The Detroit Tigers have lost six of their last eight games. There are plenty of reasons for this. Manager Brad Ausmus told the Detroit Free Press today that one big culprit is the schedule.
“Yeah, I’m not real happy with it, to be honest with you. We got in at 4 a.m., we were supposed to have a doubleheader. They canceled the game because of the weather and we don’t start the game until 8:30 and now we gotta get up in the morning again. So am I happy with it? No. I think it’s awful, actually. I think it’s a terrible schedule.”
It’s hard to find fault with this analysis. The Tigers are coming off a brutal series in Houston that began on Monday of this week. They arrived in Houston at 5 am on Monday morning after an extremely long, nationally televised game on ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball.
Before you think that Ausmus is tilting at windmills, he does understand that Mother Nature plays a role in whether a ball game can be played at times. That said, the scheduling powers that be in the Major League Baseball office have a little explaining to do.
“You can’t control the weather but I think it would have been prudent to play the second game tomorrow in August,” he said. “That would have made a lot more sense to me.”
The doubleheader was scheduled for yesterday in an attempt to make up for the game that was postponed on April 5th.
However, opinions vary regarding the Tigers performance of late. Tigers beat writer Tony Paul has another explanation.
You just got your ass kicked by Mike Pelfrey, but sure, let's blame the schedule. Cool.
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) May 27, 2017
