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Baseball Could Have Done Better Than a Schedule That Favors Second-Place Teams

While two division runner-ups, the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, are getting prime-time games the next two nights, the Oakland Athletics, who had the second-best record in the AL, have a pair of noon starts, which means, among other things, the A's have to get up well before dawn for the required COVID-19 testing before heading to the Coliseum.
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This has been a baseball season unlike any other.

And the postseason will be unique to the Major League Baseball experience, what with three-game wild card series, teams in bubbles and the final three rounds of the competition to be played at neutral sites.

But there is one thing that is as carved in granite for baseball from season to season.

The Yankees get preferential treatment in scheduling.

The runner-up team in the American League East is playing at 7 p.m. in Cleveland in Game 1 Tuesday night. It’s a great pitching matchup, Gert Cole vs. Shane Bieber, but the fact is these are the fourth (Cleveland) and fifth (NY) seeded teams.

In other years, other teams might shrug and know that ESPN is generally going to find a way to put the Yankees in prime time if it’s possible.

This isn’t other years. This is a year of pandemic and that’s changed the equations. For everybody, the day starts with COVID-19 testing. For teams playing late, that means testing late morning or early afternoon. But what about the other teams?

The Oakland A’s, who finished with the second-best record in the AL, are playing a noon (PT) home game against the Chicago White Sox. And the A’s and Sox have a noon game Wednesday as well.

The A's aren't against noon-ish starts. In other years, they've scheduled regular-season games for 12:30 p.m., even 12:15 p.m. way back when. 

Again, this isn't other years, not when a players' first duty before getting to the ballpark is to get tested..

What that means, among other things, that the A’s alarm clocks will beat the 7:03 a.m. Tuesday sunrise by more than an hour to accommodate the needs of COVID-19 testing.

Let’s let A’s manager Bob Melvin spell it out after a season that was cut from 162 games to 60, that saw the A’s best by a positive COVID-19 test that led to four doubleheaders in 19 days in September, and that saw the A’s having to deal with terrible smoke and ash let loose by the West Coast wild fires.

“And we continue to get hurdles,” Melvin said evenly, not pointing any fingers. “We have 12 o’clock games, which teams we’re (COVID-19) testing at 6:30 in the morning and taking batting practice at 9 o’clock.

“You don’t even do that in spring training.”

In doing the scheduling, Major League Baseball either didn’t think about the early testing, which is conducted at each team’s hotel, for teams on the West Coast, although to be clear, it’s not just a West Coast issue. The Reds and Braves will play at noon (ET) on Wednesday, which means they’ll have to get up before the crack of dawn as well.

Melvin suggested that, early start times notwithstanding, has been the hardest season, not just for the A’s, but for everyone in baseball.

“Whether it was the travel, whether it was (COVID-19) protocols, whether it was the game times, or whether it was the air quality, the doubleheaders. It was hard on everybody,” he said. “So, there continue to be hurdles, but our guys are good about understanding that and never expecting things to come easy.”

The home field advantage in this series belongs to the A’s, who have the second-best home winning percentage in the American League. Even that, Melvin said, it less than it could be.

“You win the division, but there are no fans in the stands,” he said. “And now you’re hitting at 9 o’clock in the morning. I’m not complaining, I’m just answering your question to the point that there are a lot of obstacles along the way, including, you know, the game times that we’re going to get here.”

For the A’s, this will be the third time in four days they’ve had a noon game. Sunday’s regular-season finale was moved up to noon as MLB had all games across baseball start at 3 p.m. (ET) or noon (PT).

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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