The Houston Astros are not happy about scheduling that has them making a quick turnaround ahead of Friday night’s home game against the Texas Rangers.
The Astros played the final game of their series against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night. The team was estimated to arrive back in Houston about 5:15 a.m. CT — only 14 hours prior to first pitch for Friday’s game.
“To censor myself, it’s BS. I don’t think one person is happy about the night game travel,” Astros outfielder Josh Reddick told the Houston Chronicle. “I think it’s a complete misjudgement on how they make a schedule. It’s absurd, really.
“Look at us, we don’t do that to anyone. We don’t ever give them a [getaway day] night game unless it’s Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. It makes no sense. It really makes no sense. A lot of guys aren’t happy about it, myself included. It’s going to be a long day, but this is what we get paid to do. We suck it up and hopefully take it as a little spark to fire us up.”
The Astros lead the AL West by 5.5 games over the Oakland Athletics after Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Angels. The Rangers are 10 games back in third.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said Justin Verlander flew back to Houston early ahead of his scheduled start against the Rangers on Friday.
“It’ll be brutal,” manager A.J. Hinch said of the quick turnaround. “It’s one of those things that I hope they address in the next CBA …
“It’s on our schedule. We’re going to play and we need to win. We’re going to play our normal guys [Friday] and I’ll address any sort of rest over the weekend.”