Here's why Tigers always have day off after opener

Ugh. The second day of the baseball season in Detroit is easily the worst.

It's such a tease, that nasty day off between Opening Day and Game No. 2. Fans get all jacked up that baseball is back – and, just like that, the brakes are slammed.

I've had many folks ask me over the years why the schedule is set up like that in Detroit.

And here's the reason: Weather in Michigan, obviously, is dicey in April (occasionally, the season has even opened in March). So the Tigers make sure to have an off-day available the day after the scheduled Opening Day – in case Opening Day is rained out, or even snowed out.

Some fans have asked me why the Tigers just wouldn't nix the annual Day 2 off-day, and if there's an Opening Day rainout, just move all the festivities to the second scheduled game of the season.

Simple: Opening Day tickets are uber-valuable, and fans claw and scrape like heck to make sure they've got tickets – price, often, be damned. If Game 2 were to become the "opener" because of bad weather, it'd become a logistical nightmare, and realistically impossible, to accommodate everyone for tickets to the made-up Opening Day.

That means, many of those fans who shelled out hundreds – and, in some cases, thousands – of dollars for Opening Day tickets would, instead, be stuck with overpriced tickets to a makeup game that's not Opening Day.

Meanwhile, owners who'd previously bought tickets to the scheduled Game 2 would hit the lottery.

That's not a good setup, nor a fair setup.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

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