The Los Angeles Angels have gotten off to a surprisingly good start this year. Expected to battle the Athletics of the Northern Region of California for fourth place in the American League West, the Angels are 11-11 on the year. Yes, they are battling the Athletics for fourth place, and are actually in fourth place right now, but they are also just a half-game back of Seattle and Houston, who are tied for second, and two and a half games back of first place Texas.
But I regret to inform you that the Angels are Angels-ing again, in terms of decisions by management. From Sam Blum in the Athletic:
If it were up to many Los Angeles Angels players, they’d enjoy a late afternoon plane ride after Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, landing in Minnesota at a reasonable hour.
They’d get dinner, a restful night’s sleep, and all the time needed to prepare for Friday’s game against the Twins.
That’s what would have happened had the Angels followed a standard set across the league and played an early afternoon getaway day game against the Pirates. It’s a common practice that’s followed almost universally across the sport.
Instead, the Angels scheduled Thursday’s game for 6:29 p.m. — nine minutes earlier than their typical evening start time of 6:38 p.m. It’s the latest possible minute allowed for first pitch, according to the sport’s collective bargaining agreement. They’ll watch the sun rise over the Land of 10,000 Lakes and attempt to win on very little sleep.
Blum goes on to include negative quotes about the situation from Mike Trout, Kenley Jansen and Taylor Ward. Manager Ron Washington said about the decision “I think you need to talk to the people that make the game times, because I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes.”
I encourage you to read the entire piece, as Blum sets out how unusual this is and the problems that the scheduling entails.
But it also strikes me that the specific scheduling of the game for the very latest time allowed under the CBA, one minute before 6:30 p.m., just highlights the tone-deafness and obliviousness of the Angels management. Why not just schedule the game for 6:08 p.m. — thirty minutes before the usual time? Its a more normal time for the game to start, one that wouldn’t make it so glaringly obvious what management is doing here.
But no, the Angels choose to do this in the stupidest way possible, and in a way that ensures it pisses off their players and draws attention from the baseball world at large.
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