Ninety-one games. So far.
That’s the number of games that have been lopped off the schedule after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s news conference last week. We can only hope that the number doesn’t go up.
For now, if an agreement is reached post haste, the plan is for each team to pick up its regular-season schedule with the beginning of its third series. That might be the simplest way to go about it, but it’s far from ideal. That’s not just because it means less baseball, but because the cancellations will affect each team a little bit differently.
There are seven teams that, as of now, will lose seven games, but even within that group there are disparities. While the Dodgers, Marlins and Athletics will all lose seven home contests, the canceled games of the Tigers, Yankees and Giants were to all be played on the road. The Royals will lose four at home and three on the road.
That’s not the only wonky thing about a schedule that is now both full of oddities but is also what we are now forced to hope for because it would mean that the lockout gets settled, and fast. Five teams are slated to lose five games and 18 will lose six, and the home-road splits among those groups varies from club to club.
How big of an effect might this have?
Source: www.espn.com