MLB legend Trevor Hoffman joins Great Britain’s coaching staff for World Baseball Classic qualifier

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As with all British baseball fans of the same era, ‘Baseball on 5’ still has a place in my heart.

Watching ballgames just isn’t quite the same without the many little quirks that we came to feel were an integral part of enjoying a late night/early morning game:- ‘Seventh-inning stretch’ features, ‘Hardcore’ shout-outs, presenter Jonny Gould hastily trying to hide his chocolate wrappers as the show went back to the studio just a bit quicker than he thought, among many others.

Things regularly happen in baseball that make me think back to those days with much fondness. This Monday evening provided the latest example.

There were many reasons to take an interest in star closer Trevor Hoffman during his illustrious career, but there was one fact about him that couldn’t go unsaid every time his name came up on Baseball on 5.

Hoffman’s mother was English.

I forget precisely where in England she was from (Stockport rings a bell – Hells Bells of course – although I’ve nothing to back that up other than that being my memory and having no clue why I might have plumped for Stockport if it was somewhere else), but a USA Today feature on him confirms that his mother Mikki met Trevor’s father in London before moving to the States.

This factoid came to mind because of an exciting announcement on the Great Britain Twitter account:

Having such an experienced and outstanding ex-MLB player on the coaching staff is a real coup for Great Britain.

We’ve seen Hall-of-Famers Bert Blyleven and Mike Piazza sharing their wisdom with the Netherlands and Italy teams respectively in previous World Baseball Classics and Hoffman – who received 67.3% support in his first time on the Hall-of-Fame ballot this year and seems certain to be elected to Cooperstown in the next few years – can play the same role for Great Britain.

GB will be competing against Brazil, Israel and Pakistan in Brooklyn, New York over 22-25 September as they aim to qualify for the main World Baseball Classic tournament for the first time.

MLB this Week: Nine early games from Monday to Thursday

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CovMLBUK2014There are nine early games to enjoy from Monday to Thursday this working week.

We start the week in Cleveland where the hometown Indians are, rather unusually, in the middle of hosting three different teams on three days. They are making up a postponed game against Boston on Monday, in between finishing a series against the Angels on Sunday and then starting a series against the White Sox on Tuesday.

Two of the games from the Brewers-Cubs series this week are being played during the day-time at Wrigley, with Thursday’s contest scheduled to be Jake Arrieta’s second day-time home start in a row after getting the better of the Cardinals last Friday.

Wednesday’s early games are due to include a Stephen Strasburg start for the Nationals and an ‘Eels’ pitching match-up in San Francisco involving Nova-Cain (for the soul).

As for Boston-Detroit, Steven Wright was scheduled to start Thursday’s game for Boston but he has landed on the 15-day DL due to a shoulder injury. Currently the plan is – look away now Red Sox fans – for Clay Buchholz to pitch in his place.

All times are in BST.

Monday 15 August

18.10. Boston at Cleveland (Pomeranz – Tomlin) *BT Sport/ESPN

Tuesday 16 August

18.20. Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs (Garza – Cahill) *BT Sport/ESPN

Wednesday 17 August

18.05. Toronto at NY Yankees (Happ – Sabathia)
18.10. San Diego at Tampa Bay (Freidrich – Archer)
19.10. St Louis at Houston (Martinez – Fister) *MLB.com Free Game
20.10. Washington at Colorado (Strasburg – Gray)
20.45. Pittsburgh at San Francisco (Nova – Cain)

Thursday 18 August

18.10. Boston at Detroit (Wright – Boyd) *BT Sport3
19.20. Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs (Davies – Arrieta)

Friday 19 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 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 onMLB.com

BaseballGB Fantasy League 2016 Week 17

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It was a week of milestones after Ichiro’s 3,000th hit and the impending retirements of Tex and A-Rod, but how did our teams fare in the BaseballGB Fantasy League?

