MLB missteps this season continue with Yankee Stadium ALDS debacle
By Kevin Henry
In a season that started with a lockout, the latest misstep surrounding Game 5 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium proves that MLB just doesn’t get it when it comes to fans.
There are plenty of New York Yankees fans this morning who are angry about Monday night. Not because their team lost, but rather because they had given their time and money to attend a postseason game, and then be kept in the dark about if the game was going to be played. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.
MLB showed on Monday night fans just don’t matter
Imagine sitting inside Yankee Stadium for four-plus hours and knowing nothing about what was to come. Well, that is exactly what plenty of Yankees fans did on Monday night.
Gates opened to fans at 5 pm. The Yankees and MLB announced at 6:20 pm that the scheduled 7pm game would start in a delay. There were no official updates between the announcement of the delay and the announcement of the postponement at 9:35 pm. Awful.
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) October 18, 2022
How can there be no communication? It’s baffling … until you consider it’s MLB, the same organization with a commissioner who has referred to the World Series trophy as “a hunk of metal” and laughed when he announced that the 2022 season would not start on time because of a lockout.
Oh, about those fans? Sorry to those of you who bought a beer or two while waiting Monday night. You’re not getting a refund.
You can’t make Tuesday afternoon’s rescheduled game? Sorry, no refunds on the tickets.
You’re overseas and want to watch the games? Well, good luck with that. Oops, was that not mentioned before the postseason began? That’s hard to believe, knowing how fan-friendly MLB’s blackout policy in the United States is during the season.
Sure, it’s understandable that weather is unpredictable, but have the decency to let people know what is happening. If they are going to invest time and resources in your product, shouldn’t you have the courtesy to at least give an update at some point within a three-hour window?
And don’t even get me started on how mismanaged this ALDS schedule has been, now forcing the Game 5 winner to turn around and head to Houston to face the well-rested Astros on Wednesday night.
How many times must MLB fans be reminded that they are far down on the food chain? Apparently, MLB needed to send one more reminder on Monday night.
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