The MLB offseason is upon us (BOOOOOOO), and that means MLB Network needs to kick into offseason mode. But even without live games on the slate, there will be plenty of live programming this fall and winter on the network.
There will be five and a half hours of live studio programming (to start) beginning on Monday, November 3rd. Hot Stove returns for a third season, and will be once again hosted by Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds. It airs for a two hour live block starting at 9 AM, and will be immediately rerun at 11 AM for late risers. The Christopher Russo yell-a-thon High Heat will also be back this offseason, running from 1 to 2 PM each day. That’s followed up by Brian Kenny’s vastly-improved MLB Now for an hour, and a half hour of the Chris Rose and Kevin Millar hosted Intentional Talk.
After rerunning the shows in an abbreviated block in the late afternoon, an hour of MLB Tonight at 6 PM ends your evening of live programming. The first two weeks of the month will also be host to several awards presentations, including the Players Choice Awards, Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, and the BBWAA awards (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year).
MLB Network will also air some Arizona Fall League games in the next couple of weeks. Three games air in primetime windows during the first week of November (4th, 6th, and 8th, all starting at 8:05 PM), and the AFL Championship Game will air on November 15th and 3:08 PM.
The offseason is always a crappy time for a team-specific sports network, but MLB Network does a good job at making the best of a bad situation. I assume that as the offseason rolls along, they’ll fill gaps in the schedule with countdown shows like Prime 9 and maybe even some classic game footage. Getting a baseball fix won’t be too difficult for fans this winter.
