MLB.com covers the Futures Game

MLB.com
has long been the place to come for cutting edge baseball coverage. So it makes
perfect sense that on Sunday, baseball fans will want to go no place else to
watch the future unfold.

Want to
know what the future of Major League Baseball looks like? All weekend long in

San Francisco; MLB.com
will provide, from start to finish, the most extensive coverage of the XM
Satellite Radio Futures Game.

It all
starts on Friday, when local product and Cleveland Indians prospect Chuck
Lofgren comes home to the Bay Area early for a whirlwind tour of

San Francisco. MLB.com
will be there every step of the way for a video diary, much like the Pirates’
Neil Walker did a year ago.

Lofgren
and other Futures Gamers will be lending a helping hand at a number of
community projects on Saturday. The Indians lefty will head to the Magical
Builders project, renovating a Boys & Girls Club that will be renamed in
Willie Mays’ honor on Tuesday. MLB.com will provide written and video coverage
of the volunteer projects.

Then comes
the real fun on Sunday, beginning with an exclusive one-hour pregame show live
from

AT&T
Park, site of the 2007 Futures Game.
Vinny Micucci, Jonathan Mayo and Brian McRae provide insight and analysis in
the booth with Lisa Winston providing on-field interviews with the game’s
players and managers.

Included
in the pregame will be a special interview with two of baseball’s most exciting
prospects,

U.S.
outfielders Justin Upton and Cameron Maybin. Harold Reynolds will sit down with
the pair and give fans some exclusive insight into what life is like for the
pair of 2005 first-round Draft picks.

And that’s
just to whet your appetite for the game coverage. You can watch the game itself
free on BaseballChannel.TV in conjunction with ESPN, or if you’re a Gameday
fan, the animated pitch-by-pitch function will be at your fingertips as well.

So will
being able to interact with players in both dugouts in a new and exciting way.
MLB.com writers will be stationed in both the

U.S. and World dugouts and will be
blogging throughout batting practice and the game. The blogs will be complete
with comments, observations and color from the players during the game.

Between
innings, stay tuned to BaseballChannel.TV. Micucci and Mayo will provide
insight and analysis from the booth while Winston and McRae will handle
in-dugout interviewing duties throughout the game, with an interview of the
game’s MVP to cap things off on the live program.

Be sure to check on the site postgame as well
for blanket coverage of the game. Two players, one from the

U.S. and one
from the World, will be miked up for a special feature. This year, the
participants will be Upton and Mets pitching prospect Deolis Guerra. Add that
to the notebooks, game stories, columns, photo galleries and other interviews
and it’s clear that the future is now. And it’s only on MLB.com.