Here is what I was thinking. Modify the Channel scenario so that you have very low visibility (not that hard) and have the British think that something bigger is going on.
Or.
Lets say the Germans do try to "run the gauntlet" with capitol ships. When would they meet the British ships? If the Germans knew what was coming they might be able to survive, but if they are in the channel that only gives them about 50 miles in which to operate. How would a German fleet cope with that and how would the British fleet be equipped for such a confrontation.
And another question: How would the land war be going during these early days of the war?
Easy. German fleet dies, nearly all of it. British lose about 12 pre-dreads and maybe one dread out of the 11 engaged (probably a BC). The RN has, in Home Waters, a better than 2-1 advantage in platforms and closer to a 3-1 advantage in throw weight. The Germans are cut off from retreat, which is all that saved them at Jutland, despite the horrific performance of the BC on that day.
The land war doesn't exist in any meaningful way, not in this scenario. Armies of the era had to mobilize, a process that took at least a couple of weeks before they could make any sort of serious broad front assault. You have to somehow get France to start a land war with Germany TWO WEEKS before the "surprise" encounter in the Channel.
The unbderlying problem here is that NOBODY is going to help the Germans. Nobody.
WW I happened by mistake, mostly because Germany was the cheerleader for a creaky empire that was trying to look tough in the face of a second creaky empire. That isn't the case here. Germany was cruising for a beating in the early 1900's (call it feeling their oats, or ego, or whatever you like, they were like a 17 year old kid, all balls & no brains), and if the British kicked the snot out of them there would have been general approval.
Germany couldn't get at the UK except by sea, the UK had no desire to get involved on the European mainland where Germany was strong on the ground.
There was going to be a massive land war in Europe, no question about that, but the chances of it starting with the High Seas Fleet taking a hiding are vanishingly small.