Blame Rob Manfred for Yankees-Guardians Game 2 postponement

There will be no New York Yankees baseball on Thursday, folks. We’re extremely sorry. Still waiting on that apology from commissioner Rob Manfred, though, because this occurrence is without a doubt his fault.

Inclement weather postponed the Yankees-Guardians ALDS Game 2, which will now be played on Friday at 1:07 p.m. ET. But this didn’t have to happen if Manfred didn’t unnecessarily re-jigger the division series schedule, which for some odd reason featured an off day for both New York-Cleveland as well as the Astros-Mariners series in between Games 1 and 2. Had to be some non-compete in the FOX NLDS contract.

Wednesday evening in New York featured beautiful weather. Game 2 would’ve been played on a near-perfect autumn night.

If MLB wanted a day off, that’s fine. If they wanted to maximize a few other games for financial purposes, that’s fine too. But then space everything out more appropriately. Fans foresaw this as a problem the moment the postseason schedule dropped.

Now, we’re running into a situation where Games 2, 3, 4 and 5 would (if necessary) be played on consecutive nights, even following multiple travel days.

Tonight’s NYY-CLE game is postponed due to the forecast of sustained inclement weather & will be made up tomorrow, Friday, October 14 at 1:07 PM. pic.twitter.com/OyWtLomUr6
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 13, 2022

Yankees-Guardians ALDS Game 2 has been postponed. Blame Rob Manfred.

But guess what! Even if Game 2 wasn’t postponed, Games 3-5 would’ve been played on consecutive days! How does this help?

Additionally, this unnecessarily crunched the ALCS. Or, wait, Manfred did that too! With ALDS Games 3-5 being played Saturday-Monday, the ALCS was set to look like this:

Game 1 – Wed. Oct. 19
Game 2 – Thurs. Oct. 20
Game 3 – Sat. Oct. 22
Game 4 – Sun. Oct. 23
Game 5 – Mon. Oct. 24
Game 6 – Tues. Oct. 25
Game 7 – Wed. Oct. 26

One day off after Games 1 and 2 for travel. ZERO days off from Games 3-7, which would include one travel day in between a potential crucial “swing” Game 6.

New ALDS schedule with today's rainout

Gm 2 Fri 10/14 at NYY 1:07
Gm 3 Sat 10/15 at CLE 7:37
Gm 4 Sun 10/16 at CLE 7:07
Gm 5 Mon 10/17 at NYY 7:37

No Cortes/Bieber on 3 days rest in Game 5, now looks like a 4th SP would go if necessary (Taillon? Facing Civale or Plesac?)
— James Smyth (@JamesSmyth621) October 13, 2022

The ALDS day off between Games 1 and 2 made no sense, either. There’s both college football and NFL football on Thursday night. Isn’t that more of an incentive to put more games on Wednesday? Couldn’t the ALDS have started sooner after the two sweeps in the Wild Card round, with the NLDS starting a day later to stagger it all?

Because now you just screwed up a crucial Game 5 for everyone here. Nestor Cortes and Shane Bieber won’t be available on short rest for a do-or-die all-hands-on-deck matchup if the series were to go to the brink.

In theory, this wouldn’t have even been a worst-case scenario if Wednesday had gotten rained out. But here we are. The Guardians should be even more furious, too, because they were already behind with Bieber having to start the Wild Card series, and now he’ll likely only be able to throw one time in this five-game set.

At the very least, this situation will be a learning experience for next year … we hope.

What happens if Yankees’ weather ruins ALDS Game 2 vs Cleveland Guardians?

What happens if the New York Yankees get rained out before they can battle the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of the ALDS and MLB Playoffs?

Yankees-Guardians ALDS Game 2 has been postponed. Blame Rob Manfred.

Schedule