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 29 7 27 5 .305 .840 1 3 51 1 6.23 1.50 10
Batteries Essential 18 8 25 4 .238 .698 0 2 31 1 6.57 1.54 1

My Isotopes were the biggest winners of the week, defeating Batteries Essential 10-1. Trout scored six runs and knocked in eight while Gonzalez hit .429 and Marte swiped three bases. Stroman struck out 17 while Reed had the lone win and a hold but it was a good week to be bad for my pitchers. Lucroy homered three time for Batteries Essential.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
The Cheddar Chasers 19 5 19 2 .179 .519 3 6 40 1 3.27 1.14 2
Weston-Super-Sox 29 11 35 0 .278 .853 5 2 54 3 2.00 0.89 10

As if to underline the joys and frustrations of head-to-head play, the Chasers pitched much better than my team did but had little to show for it as the Sox were even better, winning 10-2. Dylan Bundy looks an inspired pickup with two wins, 16 strikeouts and great ERA and WHIP stats. CarGo and Miggy each had two homers and eight RBIs while LeMahieu scored seven runs. The Chasers salvaged steals and saves thanks to Pillar and Jansen.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Becknam Lollygaggers 18 6 18 10 .280 .837 2 3 32 0 3.63 1.41 10
The Bath Bombers 23 7 17 2 .239 .696 0 1 8 2 6.05 1.86 2

Becknam defeated Bath 10-2, sweeping the pitching categories as the Bombers failed to meet the 20 inning minimum limit. Sano knocked in seven runs for Becknam while Hamilton ran wild with eight steals. Bautista homered twice for Bath while Rendon and Khris Davis scored five runs each.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 38 4 30 5 .279 .734 5 6 57 6 2.67 1.09 8
Norwich No II 32 10 34 4 .229 .760 3 3 67 1 4.53 1.14 4

Iron Men pitched their way to an 8-4 win against Norwich. Roark had two wins and teamed with Iwakuma to help take ERA and WHIP. Jeffress and Feliz had three holds each while Diaz notched four saves. Myers scored seven runs, stole two bases and hit .458. Norwich had power from Braun (3 HR, 9 RBIs) and Napoli (4 HR, 7 RBIs) while Duffy won twice and struck out 22.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 28 8 19 4 .268 .798 3 5 64 2 3.55 1.18 7
Newcastle Knights 23 9 33 3 .264 .763 3 4 47 4 2.85 1.27 4

The Knights suffered a rare defeat, losing 7-4 to the Slugs. Jose Ramirez scored six runs, stole a base and hit .414 for the week. MadBum and de Grom struck out 11 while Odorizzi helped take WHIP and Herrera had three saves. Arenado homered three times and drove in eight for the Knights, while Lamb also belted three round-trippers. Garcia and Hammel helped take ERA while Strop had two holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
NorthEast Riverkings 21 9 24 0 .266 .801 5 2 72 3 2.65 0.99 5
Richie’s RBI’s 46 12 44 3 .341 .987 4 2 33 1 3.60 1.18 6

The RBIs squeezed past the Riverkings 6-5 thanks to an offensive sweep. Machado and Ramos each hit thee homers while Dahl and Fowler scored seven runs each. For the Riverkings, Darvish struck out 17 and teamed with Archer and Rodon to take ERA and WHIP. Watson had a win and two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 26 6 20 3 .236 .698 4 0 56 2 2.86 0.95 6
Jesmond Dennings 25 9 29 6 .285 .869 2 3 34 0 3.72 1.16 6

Finally, the Malsters and Jesmond finished all square. Paxton had a win and 12 strikeouts as the Maltsters had the better of the pitching categories while Blackmon scored six runs. For Jesmond, Dozier hit three homers and drove in nine while Villar stole five bases and hit .478. Osuna had two saves.

The week 18 matchups are as follows:

Knights (1st) v Lollygaggers (11th)

Isotopes (2nd) v Riverkings (7th)

Norwich (3rd) v Bombers (14th)

Iron Men (4th) v Jesmond (13th)

Slugs (5th) v Batteries Essential (10th)

Maltsters (6th) v Sox (9th)

Chasers (8th) v RBIs (12th)

MLB This Week: Add some baseball your sport banquet

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CovMLBUK2014There’s plenty of sport on the go at the moment, with the football season starting, Test cricket in full swing and the Olympics.

