LCS schedule announced: Cubs and Mets are the prime time players - MLB

Major League Baseball just released the start times for all of the games in the League Championship Series. And it’s pretty clear that, when it comes to scheduling, Chicago and New York are MLB’s kind of towns.

For the most part, when the ALCS and NLCS teams are in action, the NLCS gets featured in prime time with the AL relegated to the 4pm EDT slot. The only exception: next Saturday, if those games are necessary:

I suppose some people will see some sort of regional bias in all of this, but a lot of biases make sense. Toronto is a huge city, of course, but US broadcasters like Fox and TBS don’t broadcast up there and don’t get any benefit of Canadian ratings. The other part of the calculation is simple math:

New York Metropolitan Statistical Area: 20,092,883;
Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area: 9,554,558
Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area: 2,071,133

It’s a business, eyeballs mean money and no matter how much people talk about how much they miss daytime baseball, the fact is that ratings are always, always, always better for night games.

LOS ANGELES — Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, and Tommy Kahnle were activated by the New York Yankees ahead of their weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

New York cleared three roster spots after a 1-0 loss at Seattle, optioning infielder-outfielders Oswaldo Cabrera and Franchy Cordero to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre along with left-hander Matt Krook.

Stanton, Donaldson and Kahnle all played in a rehab game for Double-A Somerset. Stanton was hitless in three at-bats in his first appearance since injuring his left hamstring on April 15.

Donaldson went 1 for 4 in his fourth rehab game as he comes back from a strained right hamstring originally sustained on April 5.

Kahnle pitched one inning, giving up one run and one hit and walking two. He has been out since spring training with right biceps tendinitis.

Aaron Boone said he wasn’t concerned about Stanton returning after playing in just one rehab game. He did say that Stanton likely will be a designated hitter for a couple of weeks after rejoining the Yankees.

New York is missing centerfielder Harrison Bader, who strained his right hamstring against the Mariners and went on the injured list the next day.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón, sidelined since spring training by a sore left forearm and an ailing back, was transferred to the 60-day injured list.