Memorial Day matinees: Watch 9 day games

As spring turns to summer, the contenders will begin to separate from the pretenders — and it all starts with a slew of series openers Monday. The biggest holiday fireworks might come from Baltimore, where the Red Sox and Orioles — and their prolific offenses — are set to collide with the American League East lead hanging in the balance.

Beginning with the first 162-game season of the Wild Card era in 1996, 72 of 120 division winners were in first place when play ended on Memorial Day. However, just 29 of those eventual winners have held on in the last 10 years, meaning few springtime leads have been safe in recent times.

The scoreboard operators will likely be busy at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday, but there is plenty of action available for fans of both pitching and scoring. In Queens, the Dark Knight hopes to gain back Gotham’s adoration. Over in Cleveland, the Indians will try to rebound with their stopper on the mound. In Milwaukee, an extremely late bloomer looks to add another chapter to one of baseball’s best developing stories.

It’s all part of a Memorial Day filled with baseball — including nine day games — all available on MLB.tv.

MLB.TV Premium returns with the same features as last year, but at $109.99, it is a full 20 bucks cheaper than the 2015 cost. This package has the best value and provides access to more than 400 devices and a free subscription to the MLB.com At Bat Premium app (a $19.99 value). It offers the best picture quality ever — a new 60 frames per second — for supported devices. Monthly signups for MLB.TV Premium are now underway as well for $24.99.

The new MLB.TV Single Team package is also now available as an $84.99 yearly subscription. You can watch a single team’s live out-of-market games in full HD.

Here is a look at what to watch for today in the Majors (all times ET):

Beasts of the East meet in Baltimore: BOS@BAL, 1:35 p.m. The AL East’s two top dogs have been winning with a similar mix of ingredients: young stars, powerful sluggers and rock-solid bullpens. Boston holds a slim one-game lead on the Orioles, and the difference in the second series of the season between these two could be whose starters handle the other side’s potent lineups the best.

According to FanGraphs, the Orioles were mashing fastballs this season to the tune of 0.98 standardized runs created (second only to the Red Sox among AL teams) before Sunday’s games. So it will be interesting to see how they handle Boston knuckle-baller Steven Wright (4-4, 2.52 ERA) and his array of fluttering pitches. Though Wright may never know exactly where his pitches will go, Red Sox manager John Farrell has still developed a sense of …

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