You can never have enough of a good thing, though, and if sport’s your thing then why not add some live baseball to your banquet of sport to enjoy? It will be an Olympic sport again in 2020, after all.

There are early MLB games on every day this working week except for Monday. The games include a couple from the Rockies-Rangers interleague split series (the first in Colorado, the second in Texas), a strong interleague match-up between the Indians and Nationals on Wednesday and a treat to start the weekend with the Cubs hosting the Cards in a potential Wainwright-Arrieta starting pitcher match-up.

All times are in BST.

Monday 8 August

No early games

Tuesday 9 August

20.10. Texas at Colorado (Griffin – Chatwood) *BT Sport/ESPN

Wednesday 10 August

17.10. San Francisco at Miami (Samardzija – Phelps) *BT Sport/ESPN, MLB.com Free Game
20.10. Philadelphia at LA Dodgers (Hellickson – Kazmir) *BT Sport2
21.05. Cleveland at Washington (Clevinger – Gonzalez)

Thursday 11 August

17.10. Arizona at NY Mets (Godley – Syndergaard) *BT Sport/ESPN
17.35. San Diego at Pittsburgh (Friedrich – Taillon)
18.10. Houston at Minnesota (Fister – Berrios)
19.05. Colorado at Texas (Bettis – Harrell)
19.10. Atlanta at Milwaukee (TBA – Garza)
20.35. Baltimore at Oakland (Tillman – TBA) *BT Sport/ESPN

Friday 12 August

19.20. St Louis at Chicago Cubs (Wainwright – Arrieta) *BT Sport/ESPN

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB 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: Past and Present

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The past couple of months have showed just how much there is to enjoy about British baseball, whether that’s watching games or reading up on the sport’s history.

The GB Way

Great Britain’s U18’s achieved their aim of staying in the main European Championship event for 2018, rather than needing to come through a qualification event. This came about thanks to two wins in Spain, the first two wins for a GB U18 team in the Euros since 1994.

This was followed by the U15’s finishing a very creditable second-place in their Euro qualifier. Rule changes meant that this wasn’t quite enough to qualify for the main championships, as it has done in the past, but that shouldn’t detract from a strong showing.

A lot of hard work has gone into developing the youth set-up in British baseball over recent years by Liam Carroll and his team and ‘The GB Way’ looks like being the way towards a brighter future. Creating a national youth set-up that inspires players – and not just boys, as the U18’s Laura Hirai shows (she helped the GB U-19 Women’s Softball team win the European Championship this past weekend too) – is really important, but especially for a sport that is always going to face an uphill battle against the more established British sports.

A national programme is emerging that should be something that the promising young players – and just as importantly their parents – want to be a part of and give them the encouragement and opportunity to develop. For all of us that have an interest in British baseball, that’s great to see.

The senior GB team are on-deck ready to follow on from their younger counterparts in September with the European Championships (9th to 18th) and then the excitement of a World Baseball Classic qualification tournament in Brooklyn (22nd to 25th). Add that all to the ongoing domestic season action, and the London Mets and Southampton Mustangs showing well in CEB Federations Cup Qualifiers at the end of June, and 2016 looks like being one that will be remembered very fondly in the history of British baseball.

Two great publications now available for free!

And what a rich history it is! Whilst it may not be littered with high profile events, for over 100 years there has been competitive baseball of some form being played here and wherever there is baseball you’ll find entertaining stories and interesting characters.

Project COBB is designed to lead the way in recording and researching the history of British baseball and two publications under the Project COBB have just been made available for free download.

‘What about the Villa?’ by Joe Gray documents the story of Britain’s  pro baseball league of 1890. My review when it was first published in April 2011 stated that “alongside Josh Chetwynd and Brian A. Belton’s ‘British Baseball and the West Ham Club’, it’s an essential purchase for anyone interested in Britain’s baseball heritage and, more generally, Britain’s sporting culture during the late nineteenth century”. You now get to enjoy the fruits of Joe’s hard work for free!

