MLB Favors the Yankees? Really?
Thursday, October 18, 2012I was mystified by last night’s rain postponement of the Tigers-Yankees game in Detroit because there was, uh, no rain here. I scratched my head when, upon turning on the game, I was directed to an episode of Seinfeld. Then I found this on ESPN.
According to an announcement in the pressbox, the game was postponed “to preserve the integrity of an uninterrupted contest.”
“They kept saying it was going to come and it never came,” Tigers pitcher Max Scherzersaid. “So, go figure.”
The first pitch had been scheduled for 8:07 p.m., but shortly before then, the crowd was informed of the delay. A radar forecast for the Detroit area was eventually posted on the scoreboard video screen, as if to explain to fans why there was no baseball despite what was still rather pleasant weather at the ballpark.
I guess I don’t watch enough sports on TV to know that they now cancel games because it might rain or because a cold front is coming through the area. A local Detroit media outlet reported,
The rain delay started as a preemptive measure as a cold front moved into the area. The threat of rain, not rain itself, ultimately caused the game’s postponement. The MLB called it “the forecast for inclement weather.”
What really happened is the following: Yankee pitcher CC Sabathia is being held up as the last savior of the poor Yankees, who are one game away from going back to the Bronx empty handed. Thus he is pivotal to saving Major League Baseball, a quasi-government organization that pampers its multi-millionaire superstars in pinstripes. The Yankees didn’t want to take a chance that Sabathia would pitch a few innings on Wednesday and have the rain come, causing the game to be halted and continued on Thursday. That would leave Sabathia unavailable to pitch Thursday’s game, and thus unable to save the Yankees and MLB. Even The Guardian made fun of the delay: “New York Yankees saved by a rainless rain delay against Detroit Tigers.” I am looking forward to a World Series lacking the Elite Coast teams. Go Cardinals!
I don’t want to jinx my Detroit Tigers, but here’s to a great combination: the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Tigers. And by the way, tonight’s forecast is for … possible rain.
Wade says:
October 18th, 2012 at 8:18 am
I’m not so sure about your conspiracy theory…without the rainout, Sabathia would have been able to start a potential game 7, albeit on 3 days rest…but the rainout took away a travel day, so unless there is another rainout, Sabathia’s only start in the series will be in game 4
I’m certainly not a Yankees fan, and i look forward to a Cardinal-Tiger rematch of the 2006 World Series!…but in this case I do not believe that MLB had any nefarious intentions by postponing the game last night
Respectfully,
wade in st. louis
Melissa says:
October 18th, 2012 at 11:55 am
What a crock. Meanwhile, the Giants/Cardinals game was delayed 3.5 hours last night due to rain, but they resumed play when it cleared up.
liberranter says:
October 18th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Thanks, Karen, for updating us non-Detroiters on the real story behind last night. I had turned TBS on at just before 6:00PM PDT to try to catch the game in progress and saw the news of the rain delay. I assumed it to be genuine, seeing as the NLCS game in St. Louis was apparently similarly delayed.
You’re correct about the MLB, the State, and the entire media establishment being “in the tank” for the Yankees (bad as the TBS commentators are, the clowns on the MLB channel and ESPN are even more blatant about it). Still, in the end, it won’t matter. These pampered losers are NOT going to the World Series, no matter what underhanded stalling tactics those in charge might try. Sabathia (one of the most overrated pitchers in baseball, IMO) might pull off a by-the-skin-of-the-ass win and rescue the Bronx Boneheads from a complete sweep, but I find that highly unlikely. A team that is collectively hitting barely above .200 just isn’t World Series material, no matter how the MSM tries to spin things and no matter how much of a sense of post-season entitlement the Boneheads and their fan base still cling to. (Of course Joe Girardi will still have a job with the Yankees even after failing to get them to their entitled Series place for the third year in a row and after the team slinks back to the Bronx, tails tucked underneath gonads. Little Hank Steinbrenner and his front-office castrati can’t possibly let the team’s embarrassing post-season performance result in public repercussions highlighting the team’s incompetence.)
So, yes, GO TIGERS! I have, however, become quite aggravated with Jim Leyland’s ninth-inning gambles with his under-performing closing pitchers (leaving Justin Verlander in the game through the ninth inning the other night, his pitch count up to 130, wasn’t wise either, tempting as it certainly was to both prove Verlander’s staying power AND avoid overtaxing the Tiger’s bullpen). That’s playing with fire and taunting disaster, even considering the team’s comfortable three-game cushion.
Tom Stenzel says:
October 18th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Two words:
Didn’t work.
liberranter says:
October 19th, 2012 at 2:38 am
Two words:
Didn’t work.
Nope, it sure didn’t. I certainly don’t envy the Boneheads for having to face the predatory New York area sports media (although my Schadenfreude meter is pegging off the scale right now).