But in this case, I'm guessing a snowstorm in April is not that uncommon in Cleveland. Getting a few flurries, or a minor amount of snow is not uncommon in the northeast this time of year, but what has been happening the past week in the Great Lakes area is not normal. There has been a major lake-effect system generating a good deal of snow (and, of course, bitterly cold temps and windchills) the past week. Still, I believe smart scheduling would go a long ways towards fixing many of these problems. I know Indian fans would love to see their team the first week of the regular season, and there's always a good chance the first week or two of April could be in the upper 60s or low 70s, but it doesn't happen often. Major League Baseball needs to play the percentages. Now Seattle and Cleveland have to hope they get in their next games, or they'll be way behind the rest of the league.
I'd just like to point out that my previous post was a *joke*. Here in Minnesota, it was 80 degrees less than two weeks ago, then it snowed this week. Most of us in these parts simply wish it was a little warmer. I was not suggesting that unseasonably cold weather and odd snowfall amounts disprove global warming. (I could, however, cite dozens of other things that do disprove it, or at least the "man-made" part of it, but that's not the point of this website.) But for the sake of making this post relevant, I agree that scheduling early April games outdoors is a mistake. As a Twins fan, that's going to be one drawback to the new park we will be getting at some point. I could live with the home opener being put off for a few days if need be.
I went to Baseball Almanac to see if my perception was correct, that modern opening days are earlier than they used to be. The answer: if you go back a century, it looks like they were mostly in mid-April or later (early May, even). Opening Day started creeping back into the second week of April in the '50s and '60s, and it was in the '70s that very early April dates started showing up. I wouldn't mind a shorter and more seasonable season. There was snow, not during a game, but during a practice for last year's playoffs, and now this. Granted that the playoffs had to expand some when the Central Division was added, making the wildcard necessary, but they didn't have to make the wildcard a five-game series and expand the LCS to seven games. World Series in November is messed up -- that's ski season.
A shorter, more seasonalble season would be nice but in this day and age of the huge salaries and TV contract investments, the time made up by day / night double headers are not profitable and if it came down to it, the Player's Association would probably nix the idea.
I wouldn't mind a shorter and more seasonable season. Shorter seasons mean less of a chance to break counting stat records, which will never fly with the boys in marketing. Like everyone else in here, I think a few double-headers would be helpful, but I understand the Players Association's objections (whether I agree with them is a different matter entirely).
Here in Minnesota, it was 80 degrees less than two weeks ago Here in Cleveland it was in the upper 70's just three days before the home opener. Having weather this bad is not the norm, as Dyams pointed out above. I believe some of this could be alleviated with scheduling changes. However, you can't just have all the east coast teams playing on the west coast in April. Then you will take a lot of home games away from the west coast teams that could be played during summer, when attendance could be higher, or if there is a playoff race and a team could really use the home field advantage.
Technically speaking, brownindian, Seattle has a retractable roof. It is still possible to feel the chill coming off the sound and perhaps feel the occasional sideways rain if it happens to be strong enough. Nothing like what Cleveland is experiencing, but not climate controlled. whiteirishman
