Of the schedule that ESPN Sunday Night Baseball announced on Wednesday, the Boston Red Sox are scheduled for three games so far in 2014.
They are:
4/13 – Red Sox @ Yankees, 8:05 p.m.
4/20 – Orioles @ Red Sox, 7:05 p.m.
5/18 – Tigers @ Red Sox, 8:05 p.m.
As Red Sox fans and for the occasional Yankees fan that takes a glimpse at the site, we are all used to seeing the Red Sox and Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball. My problem lies with the game on April 20 against the Orioles.
April 21 is Patriot's Day in Massachusetts. That means it's the day of the Boston Marathon and also that the Red Sox play an 11 a.m. game against whomever is in town that weekend. This year it just happens to be the Orioles.
Look I understand it's the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. The press release even states that it's going to be a "special telecast".
On average, the Red Sox usually play at least three hour games. So say the game ends at 10 p.m.
By the time the players are done showering and with media responsibilities, it's 11 p.m. at the earliest. They then need to turn around and be back at the ballpark at least 2-3 hours before the game.
To me that's not fair to the players. I'm actually surprised the Red Sox and the players agreed to it.
Or maybe I should at look at it another way and not be so cynical.
The Red Sox embraced the city after the bombings. A lot of what they did for the victims went under the radar. They basically took over the city with first time guys to the team embracing Boston like they were life long residents.
During the Red Sox World Series parade, they stopped at the 26.2 mile marker/finish line and placed the trophies there and had a special little ceremony within the parade.
So perhaps I rushed to judgment with my initial reaction which is normal.
But in the grand scheme of things, it was probably wrong of me to do so especially knowing that ESPN will handle the coverage with grace like it usually does in telecasts of this nature.
To see the full ESPN Sunday Night Baseball schedule that was released, head over to ESPN.
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