Dodgers Players and Coaches Were Not Fans of the Early Start Time in DC on Sunday
The Dodgers and Nationals were back at it for game 4 of their series on Sunday morning. And it was a VERY early Sunday morning to be watching baseball, even for fans in the Eastern Time zone. The game kicked off at 11:07 D.C time which was 8:07 Los Angeles time.
That means that players had to be at the ballpark very early on Sunday. The Dodgers weren’t back into their hotels until around 12:30 the night before, leaving them just about 6 hours of sleep in between having to come back to play again.
As expected, a lot of the players and coaches weren’t too happy about that. Dodgers’ second baseman noted that it was a heavy coffee day after the win. And Max Muncy talked after the game about how irresponsible it was to schedule games like that.
That was a rough day. I don’t know who thought that was ever a good idea to have a 7:15 game followed up with an 11 am game. That’s probably one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. That’s how guys get hurt. But, thankfully none of that happened today.
Before the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave his take on the early game. His answer came just as the Los Angeles media was rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and stirring their coffee to ask Doc a few pregame questions. He noted that it had been a very long time since he had played a regular-season game that early after a late game.
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Regardless of how it started, the Dodgers got the job done. Their bullpen came through in a big way and their bats eventually woke up after some coffee. They now carry a nice 9-game winning streak into Miami to face off against the Marlins for 4 games.
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As a fan I wasn’t all that pleased with the early start time either. Whatever, they won!
“Do they want some cheese with that?” Weren’t the Nationals in the same boat or did they have a different starting time? C’mon with the exorbitant paychecks they make, they shouldn’t be complaining!
Curiously, no mention of the long rain delay in the middle of the Saturday night game. It seems that would be a factor in the reduced sleep time before the early day game.
What my concern is the Dodgers and Roberts total lack of response to 3 more Dodger hitters being hit by pitches that again could have put those players on the sidelines. We have already been without Seager for much of this year due having his hand fractured by a Marlins pitcher. And being hit has cost other players a few games as a result, yet Roberts sits there clueless.
Suck it up, Dodgers!! I’ve had many, many sleepless nights over here with your average time of 10:00PM EST
It was because of the 4th of July celebrations on the National Mall. They didn’t want public transportation and the DC Police to be overwhelmed with crowds for the game and the festivities. However, upon further reflection, a 4:10 PM start time on Saturday probably would have been a more wise choice for the schedulers.