Will the upcoming game times play havoc with the Nats and those who cover them?
Yesterday, I was looking at one of my Washington Nationals pocket schedules when I noticed the next few months are going to be tough for the Nats regardless of their opponents. Between a seemingly high number of day games and travel that includes two trips to the west coast, the Nats are not going to be able to get into much of a regular routine. How they adjust to arrhythmic schedule will be one of the key parts of the 2011 season.
After this Friday night, they will do not have more than 2 games in row scheduled at the same time again until June 14-15 when they host the St. Louis Cardinals. After this weekend’s series when they play the Florida Marlins at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday and 1:35 p.m. on Sunday, the next time they have even 2 games in a row until May 23-24 when they are in Milwaukee to play the Brewers.
- Starting this Sunday, the Nats play DAY (vs. Marlins)-NIGHT-DAY (vs. Pittsburgh Pirates)-night-day (at New York Mets)-night-4:05-1:35 (at Baltimore Orioles) before those two consecutive nights in Milwaukee. They finish up that road trip with a 1:10 game.
- Returning to Washington the Nats have a day off before hosting the San Padres series starting on Friday evening, May 27. Then a 1:05 p.m. Saturday game, followed by a 1:35 p.m. Sunday game, then 1:05 p.m. on Memorial Day with the Philadelphia Phillies in town. That stretch isn’t too bad and the schedule settles down a little with the big western swing with two consecutive 9:40 p.m. (PDT/MST) games at the Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by 8:10 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. games. Two 10:15 games follow when the play the Giants in San Francisco with a 3:45 p.m. series finale. That is still no more than 2 games at the same time in a row.
- Then, the Nats go down the coast to San Diego for two 10:05 p.m. games, an 8:35 p.m. game and finally a 4:05 p.m. game before an off day to travel back to D.C. for 4 consecutive 7:05 p.m. home games. The weekend of the 17th and 18th, they host the O’s for two day games, take a day off, and then host the Seattle Mariners for two 7:05 p.m games and then a 1:05 p.m. game, followed by a road trip (without a day off) to the Southside of Chicago to face the White Sox in games with 8:10 p.m., 4:10 p.m. and 2:10 p.m.
- Immediately following the final White Sox game on June 26, it is back out west without a day off for two 10:05 games in Anaheim against the Los Angelos Angeles, followed by a 7:05 game and a travel day.
- The first half ends with a fairly typical homestead that begins with two 7:05 p.m. games with Pittsburgh, followed by a couple of day games on July 3-4 followed five consecutive 7:05 games before a 1:35 start on the day before the All-Star break.
I don’t envy that schedule at all, because who among us wants to work at 7 p.m. for a couple of days and then 1 p.m. followed by 7 p.m. and then 4 p.m.? I’m not going to get too worked up about it though, since the MLB minimum salary is over $400,000. I do have some sympathy for the team’s support staff, at home and on the road or both, though. I don’t know how many people travel with the team everywhere they go, but I am fairly certain most of them are not making anywhere near $400K. This goes for the people who cover the team, like the broadcasters and the beat writers, though the beats probably get to take a series or two off during this upcoming run. The TV broadcasters have been known to take vacation a few times during the season, but Charlie Slowes has to my knowledge, never missed a game in 7 seasons. I don’t think Dave Jageler has missed any during his 6 season tenure either.
I’m not complaining about more day games though! Baseball on the radio during the workday is always a welcome addition to the day.
As for last night, the Nats nearly seized defeat from the jaws of victory, letting a 7-1 5th inning lead melt away to a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves. Jason Marquis won his 100th career game and Jayson Werth hit a 3 run homer with 2 outs in the 5th.
Nationals vs. Braves: Washington erupts, then barely hangs on for win – The Post
Nationals hang on to give Marquis milestone win – The Wash. Times
[...] The Nats host the Florida Marlins tonight at 7:05 and then at 1:05 and 1:35 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, the beginning of a difficult stretch of the schedule. [...]
[...] 2 of 3 to the San Francisco Giants and taking 3 of 4 from the San Diego Padres. They are about halfway through an odd stretch of schedule that has very few games starting at the same time on the …. Starting tomorrow, the Nats next four games are at 7:05 p.m., the most consecutive days with the [...]