Yankees beat ESPN, get their wish over scheduling gripe
This sure seems like one of those years when the Yankees just can’t lose.
Even with superstar acquisition Giancarlo Stanton struggling, the Bronx Bombers have gone toe-to-toe with the Boston Red Sox for the best record in Major League Baseball.
Aaron Judge — on pace for more than 45 home runs — is proving he’s no flash in the pan, and the rest of the “Baby Bombers,” led by super rookie Gleyber Torres, have actually surpassed expectations.
And you can count another win for the Yankees, this one against ESPN.
As a result, they won’t have to play three games in 24 hours.
ESPN had moved the start time of New York’s July 8 game in Toronto from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate “Sunday Night Baseball.”
The problem was that the Yankees have a double-header against Baltimore scheduled for July 9.
When word came out about the initial schedule change, the Yankees were up in arms, and reportedly threatened to restrict ESPN’s access regarding interviews with players and coaches.
The organization asked MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to intervene, and as a result, the July 8 game in Toronto will start at 1 p.m. as originally scheduled.
Yankees president Randy Levine said the team is grateful.
“I just want to thank commissioner Manfred for solving this in a common-sense way,” Levine said.
As the New York Post noted, this does seemingly set an interesting precedent regarding teams and their schedules.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, for his, part, said that what’s good for the Yankees must be good for everyone else, too.
“If they do that, then sometime down the road when somebody has to do it, too, it’s going to come up and, if they do it for one team, they have to do it for everybody,” Cora told reporters.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who incidentally was part of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” crew last season, said he just wants to put the whole argument behind him.
“I think clearly it ended up doing the right thing here considering the product and player safety and that kind of thing,” he said. “I am excited to get that news.”
ESPN will show the Dodgers/Angels game instead on July 8.
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