The Chicago Cubs might not be having the best of seasons, but Wrigley Field always draws both a crowd and the TV cameras, and it’s one of the National League’s great rivalries—Cardinals-Cubbies—that will highlight daily sports throughout this weekend.
TheSportsNotebook continues with the theme of this week’s MLB coverage and that’s basic statistical snapshots for each division. Today’s focus is the NL Central. We completed the American League earlier this week, and the National League started yesterday with the East. Now we turn our attention to the division that stands poised to sweep the wild-card berths if the season ended today
Matchups between contenders in both the American League and National League key up Friday’s daily sports agenda. MLB Network has split coverage action at 7 PM ET, and regardless of which side of the split you’re on, you will get a good game. The choices are Rangers-Tigers or Reds-Braves, as teams begin their final weekend series before the All-Star break.
The best programming tonight outside the lines comes in football and it’s on the NFL Network.
We’ll summarize each team in the NL East by three categories on each “side of the ball”, so to speak. Runs scored, along with their component parts of on-base percentage and slugging percentage are the offensive numbers. Pitching will break down into separate ERA ranks for both starters and relievers, and then the team’s percentage at closing saves.
Whether it’s baseball’s past or baseball’s present, you’ve got good TV options in today’s daily sports agenda, with a day-night doubleheader on the Thursday MLB card, plus the telecast of three historic games on ESPN Classic.
TheSportsNotebook’s weeklong statistical overview of each division continues today with the AL West. As we’ve done in earlier overviews of the AL East and AL Central, we’ll run through each team’s league rank in runs scored, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, along with starters’ ERA, bullpen ERA and save percentage. Then we’ll note a couple individual performances worth mentioning and summarize it all in a paragraph.
gets the bright lights of ESPN brought to the banks of the Allegheny River for Wednesday night. The 7 PM ET nationally televised game is the showcase event of the daily sports agenda.
Today’s MLB coverage is the second part of our weeklong series that will provide a basic statistical profile of each division in baseball. The focus for Tuesday is going to be the American League Central.
Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has lit up the American League this season, with 33 home runs and he’s set to be the AL starter in the All-Star Game next week at Citi Field in New York. Before Davis was lifting the Oriole offense, he was a part of the Texas Rangers’ organization. Davis is back in his original MLB home in the early part of this week, and tonight’s Orioles-Rangers game (7 PM ET, MLB) is the highlight of Tuesday’s daily sports schedule.
We’re in the final week of play before the All-Star break in major league baseball, and TheSportsNotebook’s MLB coverage will be focused on an effort to capture each division race in a statistical snapshot. Today we begin with the AL East.
The Nats have won four in a row. The Phils have won consecutive series against first-place teams in Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Both Washington and Philadelphia have to play with a sense of urgency, and their four-game series begins in Philly tonight.
The National League West might be anybody’s to take in the second half, but there’s nothing about the San Francisco Giants that suggests they are ready to do the taken. The franchise that won its second World Series title in three seasons in 2012 is now 39-46 and in fifth place coming into Saturday’s games. The purpose of our MLB coverage here will be to establish whether pessimism is an overreaction to the present moment, or if serious structural flaws in the Giants are being exposed.
