Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo has a solution to cut down on the number of baseball’s cold weather game postponements: schedule fewer regular-season games.
“I think we play too much baseball,” Rizzo told Chicago’s ESPN 1000 radio on Tuesday. “Yes, guys are going to take pay cuts. But are we playing this game for the money or do we love this game?”
The player went on to say that a new schedule should be moved into place slowly so that salaries can be adjusted without a big cut all at once.
“Once you start taking money from guys, that’s where it’s going to be a little more dicey,” the 2016 World Series champion admitted.
The discussion came on the heels of back-to-back games canceled in Chicago due to the unseasonably cold, freezing temperatures that brought snow in April to the Windy City.
Rizo also noted that he hates playing in the cold.
“I think playing in the cold sucks,” said Rizzo added. “I was thinking about this the other day. When you think of Cubs and Cardinals, you think of a beautiful Saturday at Wrigley Field. You don’t think about playing in 20 degrees.”
No. 44, who just came of the disabled list, also insisted that cold weather games are no fun for fans, either.
“As a fan, you’re going to a baseball game in April, and it’s raining, snowing and [with] freezing rain,” he said. “Is it really that much fun? That’s my question.”
Still, Rizzo also admitted that the super cold April was not the norm for Chicago. “This is kind of a freak April,” he said.
But, perhaps Rizzo wants more time off work to indulge his anti-gun activism? The infielder came out as a major booster of the anti-gun kids from a high school in Parkland, Florida, with a series of tweets supporting their anti-gun marches and saying how proud he was of their actions.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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