There goes U2's Bono again, imposing his will on the Major League Baseball schedule.
As it attempts a reboot of its canceled 2010 tour, the world's biggest rock 'n' roll band is booting the Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins from Sun Life Stadium for their interleague series on June 24-26. Instead of home games in Miami Gardens, the Fish will take on Ichiro at Safeco Field in Seattle using National League rules. This apparently means 84 home games for the M's and 78 for Florida. Uneven!
It also could mean that AL Cy Young winner King Felix Hernandez (pictured holding the young man) could get to bat in front of the home crowd. If his turn comes in the pitching rotation, of course. Look what can happen when the best pitcher in the AL gets in some hacks.
The 360 tour isn't even supposed to stop in Miami Gardens until June 29, but as we all learned from the Los Angeles Angels getting evicted from the "Big A" this past summer, U2 concerts are such logistical monstrosities that it takes extra time to get the venue ready.
Baseball shall not be moved! Only, it shall. Don't forget the G20 Summit that booted the Blue Jays out of Toronto for their series against the Phillies last summer.
Well, this just means U2 > G20.
At the rate folks don't buy tickets to Marlins games I, too, probably would kick baseball out of Sun Life Stadium — it's still called that, right? — if I were the landlord. Why MLB even scheduled a series in Florida at a time when U2 was planning on coming through town, who knows?
Because of Mother Nature and marketing, the Fish have played home games away from home several times in their existence; at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field and at Puerto Rico, for instance. The Marlins come off like second-class citizens in this respect. That's the karmic price of two World Series championships and their respective sell-offs, I guess.
For the Marlins, the switch adds three more dates to a six-game road trip that was to start at Oakland and finish at Texas on July 3. Not as bad as the Angels' 14-game trip in '10.
And, as 'Duk points out, the schedule shift won't interfere with the big Dan Uggla homecoming, scheduled for June 7-9 when the Braves bring their talents (vaguely near) South Beach.
As for the M's, the change truncates a six-game trip that was to start at Washington on June 21. Instead, they now have a nine-game homestand that includes interleague foes Atlanta and San Diego.
Here's hoping U2 plays some reggaeton in observance of its absent friends from Miami.
Follow Dave on Twitter — @AnswerDave
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