Before I begin, let’s not get crazy with our reactions. About six days ago, the sky was falling because the Cardinals were 0-3 and couldn’t score a run to save their lives. Since then, all I hear about is how many runs the Cardinals have scored compared to the Cubs.
Now Mets pitchers are all of a sudden struggling and the “Metsees” (as Keith Hernandez would say) are winless in their last three or whatever and Matt Harvey’s strikeouts are down, Jacob deGrom is dealing with a back issue and Steven Matz was just shelled by a right-handed heavy Marlins lineup.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s too soon to hit the panic button in some of these scenarios.
I want to start today though with the scheduling of Major League Baseball.
I sat last night, watching the Mets and Marlins play at a very cold Citi Field. I sat Sunday watching the Mets host the Phillies at a frigid Citi Field, and I watched Saturday night watching players and umpires do anything they could to keep any part of their bodies warm.
This is ridiculous. The worst thing is, that’s not the only baseball that I have seen in the cold weather this year or the last, well 20-whatever I’ve been watching.
Here’s the deal MLB: I know you want teams to get home games in the early part of the schedule. I understand that. I really do. But a warm-weather Marlins club playing the New York Mets in the first weeks of the season in the northeast, notoriously cold, is just ludicrous.
And yes, I do understand you can’t load up a warm or dome team’s schedule with all home games in the first few weeks of the season, I totally get that too.
And I’m not saying the Mets or Phillies or Twins or Tigers should play their first home game in mid-to-late April, but can we do a better job of scheduling?
Why are we playing so many night games when the temperature across the midwest and northeast drops almost 15-20 degrees once the sun sets at quarter to eight?
While these teams need home games, they also need fan support to make money at these events, and if you watched any baseball at all, section after section at stadium after stadium are empty, because who wants to go out and sit and watch a baseball game when game time temperatures are 45-degrees at best, and will only drop as the evening moves along?
Hell, who wants to even play in that? I used to and it totally sucks.
This is what baseball needs to to.
First, the first week of the season, there’s no reason the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros should be playing anywhere but their home parks, against teams like Minnesota or Detroit.
Second, the first almost three weeks of the season, games in cold weather cities (obviously excluding Milwaukee, Toronto and Seattle, who play in domes) need to be day games.
Why? Because the day time temperatures in these locations are significantly warmer than evening and night temperatures, drawing more fans, making the game better to be a part of for the players and more watchable for the fan in the stands and at home.
Additionally, day games need to be scheduled in case rain and inclement weather pushes the start times back.
But finally, warm weather games need to be scheduled because teams probably aren’t bringing in the money the normally do during a fair-to-good weather day at the ballpark.
Just taking a stab in the dark judging by the empty seats you see all over the place at these early season games.
And, again, I do realize a lot of these seats are probably empty because people aren’t inclined to take work off early in the year, especially with kids in school still, to go to the ballpark, but the junk weather is making that decision to stay in so much easier.
This is something that has bothered me for a long time and watching a warm weather Miami Marlins team play in New York last night was really annoying to watch.
Other notes:
- Don’t look now, but the lightning rod that is Yasiel Puig is off to a roaring start in 2016. So far, Puig has a home run, 4 RBIs and a 5:4 BB:K ratio.
- The Chicago Cubs overcame a 3-run deficit and were no-hit through almost seven innings and still won Monday night proving just how difficult it will be to not only shut this offense out, but hold them down an entire game. I’m setting the over/under at 3 for shutouts of this offense this season.
- Speaking of being shut out, the Tampa Bay Rays offense continues to slide early in the year. I’ve said it over and over and over, but the Rays have the pitching to beat any offense on any night, will their bats give them enough support to get past that three-run threshold that I think is going to be the key number for this team this year? It’s a rock fight every night you play Tampa and the first to three is usually going to be the winner.
- We got our first glimpse of the future outfield in Texas a few years ago, when Joey Gallo, then a third basemen, made his big league debut. Now Nomar Mazara is the latest Rangers phenom to break into the big leagues and has done so in amazing fashion (5-for-8 with a HR, 2 RBIs). The Rangers have a special player in Mazara with another one in Lewis Brinson right behind him. I said it earlier this weekend, that outfield in Texas is going to be the best in baseball as soon as next summer. I would not want to be a pitcher in the American League West in the near future.
- Speaking of the AL West, they’re the only league without a team above .500 thus far (as of Tuesday’s games). I picked the A’s to win the division, and if their pitching staff finds health and consistency, that’s not a team that you want to get down in the mud and play in July, August or September. Billy Beane put together a really good team this year. As Brad Pitt said in Moneyball, “You may not look like a winning team, but you are one.” 2016 totally epitomizes the moneyball mentality of the Oakland A’s.
There’s just a few early thoughts of mine as we get into the 2016 MLB season, I’m going to work on a prospect piece for you. Some guys to keep an eye on in the minors this summer.
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Washington Nationals - From the reigning Cy Young award winner to one of the best young sluggers in the game and perhaps another exciting young shortstop to join a plethora of them across baseball, the Nationals have the look of one of the best teams in baseball. I look for a huge bounce back year from Bryce Harper. The Nationals don't have a very complete lineup but it's exceptional in a lot of places making it very tough.
New York Mets - Here's my theory: The 2017 New York Mets will win the world series. Lucas Duda is playing for likely the only payday of his career. Neil Walker is playing for probably his last payday of his career. Same for Jose Reyes and Jay Bruce. It's time for Matt Harvey to start putting together some consistency before he hits the free agent market in a few years. Jacob deGrom looks good in the spring. Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler have a lot to prove. I think there's all the makings of a big season from a lot of Mets and if there's one thing I know, you can bank on guys playing for more money (see what I did there?).
Atlanta Braves - I'm not going to lie, I still have no idea what the Braves are doing but good grief do they have an impressive collection of young arms and Bartolo Colon. It's not the flashiest lineup but it should be good enough to give the Nationals and Mets a run for their money atop the division.
Miami Marlins - If you don't feel for the Marlins and what happened to them with Jose Fernandez, you're just cold blooded. It'll be hard not to root for the Fish this year and while they have some great players, I just don't think the Fish have enough pitching to keep up in the pitching rich NL East. I think people finally saw how good Christian Yelich is during the WBC.
Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies, like the Braves have a really good collection of young pitchers. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility the Braves, Marlins and Phillies each finish at .500 or close to it. Philadelphia has something special brewing and if their collection of young arms start to contribute, the bandwagon is going to start to fill up fast.
