Oakland A’s: The doubleheader that never should have happened

The Oakland A’s doubleheader against the Seattle Mariners on Monday showed how little Major League Baseball cares about their players.

Major League Baseball is desperately attempting to cram every game possible into this season, and the Oakland A’s doubleheader against the Seattle Mariners was a prime example. Wildfires have been raging up and down the west coast with cities such as Seattle being affected.

Even with the retractable roof being closed yesterday, the wildfires were still evident. Smoke hovered inside the dome, making the air difficult to breathe in normally, let alone while playing a doubleheader.

But this is par for the course when it comes to Major League Baseball. There had been questions as to how much the league actually cares about the players, even before this season, but making this doubleheader happen rammed that point home.

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That is especially the case given what the league itself said to A’s manager Bob Melvin. The air quality inside the stadium for both games was over 200, which is considered to be very unhealthy. Melvin was under the impression 200 was the threshold for the games to even be played, but never heard anything from the league.

But really, this should not be a surprise. The league rammed the start of the season through despite just three weeks for teams to get ready, and is trying to cram as many games as possible into a short amount of time. Pitching injuries have skyrocketed this season due to that short time frame, but no one wants to acknowledge the reasons.

This doubleheader did not fall under those categories. It is common sense – maybe the games should not be played in a cloud of smoke unless it is emanating for Jim Leyland’s endless supply of cigarettes. The fact that this is such a bizarre idea to even consider shows how obtuse the leadership in the game truly is.

The Oakland A’s were able to split their doubleheader on Monday. The real takeaway was how little the league cares about their players.