‘Nine Aces and a Joker’ tells the tale of nine “Ace” pitchers and a less conventional standout – the “Joker” from the history of British baseball and I had the pleasure of contributing two of the chapters.

Anyone interested in doing their own research should also be keen to delve into the Anthony Taylor Collection of British Baseball programmes, which has just had three new programmes from 1936, featuring West Ham Baseball Club, added to the digitised selection.

From more recent history, the Southampton Mustangs’ Ross Arieta is four parts into a project in which he is “analysing season-by-season stats to determine the best teams and team performances in British baseball history”. Part One (“Herts Falcons”) can be found here and the others published so far can be found by looking through the News stories on the BBF website.

Whether you’re playing, coaching, umpiring, watching, researching, writing or reading, it’s a great time to be involved in British baseball and long may that continue.

BaseballGB Fantasy League 2016 Week 16

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While the trading deadline clock was ticking down it was time to look back at how the teams fared in week 16 of the BaseballGB Fantasy League.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
21
6
25
1
.184
.561
1
0
32
3
4.44
1.41
0
31
10
34
2
.299
.859
3
1
58
3
2.69
0.99
11
The Sox were the week’s big winners, falling a hold shy of a clean sweep against the Riverkings. Miggy was the star hitter, scoring seven runs, hitting four homers and driving in nine, all while hitting .429. Ervin Santana and McCullers each had a win and 10 strikeouts and helped take ERA and WHIP. New Cub Chapman had the lone save. The Riverkings had four homers from Bruce, while Archer, Fernandez and Darvish did not pitch.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
22
5
27
4
.256
.683
4
3
46
2
1.57
0.89
9
17
3
17
8
.236
.657
4
4
44
0
2.89
1.09
2
The Slugs enjoyed a 9-2 win over the Lollygaggers, as Freeman, Kipnis and Beltre helped take five offensive categories. DeSclafani had 12 strikeouts while Guerra, Odorizzi, deGrom, Bumgarner and Lackey helped take ERA and WHIP. For Becknam, new Giant Nunez stole four bases while Cingrani and K-Rod had two saves each. The ERA and WHIP stats would be good enough to win most weeks, but not this time.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
22
3
22
3
.269
.746
2
3
46
4
4.21
1.21
3
28
8
25
3
.175
.610
3
7
45
5
2.79
0.99
8
The Knights extended their lead at the top by defeating my Isotopes 8-3. The pitching staff took five categories as Strasburg and Hammel each picked up a  win and helped take ERA and WHIP while Colome had four saves and Rondon three holds. Pederson hit three homers and drove in seven. Tomlin struck out seven for my Isotopes, while Marte hit .444 and helped take OPS.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
30
6
27
5
.302
.888
3
0
49
2
5.90
1.57
7
26
9
26
4
.232
.742
1
5
45
3
3.35
1.02
5
The Maltsters just got the better of Norwich 7-5. Martin his .357 and scored five runs, Goldschmidt drove in five and Gray had a win and 11 strikeouts. Norwich had three homers from Odor while Napoli and Duvall each hit a pair. Miller and Estevez had two saves each and Betances had two holds and will surely pick up saves after the Yankees’ deals. Maeda helped take ERA and WHIP.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
33
9
36
5
.313
.908
2
4
38
1
3.48
1.37
7
37
10
27
4
.331
.971
1
2
31
0
4.60
1.23
5
Another matchup, another 7-5. This time it was the Chasers defeating Jesmond. Kluber had a win, seven strikeouts and did not allow an earned run while Quintana struck out nine and Jansen and Dyson had two saves each. Pillar knocked in eight and was one of five players with a steal. For Jesmond, Dozier and Justin Upton each scored seven runs and joined Semien in homering twice. Realmuto and Votto each hit above .420. Taillon helped take WHIP.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
21
5
23
0
.209
.642
2
3
33
1
4.70
1.34
5
23
6
14
1
.183
.593
3
1
57
0
4.39
1.27
7
Completing a hat-trick of 7-5 scores, the RBIs defeated Batteries Essential. There wasn’t much offense, but Suarez and Fowler scored five runs each and Machado homered twice. Pineda had a win and 16 strikeouts, while Chatwood and Happ helped take ERA and WHIP. For Batteries Essential, Russell drove in seven and Span and Cruz helped take ERA and WHIP. Familia had two saves and Joe Smith collected the lone hold.
Team
R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
23
7
26
2
.250
.736
5
5
49
3
1.66
0.98
6
26
14
34
4
.267
.904
2
3
43
1
5.44
1.79
6
Finally, Iron Men and the Bombers had a matchup of two halves, finishing 6-6. Iron Men swept the pitching categories as Verlander won twice, struck out 16 and joined Sanchez, Scherzer and Roark in taking ERA and WHIP. Jeffress had four saves and Diaz three holds. For the Bombers, Polanco and and Jones each hit three homers, with Adam knocking in eight. Seager batted .381 and Rendon hit .364 with two steals.

