If you are a big Blue Jays fan and have to miss the first two postseason games in Toronto since October 1993 because they both happen during your work day, go ahead and piss and moan about it. You damn right have the right to. It won't change anything but if it is therapeutic and makes you feel a bit better to vent, go ahead and complain.
However, there is a segment of society who would tell you that you shouldn't complain about anything and that you should, as Mike Rutsey put it so elegantly in the Toronto Sun, "...chill out, take a pill" (although, it should be noted, he was not writing about people complaining about game times.) Or as Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt put it this morning on the Fan 590, don't be pissy and just be happy playoffs are happening in the city.
Twitter: "We've been asking about #Bluejays Playoff Game Times once an hour for days! Now we have them! We're angry!" #Twitsistency
— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) October 5, 2015
It's ridiculous that some credentialed sports reporters are taking to the air, to newspaper columns, and to Twitter to complain about how some fans would have to miss the two games of the ALDS because they were scheduled during normal work hours. The argument against fans complaining generally goes something like this:
- Stop complaining, the Blue Jays have made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years! Knowing that should make you happy enough.
- Don't you understand? U.S. networks care about ratings and because viewership in Canada doesn't count towards their ad dollars Toronto games cannot be scheduled for prime time.
- I'm not upset by the way the networks scheduled the game times, why would anyone be?
Blue Jays fans aren't stupid--I bet that many of them have the capacity to simultaneously understand the logic behind the networks' scheduling decisions and be upset about having to miss games. They understand that daytime playoff games are part of baseball and someone would have to play the day games. And for those who don't yet, maybe the talking heads should show a bit of sympathy to the 9-5 workers and then explain the reasons why the Blue Jays are playing at 4 pm and noon on weekdays.
Here’s a message for all those media moaners and groaners, the bottom feeders who cannot see why Blue Jays fans can legitimately be unhappy despite the playoff berth—chill out, take a pill.
Blue Jays Bites
- The decision to open or close the Rogers Centre's retractable roof for the playoffs will rest with Major League Baseball in consultation with Rogers Centre staff, and will be entirely weather (and not R.A. Dickey) dependant according to Stephen Brooks. In the regular season the home team makes the decision before games, and consult with the crew chief during games. Currently the forecasts for Thursday show that it will be mainly sunny with a high of 17°C and a low of 15°C with a 20% chance of rain, while on Friday there is an 80% chance of rain with a high of 17°C and a low of 6°C in the evening.
- Still from Brooks, are the classic big blue foam J's making a comeback as a giveaway???
- From FanGraphs, the 2015 Blue Jays have spent over 20 more hours batting than pitching, which is 2.9 standard deviations above the league mean.
- According to the Blue Jays transactions page, Donn Roach, who was designated for assignment to make room for Jonathan Diaz, passed through waivers and has been outrighted.
- Darwin Barney, who is ineligible for the postseason, will not join his teammates in the dugout during the playoffs because he likes his family.
- The Blue Jays have a workout today at 6 pm so expect some media coverage around that time this evening. Tomorrow their workout is at 2 pm, and a press conference featuring John Gibbons and game one starter David Price will follow at 3.
- Also, you remember how the sale of a certain t-shirt was stopped by the MLBPA last year? There is a chance that we have found a way to sell Blue Jays-themed shirts. More to come about this in the next week, but please, save up a few bucks just in case.