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What’s on tap: Previewing Friday Night’s Action

By Craig CalcaterraJun 3, 2016, 4:51 PM EDT
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It’s not until tomorrow night, but I really can’t believe baseball hasn’t stepped in and stopped Clayton Kershaw from pitching against the Braves tomorrow. Kids watch this game. They don’t need to see carnage like that, Rob Manfred. Do something, will ya?

As for tonight, R.A. Dickey vs. David Price is a great matchup for people who haven’t watched baseball in, like, four years and still want to know the names of the pitchers. Same with Johnny Cueto and Adam Wainwright in St. Louis. Yu Darvish gets his second start of the year and will try to go beyond five innings this time out, even if the last outing was a good five innings.

On the less famous end of the spectrum we have the Rockies, who just got clobbered by the Reds of all teams, trotting out Chris Rusin to face the Padres, whose owner may decide to simply disband them and open up a taco stand given how things have been going for them lately. Drew Pomeranz: the fate of your franchise depends on you. No pressure.

Have a nice weekend, y’all.

Los Angeles Angels (Jered Weaver) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (Francisco Liriano), 7:05 PM EDT, PNC Park

Milwaukee Brewers (Jimmy Nelson) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Vince Velazquez), 7:05 PM EDT, Citizens Bank Park

New York Yankees (Nate Eovaldi) @ Baltimore Orioles (Chris Tillman), 7:05 PM EDT, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Chicago White Sox (Carlos Rodon) @ Detroit Tigers (Jordan Zimmermann), 7:10 PM EDT, Comerica Park

Kansas City Royals (Edinson Volquez) @ Cleveland Indians (Danny Salazar), 7:10 PM EDT, Progressive Field

New York Mets (Noah Syndergaard) @ Miami Marlins (Tom Koehler), 7:10 PM EDT, Marlins Park

Toronto Blue Jays (R.A. Dickey) @ Boston Red Sox (David Price), 7:10 PM EDT, Fenway Park

Washington Nationals (Gio Gonzalez) @ Cincinnati Reds (Brandon Finnegan), 7:10 PM EDT, Great American Ball Park

Seattle Mariners (Taijuan Walker) @ Texas Rangers (Yu Darvish), 8:05 PM EDT, Globe Life Park in Arlington

Oakland Athletics (Jesse Hahn) @ Houston Astros (Doug Fister), 8:10 PM EDT, Minute Maid Park

Tampa Bay Rays (Jake Odorizzi) @ Minnesota Twins (Ricky Nolasco), 8:10 PM EDT, Target Field

San Francisco Giants (Johnny Cueto) @ St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright), 8:15 PM EDT, Busch Stadium

Atlanta Braves (Julio Teheran) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (Kenta Maeda), 10:10 PM EDT, Dodger Stadium

Colorado Rockies (Chris Rusin) @ San Diego Padres (Drew Pomeranz), 10:40 PM EDT, Petco Park

Japanese Baseball to begin June 19

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By Craig CalcaterraMay 25, 2020, 10:31 AM EDT
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Japanese League commissioner Atsushi Saito announced that Japan’s professional baseball season will open on June 19. Teams can being practice games on June 2. There will be no fans. Indeed, the league has not yet even begun to seriously discuss a plan for fans to begin attending games, though that may happen eventually.

The season will begin three months after its originally scheduled opening day of March 20. It will be 120 games long. Teams in each six-team league — the Central League and Pacific League — will play 24 games against each league opponent. There will be no interleague play and no all-star game.

The announcement came in the wake of a national state of emergency being lifted for both Tokyo and the island of Hokkaido. The rest of the country emerged from the state of emergency earlier this month. This will allow the Japanese leagues to follow leagues in South Korea and Taiwan which have been playing for several weeks.

In the United States, Major League Baseball is hoping to resume spring training in mid June before launching a shortened regular season in early July. That plan is contingent on the league and the players’ union coming to an agreement on both financial arrangements and safety protocols for a 2020 season. Negotiations on both are ongoing. Major League Baseball will, reportedly, make a formal proposal about player compensation tomorrow.