A’s Japan series kicks off brutal start to regular season schedule

Every team will hit a tough stretch at some point over the course of a 162-game season, but the Oakland A’s might have a legitimate beef with MLB’s schedule makers this year.

When the A’s return home from their regular seasonopening series against the Seattle Mariners in Japan they’ll play three preseason Bay Bridge Series games against the San Francisco Giants. After that, things really get daunting.

The A’s home opener against the Los Angeles Angels March 28 kicks off what will be 18 consecutive days in which they will play a game. The first eight are at the Oakland Coliseum against the Angels and Boston Red Sox. Then they go on the road for ten at Houston, Baltimore and Texas.

Not only is there an obvious fatigue factor in play here, but playing for 18 straight days also throws a wrench into how the A’s can go about assembling their 25-man roster. Normally teams can stash a starting pitcher, for the A’s perhaps young phenom Jesús Luzardo, in favor of another player they would like to have on the roster. The A’s are going to need all of their starting pitchers, whichever five they end up being.

“That 18 straight is something that came up in every meeting this spring to remind ourselves that we need to make decisions that allow us to have the depth to get through April,” A’s general manager David Forst said. “If you can weather that storm on the field and get through with healthy bodies, all those things are critical as we get through the first three weeks.”

The A’s had a stretch of 20 straight days with a game last year and actually handled it well. They went 11-9, but that stretch came much later in the season from Aug. 17-Nov. 5.

Add that with fear of a possible lingering jet lag for players from the Japan trip and you’ve got a potential recipe for disas-

ter.

But if given the chance to do it over again, Forst would still decide to make the trip happen. He is appreciative of the invites to play overseas and said the trips allow the organization a chance to create a broader fan base.

“Whatever drawbacks there might be are dwarfed by the experience and what we’ve gotten out of it the last two trips,” Forst said.

The Opening Day against the Mariners in Japan will be the earliest MLB has ever opened a regular season.

It’s not ideal for the players, but they’ll do the best they can with the situation.

“You don’t really have a choice,” said A’s designated hitter Khris Davis. “It’s gotime.”

What might help the A’s is having the three exhibition games with the Giants after the Japan trip. It allows players to shake off some of the jet lag in games that don’t count.

“When the game starts you feel fine. Then afterward it feels a little funky to go back and play some spring training games,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I think it’s probably prudent to have a few off days and three more games based on the fact that going back is a little more difficult as far as the time change.”