Trade deadline fallout

Teams will have to see how the trade deadline has impacted their roster. Are their closers now set-up men on contenders? Has a pitcher moved to a better ballpark to pitch in? Have any players lost at-bats due to other acquisitions? The league trading deadline is August 14 in case you want to make any moves.

Week 17 matchups

Knights (1st) v Slugs (5th)
Norwich (2nd) v Iron Men (4th)
Isotopes (3rd) v Batteries Essential (9th)
Maltsters (6th) v Jesmond (12th)
Chasers (7th) v Sox (10th)
Riverkings (8th) v RBIs (11th)
Bombers (13th) v Lollygaggers (14th)

MLB This Week: Trade deadline on Monday

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CovMLBUK2014August has certainly come along quickly this year, it seems, and the final two months of the MLB regular season are sure to fly by just the same.

We’ve got early games on Wednesday and Thursday this working week and, writing this on Sunday evening, there are several contests that may well have different starting pitchers involved in them once we get to those days.

Wednesday’s match-ups look fairly well set – rainouts notwithstanding – as I don’t think I’m tempting fate to state that byt the time you read this Jose Fernandez and Max Scherzer will still be with Miami and Washington respectively.

Thursday’s match-ups are more up in the air. Ian Kennedy, Drew Smyly, Tommy Milone, Vincent Velasquez and Jose Quintana are some of the many starting pitchers that have been mentioned in trade rumours over the past few days, so we’ll have to wait and see which teams they are playing for once the non-waiver trade deadline comes and goes at 21.00 BST (4 p.m. ET) on Monday.

All times are in BST.

Monday 1 August

No early games

Tuesday 2 August

No early games

Wednesday 3 August

19.20. Miami at Chicago Cubs (Fernandez – Lackey) *BT Sport/ESPN
20.40. Milwaukee at San Diego (Guerra – Jackson)
20.40. Washington at Arizona (Scherzer – Godley)

Thursday 4 August

17.10. Kansas City at Tampa Bay (Kennedy – Smyly)
17.10. Minnesota at Cleveland (Milone – Tomlin)
17.35. St Louis at Cincinnati (Leake – Finnegan) *MLB.com Free Game
18.05. San Francisco at Philadelphia (Samardzija – Velasquez)
18.10. Chicago WS at Detroit (Quintana – TBA) *BT Sport/ESPN

Friday 5 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 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 2016 Week 15

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The second half of the BaseballGB Fantasy League is under way. Which teams are well rested after the All-Star break, and which wish the first half hadn’t ended? There is also a big trade to report.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 61 26 58 10 .277 .949 3 5 96 2 3.57 1.21 10
The Bath Bombers 29 4 24 5 .238 .621 0 2 33 6 2.95 1.36 2

 

The Slugs were the big winners of the week, defeating the Bombers 10-2 thanks to an offensive sweep. Hanley hit five homers but was outdone by Turner (5 HR, 10 R, 14 RBI) and Story (6 HR, 13 R, 12 RBI). Five pitchers had double-digit strikeouts, led by MadBum with 15. Wilson had three holds for the Bombers while Syndergaard helped take ERA.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
The Cheddar Chasers 37 6 29 4 .256 .703 4 4 83 1 1.96 1.06* 3
Norwich No II 41 13 41 5 .239 .732 7 5 72 6 3.23 1.06* 9

