Hok Talk: I hate the early season schedule

It would be nice if I could spectate the spectator sport

As I write this, baseball is swinging into its second week of regular season competition in 2021. People are arguing about universal designated hitters, runners starting on second base in extra innings, and artificial intelligence-ruled strike zones. None of that matters in comparison to my gripe, though.

The early season schedule HAS to be fixed.

What even is this? Everyone knows the only legal off-days are Mondays and Thursdays! And those are iffy! Why have I gone two straight Fridays without baseball played by my favorite team? And also a random Tuesday. The only thing right now that’s testing my patience as badly as the too-frequent, oddly-placed off-days is the fact that every single game has been an afternoon game. Thanks to the US-brand of change-averse, employees-are-only-tools capitalism, I am working then! So even when they’re actually playing baseball, I can’t watch it!

Listen, I get it. Home openers need built-in backups because of the way tickets are sold. But why have the Royals played in three straight series that started with a home opener? Chicago should have already had theirs! This is ridiculous! And afternoon baseball isn’t bad in a vacuum, it’s kind of a nice break from evening baseball, sometimes. But if I can’t watch it, it’s not doing me any good! Keep it to the weekends, for goodness’ sake!

I’m trying to be a more positive person in general, so here’s a list of things - in no particular order - that are worse than the early-season MLB scheduling so that maybe I’ll feel better about it in comparison.

• A tornado blowing through your neighborhood
• After you lived in Kansas for more than 15 years and then moved to Georgia
• That knocks out your power for an entire day
• And your internet for more than two weeks
• Which causes you to have to upload your writing through your phone
• Which has had its data connection severely throttled because you’re using way more than your provider is used to because you have no internet
• Which means you have to drive 15+ minutes to a public WiFi hotspot during a global pandemic if you want to watch the game
• Brad Keller’s pitching to start the year
• The Last Guardian’s controls
• Bugsnax marketing
• Oh yeah, also Georgia’s new voting laws
• Also, the way MLB treats its minor league franchises and players

Yeah... That didn’t help much. At least the Royals should begin playing a more “normal” schedule now.