Carroll’s Column: What Goes With MLB’s Regular Season Scheduling?

[IMPORTANT: Make this 4 times longer with much more detail]

Sports Carroll’s Column: What Goes With MLB’s Regular Season Scheduling? by Lloyd Carroll April 14, 2025 Image Credit: Latino Sports NEW YORK, NY — It seems as if each April of Major League Baseball’s regular season, those in the industry turn back to the same or similar talking topic—MLB’s issues with the scheduling of certain matchups in the early goings of the year based on potential weather conditions/postponements. Don’t get me wrong. I am far from a baseball purist, but MLB should consider dropping interleague play. If it is unwilling to do that, then it should severely limit it to geographic proximity of the teams such as the AL East vs. the NL East. The current MLB scheduling policy calls for each team to play at least one three-game series against every other MLB team. Major League Baseball executives understandably feel fans in every city want to see superstars like Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Bryce Harper. The current schedule system allows for that to happen every other year. While that is an understandable business model, it ignores the realities of weather. Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports There is no doubt the Yankees would have preferred to postpone their Friday night game with the San Francisco Giants. It was winter-like cold to go along with all day rain. The weather forecast for Saturday was not much better even if they wanted to try a day-night doubleheader. The result was a rain-shortened game in which the Giants prevailed, 9-1. In his postgame interview on the YES Network, Yankees reliever Ryan Yarbrough, who pitched a scoreless two innings, admitted the players were concerned about their health and safety playing on a soaked field. It was unfair to everyone to have that game played. Yet, I cannot blame the Yankees for squeezing it in under these adverse conditions. Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports It is incredibly hard to reschedule games given the lack of off-days and the grueling travel schedules all teams have. Last week, I criticized the Mets for scheduling a Saturday game against the Toronto Blue Jays at 7PM instead of making it an afternoon matinee. I am tough, but I am fair. They did the right thing in moving Tuesday’s game with the Miami Marlins from 7PM to 4PM so fans and players would not have to brave temperatures in the thirties with a wind chill making it feel colder than that. The conditions were still quite frigid on Tuesday afternoon for the hearty fans who came out to Citi Field. SNY Mets in-game reporter Steve Gelbs, made friends with many of them by dispensing free cups of hot chocolate complete with whipped cream. It was a fun bit which made for good television. Mets honor St. John’s Red Storm at Citi Field The Mets honored the St. John’s University men’s basketball team for their good season on Wednesday. Head coach Rick Pitino wore a Mets jersey bearing Tom Seaver’s #41. Pitino showed grace by not mentioning he grew up, and remains, a diehard Yankees fan. Image Credit: Hector Beauchamp/Latino Sports Red Storm big man Zuby Ejiofor threw out the ceremonial first pitch to former Mets closer and St. John’s University alumnus John Franco. Even though he never played baseball, Ejiofor threw a perfect strike to Franco. He may want to give pitching tips to Edwin Diaz. Mets’ President of Baseball Operations David Stearns meets with press Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns met with the press last Monday. I asked him if he is pleased with the progress of the Mets top pick in the 2022 MLB amateur draft, Kevin Parada, whose name did not come up when the Mets needed a catcher after Francisco Alvarez got injured during spring training. “Kevin has had his ups and downs, but we still like the player,” Stearns replied. That is general manager-speak for “He is a bust.” Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports SNY Mets play-by-play voice, and Flushing native, Gary Cohen emphasized that point later that night when discussing current Mets backup catcher Hayden Senger. “In 2023, Hayden Senger was Kevin Parada’s backup catcher in Double-A Binghamton. It’s 2025 and Parada is still in Binghamton.” 46th Annual Sports Emmy Awards set for May 20th at Frederick P. Rose Hall The 46 th annual Sports Emmy Awards nominations were announced last week. Forest hills High School alumnus Ian Eagle is competing against his son, Noah Eagle, in the category of “Outstanding Personality/Play-by-Play.” Whitestone native Mike Tirico and ESPN NBA lead anchor and Knicks MSG Network TV voice Mike Breen are also up for that award. The Sports Emmy Awards will take place on May 20 at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center. Comedian Roy Wood, Jr. who hosts CNN’s clever Saturday night show, “Have I Got News for You” will be the master of ceremonies. Image Credit: National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Tom Brady, who was not nominated for any Sports Emmy Awards, has opened a sports card and memorabilia store at the American Dream Mall across the road from MetLife Stadium. Another Pathetic for NBA Season in Brooklyn Another pathetic season has ended for the Brooklyn Nets, but not before they endured one last indignity. Their games are shown on the YES Network except when they conflict with a live Yankees game. Last Tuesday, the Yankees lost an afternoon matinee in Detroit to the Tigers, 5-0. That night the Nets played the New Orleans Pelicans at Barclays Center. Image Credit: NBA YES executives figured that running a replay of the Yankees game would generate better ratings than showing the live Nets game, so they farmed it out to Channel 55, WLNY. Shockingly, the Nets won that game. Sam Rosen and John Davidson in the booth together The National Hockey League did something nice last Wednesday as they allowed retiring Rangers TV voice Sam Rosen to work with his longtime and former MSG Network analyst John Davidson on TNT’s national broadcast of the Flyers-Rangers game at the Garden. The duo, however, could not change the Rangers’ hard luck as they were beaten by the one-time Broad Street Bullies, 8-5. Rosen and Davidson displayed great chemistry even though they had not worked together in twenty years. Stephen A. Smith appears on ABC’s show “This Week with Jonathan Karl” Hollis native, and ESPN’s most famous personality, Stephen A. Smith was a guest on ABC’s prestigious Sunday morning news show, “This Week with Jonathan Karl.” Smith says he is considering a run for the presidency of the United States in 2028. Image Credit: ABC Considering that many scoffed at the idea of another guy from Queens running for president a decade ago, I would not be dismissive of the notion of Mr. Smith going to Washington. Tribeca Film Festival this coming June HBO’s documentary on the life of Billy Joel will kick off the Tribeca Film Festival which will take place the first week of June. Paying Tribute and Remembering Nicky Katt I was saddened to learn of the death of actor Nicky Katt on Saturday. Katt was one of the stars of the 1999 film, “Boiler Room,” about the seedy world of penny stocks. Image Credit: IMDb It was made more than twenty years before Leonardo DiCaprio made “The Wolf of Wall Street” which covered the same terrain. DiCaprio played Bayside native Jordan Belfort who ran the sleazy penny stock brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont. Much of “Boiler Room” was filmed in Queens. Nicky Katt was only 54. You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle. Related Topics 46th Annual Sports Emmy Awards ABC’s show “This Week with Jonathan Karl” Brooklyn Nets Citi Field David Stearns Frederick P. Rose Hall HBO Hockey John Davidson Major League Baseball Mets MLB National Hockey League NBA Nets New York Mets New York Yankees NHL Nicky Katt Red Storm Sam Rosen St. Johns Red Storm Stephen A. Smith Tribeca Film Festival Yankee Stadium Yankees Click to comment Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. 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