The Yankees are the most esteemed franchise in American sports, owners of 27 World Series titles, 40 American League pennants and a $3.7 billion valuation. They’re known for elegance, excellence and extravagance.
And they spent Wednesday night sleeping in a goddamn airport.
The trouble started for the Yankees when their game against the Nationals was rained out Wednesday (a day after their previous contest was suspended due to weather). The team’s flight out of D.C. was supposed to take off from Dulles Airport at 10 p.m. Wednesday night and land a few hours later in Kansas City. But when the trip was canceled due to what general manager Brian Cashman later said was a combination of mechanical problems with the plane, ongoing rain and restrictions on the hours a flight crew can work, there was no backup plan.
With Washington D.C. hotels near capacity, the team with the best record in Major League Baseball was forced to get comfy in chairs in the waiting room at Dulles or on the team plane, per Newsday.
The Yankees were eventually able to take off at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Cashman seems to have had a sense of humor about the whole ordeal.
“Fortunately,” Cashman said, “[Thursday] was an off day.”
Pun fully intended, Cashman said of Wednesday night’s events: “It really was a perfect storm.”
The Yankees, who have won 19 of their past 22 games and stand first in the AL East, have not completed a game since Sunday, with off days on Monday and Thursday bookending the weather drama on Tuesday and Wednesday. They’ll retake the field Friday against the Royals (with a clear forecast), and we won’t blame any player who’s still a bit sluggish.
[Newsday]
