Over the course of a 162 game season, major league ballplayers are all about rhythm and routine. This season, the Yankees as well as several other teams, have yet to realize the flow of playing every day due to the weather. It’s hurting not only the affected teams but baseball as a whole – a lot.
The New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers were supposed to play a four-game set at Comerica Park in the only appearance by the Yankees scheduled against the AL Central Tigers for this season. The teams managed to play only one game with the other three postponed due to “inclement” weather.
The teams have agreed on a split doubleheader as a makeup on June 4 when both teams have a regularly scheduled day off. The weatherman is causing some hard feelings though as the Yankees especially, as opposed to the Tigers who are already playing the season out, look forward to having a pile-up of games later in the summer in the midst of a pennant race.
David Robertson was among the Yankees to speak out:
The Tigers played by the rules, though, and it is what it is. And what it is is a great big mess for the Yankees and Aaron Boone to deal with in the midst of a young season in which nothing has gone right for the Yankees.
Swings taken under the stands by hitters who rely on timing and seeing live pitching every day do not erase the real thing. And for pitchers, the blow of an extra days rest or two, which may be desired in August is not what is looked for when all the pieces are not quite together yet in April.
So what? Is this the excuse for the Yankees being a .500 team at 7-7 while the Red Sox are zooming off the planet and threatening to make a joke of the race for the AL East title. Make it that way if you want to, but the reality is the Yankees need to realize the season is off to a bad start and things will never be the same as they looked only a few weeks ago before the season began.
The problem for the Yankees is exasperated with the rain in the Midwest now moving east and putting the next three days on the schedule in jeopardy against the woeful Florida Marlins, a team the Yankees would like to jump on at the moment to improve on their own woeful 7-7 record.
The Yankees are not the only team feeling the impact of bad weather, though. The Chicago Cubs join the Yankees with only a .500 mark to begin the season, and the Cleveland Indians (8-6) home games have seen snow on the field.
While some would strike the flame at Major League Baseball for any number of reasons, the culprit remains the unpredictability of nature and the ensuing weather.
For Larry Rothschild, the Yankees pitching coach, and Aaron Boone, the challenge to juggle the starting pitching staff remains in their domain. CC Sabathia, recovered from a hip injury, is locked in to make the start on Tuesday, or whenever the chance arises after Luis Severino gets the next available start. But from there, the pieces of the puzzle have yet to be named.
Obviously, the good news is the bullpen gets a much-deserved rest due to the inability of the Yankees starters to provide some length in most of their starts Of note, there is need to have some concern in particular about Sonny Gray and when, if ever, he is going to blossom into the pitcher the Yankees think they bought at a handsome price from the Oakland A’s. There’s something going on there, and no one including Gray seems to know what it is.
So, we’ll see. But the situation the Yankees find themselves in with the Red Sox already giving the appearance of having the ability to run away, together with the unpredictable weather, should give pause to both Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman this is only the beginning of a season that is shaping up to be a whole lot more than they thought they would have to handle.
The one game played this weekend had some positive highlights, and in case you missed them….
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
