:10    Padres at Dodgers (Chacin, Kershaw ) *BT Sport/ESPN

Tuesday 4 April

No early games

Wednesday 5 April

18:10    Royals at Twins (Kennedy, Santiago )
18:45    Cubs at Cardinals (Lackey, TBD)
19:10    Tigers at White Sox (TBD, Shields ) *MLB.com Free Game

Thursday 6 April

17:35    Phillies at Reds (Buchholz , Davis )
18:10    Royals at Twins (Hammel , Gibson )
18:35    Pirates at Red Sox (Kuhl , Rodriguez ) *BT Sport/ESPN
18:40    Rockies at Brewers (TBD, Anderson )
19:10    Tigers at White Sox (TBD, Holland )
20:10    Padres at Dodgers (Weaver , TBD)
20:35    Angels at Athletics (TBD, Triggs )
21:05    Marlins at Nationals (Koehler , TBD)

Friday 7 April

18:05    Braves at Pirates (Dickey , Nova )
18:10    Red Sox at Tigers (Wright , TBD)
20:05    Nationals at Phillies (TBD, Velasquez )
21:10    Dodgers at Rockies (TBD, TBD)
23:40   Giants at Padres (TBD, TBD) *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 returns for 2017

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Here we are at last: baseball is back.

Whilst Andy Williams may sing that Christmas is ‘the most wonderful time of the year,’ the start of the MLB regular season is every bit as exciting for those of us that follow the sport.

It feels a long time coming, even with all of the off-season trades, signings and rumours, and the fact that the 2016 season ended up with a thrilling World Series makes the anticipation all the stronger for it all to get going again.

Who’s going to win?

No sport is predictable, least of all one with a regular season containing 2430 games, yet it’s fair to say the 2017 MLB predictions currently going up online are following a similar pattern.

There’s no hiding that the five National League play-off teams from last season are most likely to be playing post-season baseball again this year.

The reigning World Series champions Chicago Cubs are the team to beat in the Central, with the Washington Nationals and New York Mets, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, looking good to battle it out for the East, West and two Wild Card spots.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be uneventful, even if those teams do come out on top.

As for the outsiders, the St Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates are the obvious teams that could get in the Wild Card mix. The Arizona Diamondbacks could get into the running too if their bad luck from 2016 turns to good luck in 2017. It will also be worth keeping an eye on the rebuilding Atlanta Braves who have now built their new ballpark and are getting closer to building a team that can get them back to their glory days.

The American League looks more open, other than the strong likelihood of the Cleveland Indians winning the Central division (with the Detroit Tigers probably set to trade a few players away before the August deadline).

There are genuinely three teams that could win the AL East, never mind compete for a Wild Card, in the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. It’s possible the New York Yankees could also make a play-off push if their young players continue to impress enough to make the team make some further additions in the summer.

There could also be three teams in the mix in the West. The Texas Rangers are the team to beat, but arguably they over-performed with their 95 wins last season and both the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners have been active over the off-season.

For what it’s worth, I’m going for:

NL East: Mets, NL Central: Cubs, NL West: Dodgers, WC: Nationals and Giants.

AL East: Red Sox, AL Central: Indians, AL West: Astros, WC: Blue Jays, Orioles.

Getting ready for Opening Week

1. Make sure MLB.TV is up and running

BT Sport offers plenty of games across the season so that there is a good TV option for UK-based fans; however ‘plenty of games’ isn’t the same as ‘all the games’ and that’s what makes MLB.TV such an essential purchase for me.

Monday will show that straight away as MLB.TV subscribers can flick between a whole host of early starts during the British evening. I’ll then be able to get up in the early hours and watch the Oakland A’s season-opener too.

Rule #1: there’s no such thing as too much baseball.

2. Book some days off work

Okay, not much use as a ‘to-do list’ for you reading this now, but hopefully you’ve already planned ahead. I book up the first few working days of the MLB season as annual leave as soon as I can to make sure I can enjoy the first few evenings (and early mornings) without having to get up to go to work straight after.

3. Check out the schedule for the first week

This will be my twelfth season running BaseballGB and regular visitors will know that one of the features here is a guide published every Monday setting out the ‘early’ games (day-games in the States and that are in the evening UK time) for the week ahead.

