Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo has had enough of MLB scheduling postseason games based on results around the league. Appearing for his weekly spot on ESPN’s First Take, the longtime sports media personality chided the league for changing the time of the Minnesota Twins matchup against the Houston Astros based on the result of Tuesday night’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. The Orioles ended up being eliminated from the playoffs by the Rangers, who will face the winner of the Twins-Astros series.
Russo outlined a hypothetical scenario of an 8-year-old child being told by his father that he would be able to miss school and attend Game 4 of the American League Division Series (ALDS), which was slated to begin at 2 p.m. ET. When the child presumably awoke on Wednesday morning, he would be informed that the game time was changed to 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST, and that he was now unable to attend because of an impending algebra quiz.
“How does baseball – five hours; 10 hours – before the next playoff game tell the Minnesota fan, ‘Hey, by the way guys, I know it was supposed to be at 1. We’re going to make it to 6 because we’ve got to make sure FOX gets taken care of with the prime-time game?’” Russo said. “I understand a couple of days – you give them a little [notice] – you did it the night before at midnight once Texas won. That drove me nuts!”
Featured commentator and executive producer Stephen A. Smith replied to Russo by insinuating that the Orioles were more to blame than anyone else because of being swept. The team dropped two games from Oriole Park at Camden Yards before traveling to Arlington, Texas and finding itself in a 6-0 deficit by the end of the second inning.
“You’ve got to have a prime-time game,” Smith stated. “You can’t put the game on in the afternoon and have nothing available [in] prime time. That’s not good for the sport.”
Russo acknowledged Smith’s complaint and came back with a clear-cut way that he affirms would have solved the problem. Rather than having the Twins and Astros play an afternoon game on Tuesday, he believes the Orioles and Rangers should have been placed in that slot. Based off the result of the matchup, the league could then make an informed decision about Game 4, which was guaranteed to occur by that point, and whether or not they deemed it necessary to move into prime time.
“They could have had the Twins play yesterday at night; have the Orioles play at 4,” Russo explained, “and if the Orioles won, they play at 2 the next day and if they lose, you’ve still got the Twins at 7, and they didn’t do that, damnit!”
“You’re right,” show host Molly Qerim replied, concluding the weekly “What Are You Mad About?” segment on the program.
