Filed under: Blue Jays, Braves, Mets, Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, White Sox
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.
Six games were postponed last night due to weather. The Cubs and the Astros, as you know, are postponed today and tomorrow due to Hurricane Ike. Another storm system, which stretched all the way from the east coast to Mid-America, caused the postponement of no less than five games. This sets up a scenario in which there are six doubleheaders that will be played today, and 20 games in total. Sunday doubleheaders used to be more commonplace in an era without win shares, maple bats, or Matt Stairs. But six in one day at this moment is enough to induce baseball coma. It's like fastballs with trails of tryptophan, baby! So enjoy, and feel free to unbutton that top button.
Toronto Blue Jays (79-68) at Boston Red Sox (86-60) - 12:35 PM and 7:05 PM ET
The Red Sox and Blue Jays actually played in some steady rain last night because they already had a doubleheader scheduled for today (which makes you wonder why all these other teams couldn't play. The Blue Jays kinda wish the game was washed out, as they were the only washouts last night going down 7-0 at the hands of Tim Wakefield and his knuckleball equipped with extra humidity. Today's doubleheader will be the Jays' last chance to climb into the periphery of the playoff race before their magical "too little too late" ride comes to an end.
Detroit Tigers (70-76) at Chicago White Sox (81-65) - 3:55 PM and 7:30 PM ET
Minnesota Twins (80-66) at Baltimore Orioles (65-80) - 5:05 PM and 8:40 PM ET
Sports
Now this duo of doubleheaders is a classic case of scoreboard watching turning into carpal tunnel if you're following on the Internet. The White Sox are one game ahead of the Twins, and both are playing against two teams that are nothing more than spoilers right now. So really, this is a case of which team can avoid losing to the also rans of the league, prompting their fans to take the computers that they're following the other team on and smashing them on the floor.
Atlanta Braves (65-82) at New York Mets (82-63) - 3:55 PM and 7:30 PM ET
Think of how much fun this doubleheader would be if the Braves were any good this year. Instead, they play the role of spoiler ... and Chipper Jones at Shea Stadium is the best spoiler in the business. However, if these teams had played last night (and considering it was raining harder in Boston than it was in New York they really should have played) Jones would have been an injury scratch. Today, the Mets hope he stays scratched, or else he'll most assuredly try to knock down Shea himself in his last ever visit to his favorite road stadium.
Everyone else:
- Royals at Indians Split DH 1:05 EDT, 7:05 EDT
- Rays at Yankees Split DH 1:05 EDT, 7:05 EDT
- Brewers at Phillies 3:55 EDT
- Rangers at Athletics 4:05 EDT
- Cardinals at Pirates 7:05 EDT
- Nationals at Marlins 7:10 EDT
- Dodgers at Rockies 8:05 EDT
- Reds at Diamondbacks 8:10 EDT
- Mariners at Angels 9:05 EDT
- Giants at Padres 10:05 EDT