There are 25 early starts from Monday to Friday this coming working week. I refer you back to rule #1!

4. Sort out my Oakland A’s schedule

Much as I try to catch all of the teams on a regular basis, my primary focus is on the Oakland A’s.

The first two series in my Oakland A’s schedule

I’ve printed out an A’s game schedule for April that lists the games with start times in BST, blocks them into each individual series against different teams and highlights the day-games.

The A’s have eight series in April and all but one – a mid-week three-game set in Anaheim near the end of the month – have at least one day-game scheduled.

I find it’s useful to have those set out so that you can plan around them and work out when best to add in some early-hour contests too (if, like me, your work gets in the way of watching every one).

5. Set your fantasy team(s) for the first week

It’s not just the regular season you need to focus on, the fantasy season is important too.

I’m not the most obsessive fantasy baseball player and my in-season strategy predominantly involves simply making sure I don’t make too many mistakes in leaving players on my active team that aren’t playing. So, setting up my pitching staff for the week ahead, mindful that plans may still change mid-week, is a key preparation job for me to remember.

Sunday’s triple-header

Although Monday will feel like the true Opening Day, the recent switch to a triple-header on a Sunday to start the season was a great move. Here are the games we can enjoy:

18.10. Yankees at Rays (Tanaka – Archer) *BT Sport/ESPN
21.10. Giants at Diamondbacks (Bumgarner – Greinke) *BT Sport/ESPN
01.35. Cubs at Cardinals (Lester – Martinez) *BT Sport/ESPN

Tropicana Field isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing place to get the season started, but the play on the field should soon make us forget the surroundings. Tanaka faced the Rays five times last season and was dominant against them, whilst Archer’s 0-3 record against the Yankees in 2016 conceals how well he pitched against them.

Zack Greinke and the D-Backs will be intent on putting a hugely disappointing 2016 behind them and they would get an immediate confidence boost if they can get the better of MadBum and the Giants to start the season at Chase Field.

Finally, the Cubs enter an MLB season as reigning champions for the first time since 1909 and where better to celebrate that than at the home of their bitter rivals. I’m sure St Louis will be gracious hosts.

MLBTV Free for all on Friday and Saturday

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The Cactus and Grapefruit League exhibitions are now over and the 30 MLB teams have moved on from their Spring Training bases as they finalise preparation for the regular season.

There are still exhibition games to be played on Friday and Saturday though and MLB.com has decided to give fans an opportunity to try out MLB.TV for free.

Not every game over the next two days is being broadcast on TV, but there’s a good group to choose from. Friday’s games are mainly night games so give us an early chance to get back in the habit of getting your sleep in around some baseball.

The games that stand out to me are the Yankees-Braves exhibition on Friday, which will be our first chance to see Atlanta’s new ballpark,and the two games between the Pirates and Blue Jays that are taking place in Montreal in the Expos old home, Olympic Stadium.

Here are the MLB.TV games with times listed in BST. Note that those listed in itallics are actually in the early hours of the following morning for us.

Friday 31 March

18:05    Tampa Bay Rays vs Philadelphia Phillies
19:10    Chicago Cubs vs Houston Astros
21:05    Boston Red Sox vs Washington Nationals
00:07    Pittsburgh Pirates vs Toronto Blue Jays
00:35    New York Yankees vs Atlanta Braves
01:05    Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers
02:40    Colorado Rockies vs Seattle Mariners
02:40    Cleveland Indians vs Arizona Diamondbacks
03:07    Los Angeles Dodgers vs Los Angeles Angels
03:15    Oakland Athletics vs San Francisco Giants

Saturday 1 April

18:07    Pittsburgh Pirates vs Toronto Blue Jays
19:05    Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers
19:10    Chicago White Sox vs Milwaukee Brewers
20:05    San Francisco Giants vs Oakland Athletics
20:10    Seattle Mariners vs Colorado Rockies
02:10    Los Angeles Angels vs Los Angeles Dodgers

If you have been considering signing up for MLB.TV but weren’t sure about how the service would work with your set-up, this is the perfect opportunity to give it a try.  Further details about MLB.TV and how it works for UK fans can be found in my round-up of the 2017 subscriptions and the 70+ comments (and counting!).