I've got to be honest, I just don't get it. Why is it that all 30 baseball teams are not playing on Memorial Day Monday? On the day to celebrate America, why is the American Pastime missing an opportunity to fully market itself and own the schedule from early afternoon until night?
There are 12 games on the schedule, meaning 24 teams are in action, and while that's a lot, it's not everyone. It's a missed opportunity to fill ballparks and market the sport to kids who are out of school and parents who are off of work.
Here are a look at the six teams not playing on Monday:
After playing four games in Houston over the weekend, and 10 games in the last 10 days, the Mariners do get a much-deserved day off. They'll return home on Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals. We wrote more about the M's situation here, and it just seems like there could have been a better way to handle the schedule that would have allowed them to play on the holiday.
The Nationals just spent the weekend at home against the San Francisco Giants and they'll go to Seattle for three games beginning Tuesday.
The Braves were home all weekend against the Padres and they'll be on the road for a big division series on Tuesday against the Phillies. Given that they were home on the weekend, and are staying on the East Coast, there wasn't a way to get them a schedule that allowed them to play on Monday?
The Phillies were out in West Sacramento against the Athletics and they'll travel back East to play the Braves on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park.
After being home, the A's will go on the road to take on the Astros starting Tuesday.
In perhaps the most egregious scheduling mishap of all, the Astros were home over the weekend and will remain home on Tuesday, but they have no game on Monday.
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