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Okay, folks. As a Yankee fan, I don't think there needed to be a forfeit, although the rules clearly state that if one team isn't on the field ready to play within 5 minutes of the umpire calling "play ball", the other team wins. Obviously, there are extenuating circumstances here. However, instead of people blindly screaming about how the Yankees have no class (they provided free hot dogs and sodas to 30,000+ fans who spent their entire Labor Day at the stadium, expecting to see a doubleheader, when the visiting team hadn't even left Tampa yet) keep in mind that the Yankees were put in this position by the Devil Rays and Major League Baseball. This whole situation wouldn't have come to this if, when Major League Baseball "suggested" (it's been downgraded by MLB from the earlier "requested") that the Devil Rays leave Tampa on Friday or Saturday to be in New York in plenty of time for the games, the Devil Rays could have been forthright with the league and revealed their intention to stay in Tampa until the last minute. Had that happened, the Yankees would have had time to reschedule the games, everyone goes home happy. Instead, Tampa claimed to be doing all they could to get to New York early, (The Detroit Tigers, in Tampa for a cancelled series, managed to find a way out of town Friday evening) and then played the "staying with our families" card. They knew all along that they had no intention of being in New York on time.
Instead, the Yanks take the PR hit, Tampa gets to look like the victim here, as they were only trying to stay with their families through the hurricane, MLB gets to stick it to the Yankees, and to be fair, the Yankees truly do look like asses in the media. However, it is NOT their fault this situation arose.
Funny, nobody is mentioning last year, when the Yankees were FORCED, under penalty of (gasp!) forfeit, to play in Baltimore during hurricane Isabel. The game was 1-1 after 4 innings and was called. Since it's the Yankees, MLB can put a game on during a natural disaster. But when MLB "suggests" the Devil Rays GET OUT OF THE WAY of a natural disaster, I guess that's a different story. MLB should have laid down the law, like the NFL did with the Dolphins and their EXHIBITION GAME in New Orleans, or at least gotten a clear picture of Tampa's plans so other arrangements that satisfy both teams could be made. The Yankees, on their own, pushed their original 1:05 start back to 3:05 to accommodate the Devil Rays because they took Tampa at their word that they'd be in New York in time for the game. At 3:05, the Devil Rays were still in Tampa.
Obligatory disclaimer: My wife's family lives in the Tampa area, in Riverview. When you live there, you HAVE to have contingency plans for hurricane season. As they put it, that's pretty much the price you pay for enjoying some of the most beautiful weather in the country the rest of the year. Why couldn't the ballplayers have made those same plans and gotten their families out? There was as much as 4 days of warning before the storm reached Tampa. Simple: their owner just didn't feel like paying for the flights, hotel arrangements in New York for an extra 2 days, yadda yadda... It's not like baseball player's families are living in trailer parks. My wife's family has managed to evacuate TWICE this past month and they don't make nearly as much as major league ballplayers. Even Devil Rays.
Finally, as I've heard so many times: It's just a stupid baseball game, this is real life. People's lives are at stake. Right? Absolutely true. However, the Devil Rays don't think so, or they'd have happily forfeited the game and would still be in Tampa with their families.
Anyway, it's a dead issue. The real story here is that MLB doesn't want the Yankees to beat the Sox by 1 game because of a forfeit and I can understand that. As a Yankee fan, I wouldn't want that either.
-Mikey
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