PHILADELPHIA -- One by one, the players filtered out to the field. One by one they returned to the locker room to collect jackets, ear muffs, snowmobile suits, electric blankets. Anything to ward off the March evening chill.
We're not in Florida any more, Toto.
It is one of the wonders of the world. "What? Baseball?" you ask. No, Major League Baseball's annual bout of amnesia. Every year, they make up a schedule and every year it includes games in late March and early April in places such as Philadelphia, New York, Boston Cleveland and Detroit where it's just as likely they'll get a late-season snow storm.
The Blue Jays and Phillies avoided rain last night and probably will again today. But when the Jays' regular season opens on Monday in New York, they'll have to get lucky again to get that one in. The forecast? Rain and a high of 8C.
What a shock! Rain? Cold? In March? Who knew?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. So shame on you, MLB.
After last season's disastrous (and patently unfair) scheduling dilemma that put the Cleveland Indians at a distinct disadvantage to start the season, you might have thought the MLB schedule-makers would have got a clue. The Indians had seven consecutive games postponed by weather.
Trying to play early April baseball games in the American northeast and midwest, is not a good idea. It becomes especially stupid when there are ample warm-weather sites available to give the north a little bit more time to warm up.
In the American League, there are seven cities where the fans and players should not be asked to endure raw April temperatures and the threat of miserably cold rain and even snow. New York, Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and even Kansas City should be avoided, at least until the middle of April. But no. Take a look at the schedule to start the season. The Yankees, Orioles, Tigers and Indians are hosting games on opening day. Good luck.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of AL stadiums that would welcome games that day, or any other day in the season, for that matter. Toronto, Tampa, Minnesota, Seattle, Anaheim, Texas and Oakland could almost guarantee acceptable conditions. the Jays, Rays, twins and Mariners all have parks with roofs. How many brain cells does it take to schedule opening day games in those places?
Anaheim, Texas and Oakland are geographically positioned to be able to deliver decent weather at this time of year.
The argument for delaying the attempt to go into northern, open-air stadiums by, say, a week or 10 days is pretty much unassailable.
So, guess what? Toronto, Tampa, Texas and Anaheim are all opening on the road. The ultimate absurdity is having Tampa play at Baltimore (Monday forecast: Rain and a high of 10C).
NL SAME STORY
It's the same in the National League, where the Phillies, Cubs and Reds are all hosting early next week. Four of the NL's warm-weather teams are playing against each other. Another, the Arizona Diamondbacks, with a covered stadium in a warm-weather town, are scheduled to play at Cincinnati (50% chance of rain). And the Milwaukee Brewers who play at Miller Park, which happens to have a roof? They're playing 100 miles south at Wrigley Field.
Getting back to the 2007 Indians, they had seven consecutive games postponed; games that had to be crammed into an already heavy schedule later in the year.
To their great credit, the Indians overcame that disadvantage to win the AL Central on the final weekend of the season, but it doesn't change the notion that they began the year with one hand tied behind their backs.
Obviously, foul weather can hit any city at any time. Short of having a covered ball field, there are no guarantees. But to ignore the obvious doesn't speak well of the intellect at work at MLB headquarters.
Players don't like it. Fans don't like it. And general managers just hate it, waiting for the next torn hamstring or blown shoulder.
