We’ve finally made it, folks. As I sit here writing this, Mets pitchers and catchers are officially reporting to Port St. Lucie. Spring Training is here (even though many players were already in PSL).
Now that this countdown is complete, another one starts. We’re now just 10 days away from the Mets’ first Grapefruit League game happening. That’ll be on February 25th at 1:05 pm ET against the Houston Astros. Once we get there, the countdown to Opening Day will be the only thing left. That’ll conclude on March 30th in Miami against the Marlins.
Do you know what part of the calendar typically bites, though? West Coast road trips. They’re tough on all East Coast fans trying to watch some baseball, even for those who consider themselves night owls. I’ve never enjoyed them, but especially now with two small children who enjoy waking up before the sun rises.
In 2022, the Mets dealt with a couple of trips out west without a bunch of time in between. They traveled to Colorado and San Francisco for six games between May 21st and 25th. After coming back east for six games, they went right back out west to play the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Los Angeles Angels. It was a 10-game road trip that lasted from June 2nd to June 12th.
Once that trip was complete, your boy was exhausted. But after that, they almost exclusively stayed in eastern or central time zones for the remainder of the regular season.
That brings us to this year. I’ve looked at the Mets’ 2023 schedule plenty of times since it was released a few months ago. Clearly, I’ve been trying to block this out of my mind because when looking at it again on Monday, I was reminded of a mid-April West Coast swing.
After wrapping up their first homestand of the year on April 12th, New York will hop on a plane and head to California for 10 games against the Athletics, Dodgers, and Giants. (I wonder if Noah Syndergaard will be rested enough to face the Mets if it’s his turn in the rotation.)
Upon this realization, I was pretty bummed. The wait between one baseball season to another is excruciating. Even if your team makes it to Game 7 of the World Series, winter always feels too long. And spring training is great, but by the end of it, everyone is more than ready for games to actually count again.
In a perfect world, I would’ve wanted a little more lead time before absolutely wrecking my sleep. But, it’s not like this trip is full of 10 pm ET start times. There are some, but not as many as I was bracing myself for.
Here’s what the schedule looks like (all times are EST):
- April 14th, at Oakland: 9:40 pm
- April 15th, at Oakland: 4:07 pm
- April 16th, at Oakland: 4:07 pm
- April 17th, at Los Angeles: 10:10 pm
- April 18th, at Los Angeles: 10:10 pm
- April 19th, at Los Angeles: 3:10 pm
- April 20th, at San Francisco: 9:45 pm
- April 21st, at San Francisco: 10:15 pm
- April 22nd, at San Francisco: 4:05 pm
- April 23rd, at San Francisco: 7:00 pm
OK, this isn’t too shabby. If there were four or five consecutive 10 pm starts, then we’d have a problem. There are no more than two in a row. A West Coast road trip to begin the season isn’t how I’d draw things up, but this can be handled without losing years of sleep.
And just in case you’re wondering, this is the only real West Coast trip for New York until right before the All-Star break. The Mets will jet out to Colorado for a three-game set against the Rockies around Memorial Day. It won’t happen again until July 4th to July 9th when they hit the road to face the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
