One of my stranger quirks is a fondness for seeing things pushed into
disarray, for speculating about the answer to the question, "What
happens if…?" Not in a dangerous way, mind you, but in real simple,
basic, harmless ways.
So the plan to have the Yankees and Mets make up Sunday’s rainout as part of
a day-night, Queens-Bronx doubleheader in September has my head spinning. I
don’t think it’s a bad idea, at least from a fan or media standpoint: the
teams have one common off-day the rest of the year, and it’s a terribly
inconvenient one for the Yankees to try and squeeze in a game. A
doubleheader during the lone remaining series between the two teams is about
the only option.
Once the doubleheader becomes the only solution, then the question turns to
home/away considerations. Obviously, a day/night doubleheader is essential,
because no one wants to give up a lucrative date between these two teams.
And if you’re going to have a day/night doubleheader, why not try and give
the Yankees the home game they might otherwise lose? Presto…history in the
making. Yes, day/night doubleheaders make for an incredibly long day for the
players, but at least they’ll have something to do–travel–between these
two games.
Of course, now that the plan is in place, my head starts spinning with ways
in which it can go awry. What happens if it rains that day? What happens if
the first game goes 16 innings? 21 innings? Heck, I haven’t had this much
fun with something like this since the end of the 1998 season, when there
was a chance the San Francisco Giants would have to play four games in four
cities in four days, with three flights in between.
I’m sure none of the potentially bad things will happen, so I can worry
about a bigger problem: as a native New Yorker who was thinking about going
back to visit family and friends in September anyway, I now have to wonder
how the heck I am going to get tickets for these games. With the Yankees
looking like they’ll be in a dogfight all season and the Mets a good bet to
hang around the wild-card race into September, it will be one of the
greatest New York sports days ever.
With or without Sammy Sosa.
Joe Sheehan can be reached at jsheehan@baseballprospectus.com.
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