Whats with MLB and early games?

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg, what do you think of Target Field?

the stadium is UNBELIEVABLE! Remember...we came from the Humpty Dome so this is a huge upgrade!

Do you think they should have built it considering that it does get cold in April, especially in Minnesota?

I dont mind it. I'd rather have an outdoor stadium than a retractable roof where the slightest temp change or possibly rain they close the lid (Milwaukee). We had one rain out and one suspended game last year so I think mother nature is a Twins fan

I mean the day games that they do play that you mentioned above, I mean temperature wise, how are they?

Have there been cold games in April and September? Yes...where the temp may get down below 40 by end of game.
But we've also had games where it was 90 out and we BAKED in the sun. 1st game I went to was in late May against Milwaukee and it was like 88 out and humid.
We went early September to a night game and it was breezy so it got chilly in the outfield. They have heaters in the concourses so we could walk them and still see the game.

But a sunny day in the summer with it 75 degrees and no humidity is worth it...and a helluva lot better than going inside to a stale environment

I mean from what I've seen on tv, it looks like the stadium is a nice one. Do the fans agree?

I was floored when I first saw it. I got there 2 hours early to take pictures of it.

There is a reason I have this as my desktop background on the computer

 

[Jimbo]

Ice, the Tigers didn't play their Home Opener till this past Friday, that's 2 series before playing at home for the first time, I'm guessing others were the same way.

On other notes, I would like to see Cincinnati be the first game again, but not the only game of the day.
Cincy could easily still start ahead of others if they wanted, just start the first game at 12:05, while the rest start at 1:05.

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[Mr Tony]

Jimbo
some northern teams were like that

Twins
Tigers
Red Sox
Pirates
Mets

all played 2 series then had the home opener Friday (Pittsburgh was Thursday)

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo
some northern teams were like that

Twins
Tigers
Red Sox
Pirates
Mets

all played 2 series then had the home opener Friday (Pittsburgh was Thursday)

I figured it was more than just the Tigers.

Also, the problem to my thoughts about starting the season in warm weather cities or domes is that then the Northern teams would NEVER open the season at home and that would be a disadvantage MLB wouldn't want to deal with.

 

[cybok0]

I could not handle living on the east coast and being a sports fan. Sometimes you guys have to wait until 10pm just to watch a game that won't end until after 1am. Then waiting until after 8 to watch playoff or nationally televised games

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Yeah it sucks.

 

[Peter Parker]

I could not handle living on the east coast and being a sports fan. Sometimes you guys have to wait until 10pm just to watch a game that won't end until after 1am. Then waiting until after 8 to watch playoff or nationally televised games

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We never should have let those damned Dodgers leave Brooklyn. That is what started the whole problem. Still I think it beats trying to watcha football game that sarts at 10 Am on sunday.

 

[Mets82]

Bottom line is this. MLB should have doubleheaders and playoff games in the daytime. Not all of them but some. Also, opening day should be in the daytime as well and have only division rivals play the first couple of games of the season. Yankees/Red Sox, Rays/Orioles, Mets/Phillies etc. It was mentioned above that in 2011, the Tigers played the Yankees at Yankee Stadium the first week of the season and that was it. That cant happen.

Also, a somewhat crazy idea, how about playing intereleague play in August or September. Imagine if the Yankees needed to get in the playoffs by beating the Mets??!! The Mets could play spoiler. What about if the Dodgers need to win the NL West and the Angels play spoiler?? What do you guys think about that?

 

[Mr Tony]

Also, a somewhat crazy idea, how about playing intereleague play in August or September. Imagine if the Yankees needed to get in the playoffs by beating the Mets??!! The Mets could play spoiler. What about if the Dodgers need to win the NL West and the Angels play spoiler?? What do you guys think about that?

ummmmmm....dont they have to do that next year when there are 15 teams per league?

 

[DodgerKing]

We never should have let those damned Dodgers leave Brooklyn. That is what started the whole problem. Still I think it beats trying to watcha football game that sarts at 10 Am on sunday.

I love those 10am starts. I can go mountain biking, skiing, or cycling in the morning and be back by 10am to watch a game. And I will not feel guilty about laying around watching games since I was already working out for 2 to 4 hours prior to the start of the game. The games then end at 1pm and I have the whole day to do something else.

 

[Mets82]

ummmmmm....dont they have to do that next year when there are 15 teams per league?

They are doing that? I must have forgot.

 

[Mr Tony]

yup...per wiki

Effect of Astros joining AL on scheduling

Starting in 2013, the Houston Astros will join the American League, giving each league 15 teams. This will force interleague play throughout the season. For the first time ever, teams will play interleague games even on opening day and during key division races all the way to the end of the season. This does not require expanding the number of interleague games because currently the number of interleague games is 252/2430 or about 1 in 9.6 games (not an integer because not all teams have the same number of interleague games). With an odd number of teams in each league, one teams in each league would be the "odd man out" and have to play an interleague game to fill out the schedule, meaning as few as 1 in 15 games could be interleague (14 AL teams in 7 AL games, 14 NL teams in 7 NL games and 1 AL and 1 NL team in an interleague game). Despite this, there have been proposals to increase interleague play anyway, to 30 games[13]. While the increase to 30 games is unlikely for the first few years of the same number of teams in each league, a smaller increase could take place immediately. One such proposal is for every team to play 20 interleague games.[14]. This would be done by having every team from one division play a 3 game series against four of the five teams another division of the other league on a rotating 3 year cycle. Every team would also play the fifth team from the same division of the other interleague games four times in either one four game series or two-two game series. The final four games would be rivalry games (such as Yankees-Mets, White Sox-Cubs, etc) played in two sets of two game series, one series a piece at home. However doing so would result in teams playing different amounts of home and away interleague games (8 home and 12 away or vice versa). While interleague play will be required every day, it is undesirable to have it early or late in the season. To remedy this, there will only be one interleague series in the first and last five weeks of the season, and no team will have to play more than one road series (to minimize playing by the other leagues rules) during this time. In addition, since the Astros would have to start using a designated hitter full-time, there is debate within MLB to unify the rules of the two leagues, with either the NL adopting the DH or the AL returning to its pre-1973 rules and have the pitcher hit, like the NL

 

[Jimbo]

Please allow me to put in a vote that I HATE the idea of Interleague play daily ...

Way to go Bud, you've ruined baseball further ....

The 1 game playoff is also a terrible idea.

 

[TNGTony]

NO DH!!!!!! If you allow a DH you need to expand the team to have a DH team and a defensive team. Every single argument one can come up with for having a DH for a pitcher applies to every singe other position on the field.

 

[Jimbo]

NO DH!!!!!! If you allow a DH you need to expand the team to have a DH team and a defensive team. Every single argument one can come up with for having a DH for a pitcher applies to every singe other position on the field.

Ya .... The Tigers have a lot of position players that can't HIT !