The New York Yankees have avoided a scheduling conflict in July that otherwise would have forced them to play three games in a span of a little more than 24 hours, with travel in between.
Major League Baseball said Tuesday that the Yankees' scheduled game against the Blue Jays on Sunday, July 8, will be moved from an 8 p.m. ET start on ESPN to 1:07 p.m. in Toronto.
New York is scheduled to play a doubleheader on Monday, July 9, in Baltimore. So the new time for the Blue Jays game will give the Yankees more time to get to Baltimore before they have to play two.
The Dodgers-Angels game in Anaheim will replace Yankees-Blue Jays as the Sunday night game on ESPN.
The Yankees reportedly were unaware they had been chosen as the Sunday night game before agreeing to the July 9 doubleheader against Baltimore, which was forced when the teams' scheduled game this past Sunday was postponed due to rain.
David Robertson, the Yankees' player representative, told Newsday on Monday, "We'd like to see it get changed without any big ruckus getting started."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was "excited" and "grateful" after MLB agreed to the change. He had said Sunday that such a schedule is "just not good for the product on the field, for the safety of our guys to be having to go night game then fly into a doubleheader. That's ridiculous, and anyone that would argue with that is not being truthful."
Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated Monday that the league was looking to resolve the situation.
The Yankees have had seven games either postponed or suspended by rain this season, and played a day-night doubleheader Monday in Detroit to make up one of those games.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
