The detritus of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Rangers’ shortened schedule hit home Monday.
They will open the season at home in their new, $1.2 billion retractable roof stadium, but not in front of fans. In a season where the aim was to limit travel as much as possible, the Rangers will spend more time in the air than any other MLB team.
In releasing their 60-game schedule, which has them opening against Colorado at Globe Life Field at 7:05 p.m. July 24, they seemed to surrender, at least for now, on the idea of bringing fans into the ballpark. The Rangers will play two exhibition games against Colorado on July 21-22.
The club acknowledged fans will not be allowed into the park for those games or any of the five games that constitute the first homestand. Attendance at MLB games will be re-evaluated for August. While the team issued no statement on the policy, it did send an email to its season ticket-holders within minutes of the schedule release.
“We are working closely with MLB and our local, county, and state authorities to determine options for the 2020 season, that ensure your safety as a season ticket member,” the email said. “When we have our protocols regarding hosting fans in Globe Life Field in place, you will receive information detailing your options.”
The decision ends several weeks of mixed messages. The Rangers, citing Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan for allowing crowds up to 50% of stadium capacity at professional sports events, had moved toward selling tickets. Then in an interview with The Associated Press, Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league needed to “get up and running” before allowing fans in. Eventually, it settled on a statement that suggested any MLB policy would be a combination of local health authorities guidelines and advice from the league’s medical advisers.
While neither endorsing or discouraging the Rangers ticket-selling plans, GM Jon Daniels had acknowledged concern about fans in the park. Daniels is not responsible for game operations but is the highest-ranking member of the Rangers’ executive team to answer questions about the subject.
“As I said previously, I’m less concerned with fans impact on the players’ safety, than on their own and the employees with whom they’d have close contact,” Daniels said Monday. “I think players will be at a safe distance. I’m more concerned about transmission between fans and between fans and the [game-day] employees. We want and need to feel comfortable that we can all feel as safe as possible. That’s why we’ve got to take things seriously if we want to put a dent in [COVID-19 cases] and play the season. It goes back to masks and being socially distant.”
Speaking of distance, the Rangers will be traveling a great deal of it this year. The schedule calls for teams to play all their games in their own division and the corresponding “geographic” division in the opposite league. The Rangers and Houston are, by far, the easternmost points in the AL and NL West. As a result, they will be Nos. 1-2 in air miles traveled. The Rangers fly 14,678 miles and Houston 13,954.
Also, in an attempt to better manage West Coast start times so fans could watch on TV, the Rangers somehow ended up playing more home games that start after 8 p.m. (13) than road games (10).
With the idea that fans may not be allowed in stadiums at any point in the season, the schedule times were set with a nod toward TV audiences. That meant giving the Rangers a “break” on some start times for West Coast games. The West Coast teams will move up evening start times by an hour, meaning they will start at 8:05 or 8:10 CT when hosting the Rangers and Astros. The Rangers and Astros agreed to move their own home night games with West Coast opponents back an hour as a concession.
What did fall right for the Rangers was the early-season construction of the schedule. Manager Chris Woodward has maintained a fast start was essential in a sprint of a season. The schedule seems to provide conditions favorable for that. In addition to playing the first five games at home, the Rangers play 22 of their first 27 games against teams that lost at least 85 games last year. They do not play the AL champion Astros until September.
The flip side of that: It makes the stretch run that much more of a challenge. The Rangers don’t play Houston until September, then play the Astros 10 times in 27 days. From Aug. 24 through the end of the season, 20 of the Rangers’ 33 games are against teams that reached the playoffs last year: Houston, Oakland (7) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (3). Fourteen of those, however, are in Arlington.
Perhaps by that time fans will be allowed into the park and maybe, down the stretch, the Rangers can create a real home-field advantage.
Scheduling notes
Of note about the Rangers’ 60-game 2020 schedule, which was announced Monday:
- The Rangers will open the 2020 season at Globe Life Park against Colorado on July 24, though no fans will be allowed to attend. The Rangers will also play two fan-free exhibitions against Colorado July 21-22.
- AL West teams in the Pacific Time Zone will move up start times for home night games against the Rangers by an hour to 8:05 CT. The Rangers will move home night games against West Coast teams back to 8:05 CT.
- The Rangers open the season with eight consecutive games against NL West teams: Three against Colorado, a pair against Arizona and three at San Francisco. They
- Three of the Rangers six total off days come in the first 11 days of the season. They play 30 games in 31 days between from August 14-September 13.
- The schedule requires some juggling of home-and-road balance inside the division. Of their 10-game series with AL West foes, the Rangers will play more games at home against Oakland (7) and Los Angeles (6) than on the road. They play more road games against Houston (6) and Seattle (7) than home games.
- The Rangers open and close the season at home. In September, however, there is a daunting stretch of 15 road games in a 21-game stretch before finishing the season with four home games against Houston.
See the Rangers’ full schedule below.
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