Norwich halted the Chasers’ good run of form with a 9-3 win. Braun scored 12 times, Rizzo knocked in a dozen and Napoli homered four times. Carrasco and Duffy won twice while Estevez had four saves and Betances four holds. Bogaerts, Pedroia and Melky Cabrera helped the Chasers salvage average, while Kluber and McHugh each struck out 16 and helped take ERA

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 44 14 39 8 .246 .758 5 5 87 3 3.01 1.11 8
Becknam Lollygaggers 35 6 29 15 .259 .679 7 3 72 1 2.59 1.14 4

 

My Isotopes stay second after defeating the Lollygaggers 8-4. Frazier hit three homers while Lindor, Trumbo and Beltran each hit a pair. Leake struck out 15 while Britton had five saves and Reed three holds. Billy Hamilton hit .359 for Becknam, stealing ten bases. Kazmir and Hamels each won twice, striking out 11

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 23 6 34 4 .263 .717 2 5 44 3 2.80 1.23 4
Weston-Super-Sox 43 17 45 0 .269 .843 6 3 73 0 3.19 1.15 8

The cellar-dwelling Sox started the second half of the season by defeating Batteries Essential 8-4. Kemp slugged six homers and knocked in nine while CarGo led the team with seven runs. Barraclough had two wins out of the pen while Hellickson and Liriano each struck out 13 and helped take WHIP. Tanaka helped salvage ERA for Batteroese Essential, while Familia had four saves and Brach had three holds.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 36 7 27 10 .279 .759 6 2 77 1 4.65 1.24 4
Iron Men 37 12 48 6 .257 .755 5 2 78 6 1.90 0.77 7

 

Iron Men just got the better of the Maltsters 7-4 in a matchup with a number of very close categories. Pujols led the club with six runs, four homers and 12 RBIs while Verlander struck out 19 and joined Sanchez, Scherzer and Iwakuma in taking ERA and WHIP. Feliz had four holds. The Maltsters had seven different players swipe a base, including Murphy (.455). Wright picked up two wins.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
NorthEast Riverkings 42 12 47 3 .260 .802 2 0 70 8 2.09 1.05 6
Jesmond Dennings 39 14 36 12 .276 .846 2 6 34 0 2.55 1.13 5

The Riverkings did just enough to get past Jesmond 6-5. Yelich scored 10 runs and Bruce knocked in 10 while Darvish struck out 20, Gausman helped take ERA and WHIP and Watson had five holds. For Jesmond, Votto hit .517 and joined Dozier and Longoria in hitting three homers. Villar stole five base and Ramos had four saves.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 44 17 41 8 .262 .803 6 6 62 4 4.80 1.34 6
Richie’s RBI’s 37 9 29 3 .272 .751 7 7 67 1 3.11 1.08 6

 

Finally, the Knights and RBIs could not be separated, finishing in a 6-6 tie. Ortiz drove in nine while Kinsler scored nine times and hit four homers. Eight different players stole a base and Strop had three holds. The RBIs had the better of the pitching, as Tillman won twice, teaming with Arrieta and happ to take ERA and WHIP. Pineda struck out 14. Madson had four saves.

Trade blockbuster!

There is a trade to report as the Riverkings traded Kershaw for King Felix – a blockbuster. Kershaw is still injured but Batteries Essential are picking up an elite pitcher for the stretch run, while the Riverkings are sacrificing a top pitcher for another very good one who is healthy now. A risk for both teams, but I like it.

The week 16 matchups

Knights (1st) v Isotopes (2nd)

Norwich (3rd) v Maltsters (7th)

Iron Men (4th) v Bombers (13th)

Riverkings (5th) v Sox (14th)

Slugs (6th) v Lollygaggers (11th)

Chasers (8th) v Jesmond (10th)

Batteries Essential (9th) v RBIs (12th)

MLB This Week: Trade deadline approaches

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CovMLBUK2014The final week of July always produces an avalanche of trade rumours to run alongside the games being played in MLB.

