Top 7 Major League Baseball scheduling anomalies
ByDon’t adjust your television sets when you see the Phillies wearing their road greys at Citizens Bank Park. On Friday night we saw a rare scheduling situation where the Philadelphia Phillies were the visitors in their own ballpark while the Toronto Blue Jays wore their home whites. The G20 Summit caused security concerns in Toronto and forced the three game series to be moved to Philadelphia.
From what I heard on ESPN SportsCenter, the Blue Jays took the home gate receipt, the Phillies took the road win and the Blue Jays took the home loss. Individual statistics for the Phillies were counted as home stats and the Blue Jays’ players were credited for road stats.
Let’s turn back the block and look at a few other schedule discrepancies that were not planned such as Major League Baseball games being played at neutral sites and odd doubleheaders. If you didn’t know any better it would make you think twice when you saw the highlights on SportsCenter:
Doubleheader versus two teams: On September 25, 2000, the Cleveland Indians played a doubleheader against two teams. They played a makeup game versus the Chicago White Sox in the day and then played the regularly scheduled game versus the Minnesota Twins that night. (Source: Wikipedia)
Home-and-home doubleheader on the same day: The New York Mets and Yankees played three different home-and-home doubleheaders on the same day. They would play one game at one team’s home and then travel across town to play the other game at the other team’s stadium. This occurred on July 8, 2000; June 28, 2003 and June 27, 2008. (Source: Wikipedia)
Hurricane Ike displaces Astros-Cubs series: In September 2008, the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros series, originally scheduled to be played at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, was played in Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Astros were designated the home team despite Miller Park being located less than 100 miles away from Chicago. The three-game series was shortened to two, the third was to be played if necessary after the last scheduled regular season game. The neutral site series was highlighted by Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitter. (Source: Tom Haudricourt, Journal-Sentinel)
Hurricane Ivan forces Marlins and Expos to Chicago: In September 2004 Hurricane Ivan made it impossible for the Marlins to play their home series against the Montreal Expos, so both teams moved their series to U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. It was a five game series and the first two games were moved to Chicago with the other three to played in Miami later that week. (Source: Associated Press)
Snow forces Cleveland Indians to have Opening Day in Milwaukee: An April 2007 snowstorm that already cancelled the Cleveland Indians opening series versus the Seattle Mariners threatened the next series against the Los Angeles Angels. The team took advantage of the domed stadium in Milwaukee’s Miller Park and the Indians and Angels played three games there. All seats were sold for $10 a piece. (Source: Wikipedia)
Collapsed beam forces Yankees to play home game at Shea: On April 15, 1998, the Yankees played one home game against the Anaheim Angels at Shea Stadium, home of the New York Yankees. The team was forced out of their stadium because a beam collapsed at Yankee Stadium two days before, destroying several seats. The Mets had a home game that same night against the Chicago Cubs. The Yankees used the visitor’s locker room and dugout and the Angels used the home dugout and the old locker room of the New York Jets. (Source: Wikipedia)
Construction delays force A’s to open season in Las Vegas: In April 1996, the Oakland Athletics were forced to play their first six-game home stand at 9,300-seat Cashman Field in Las Vegas. The Raiders forced expansion to their shared stadium and construction was not finished in time for the beginning of the baseball season. (Source: Wikipedia)