The buyers and sellers this year are fairly clear, with a few teams being a couple of wins or losses away from declaring their trade deadline direction, but the usual clamour for starting pitching help is not being matched by an attractive crop of free-agents-to-be ripe for being traded, so either we’ll see a few steady pick-ups or perhaps a blockbuster deal will come out of nowhere?

As we work through the rumours to see which ones come true, there are early games on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to enjoy live during the British evening.

There’s a two-game interleague series between Washington and Cleveland this week and the early match-up on Wednesday is scheduled to be a highlight of the week with Stephen Strasburg and Carlos Carrasco mixing it up on the mound. Detroit’s exciting young starter Michael Fulmer is also set to start on Wednesday against Boston, whilst Madison Bumgarner will round out the early-game slate with a home start against the Reds.

Jacob DeGrom gave up five runs in 3.2 innings on Saturday against the Marlins after pitching a one-hitter against the Phillies in his previous start, so it will be interesting to see which version turns up at Citi Field to face the Rockies on Thursday.

On Friday, we’ve got an interleague series getting underway from Wrigley Field as the Cubs host the Seattle Mariners and the day-game opener is currently set to include Hiashi Iwakuma and Jon Lester.

All times are in BST.

Monday 25 July

No early games

Tuesday 26 July

No early games

Wednesday 27 July

17.10. Philadelphia at Miami (Eflin – Conley)
17.10. Washington at Cleveland (Strasburg – Carrasco) *BT Sport/ESPN
17.37. San Diego at Toronto (Perdomo – Estrada)
18.35. Detroit at Boston (Fulmer – Rodriguez)
20.10. Tampa Bay at LA Dodgers (Moore – McCarthy)
20.45. Cincinnati at San Francisco (Straily – Bumgarner) *BT Sport2

Thursday 28 July

18.10. Colorado at NY Mets (Anderson – DeGrom) *BT Sport/ESPN
19.10. Arizona at Milwaukee (Ray – Davies)

Friday 29 July

19.20. Seattle at Chicago Cubs (Iwakuma – Lester) *BT Sport/ESPN

MLB This Week: King Felix to return, and more

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CovMLBUK2014Wednesday and Thursday are the early-game evenings this working week and BT Sport will be showing MLB games lives on two of their four channels simultaneously on both days.

It’s the time of year when starting pitcher assignments can change with short notice due to trades and there are a few pitchers currently due to start an early-game this week that might be playing for another team by then. The Rays reportedly are ready to part with a few arms and whilst it would be a surprise if Chris Archer is one of them, he has been mentioned in a few trade rumours over the past week.

The  Twin’s Ervin Santana could also be on the move and a duel against Justin Verlander and the Tigers would be a good opportunity for scouts to see if he could offer their team anything over the rest of the season.

Away from the trade rumours, Wednesday should see the return to the mound of Felix Hernandez. The Mariners’ ace last started on 27 May before a calf injury landed him on the Disabled List, so the King’s Court will be back in session at Safeco Field after a mid-season adjournment.

All times are in BST.

Monday 18 July

No early games

Tuesday 19 July

No early games

Wednesday 20 July

17.35. Atlanta at Cincinnati (Harrell – DeSclafani)
18.10. Minnesota at Detroit (Santana – Verlander)
19.00. NY Mets at Chicago Cubs (Colon – Hendricks) *BT Sport/ESPN
19.15. Cleveland at Kansas City (Carrasco – Kennedy) *BT Sport1
20.10. Tampa Bay at Colorado (Archer – De La Rosa)
20.35. Houston at Oakland (Fister – Mengden)
20.40. Chicago WS at Seattle (Gonzalez – Hernandez)
20.40. Toronto at Arizona (Sanchez – Corbin)

Thursday 21 July

17.05. LA Dodgers at Washington (Norris – Roark) *BT Sport/ESPN
18.05. Baltimore at NY Yankees (Tillman – Sabathia) *BT Sport1

Friday 22 July

No early games

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB 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