Staten Island Yankees Release 2016 Schedule

The Staten Island Yankees are excited to announce the team's 2016 season schedule. The Baby Bombers kick off another action-packed summer at home for a 15th summer at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George on Saturday, June 18, against cross-bridge rival the Brooklyn Cyclones.

Click here for a downloadable .pdf of the 2016 schedule!

After posting a 41-34 regular season record and winning the team's eighth McNamara Division title in 16 seasons, Staten Island seeks to bring home their seventh New York-Penn League Championship in 2016 following a loss in the league championship in September.

For the first time since 2012, the Yankees will open the season on the road on Friday, June 17, at the friendly confines of MCU Park in Brooklyn where the Baby Bombers posted a perfect 6-0 record in 2015. The team then returns to the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George to begin a home-opening seven-game home stand from June 18 to June 24, including a NYPL Championship rematch with reigning title holder the West Virginia Black Bears (Pittsburgh Pirates) on June 22-24.

While fans will have to wait until early 2016 for the promotional calendar, dates such as July 4 vs. the Hudson Valley Renegades (Tampa Bay Rays) and the Labor Day season finale on Sept. 5 vs. Brooklyn should be games to mark in your calendar. See below for the whole 2016 home slate.

Fans can reserve season tickets and partial plans for the 2016 season by contacting a Staten Island Yankees ticket rep at (718) 720-9265 or by email at tickets@siyanks.com. Contact us today to reserve your tickets or for more information about the 2016 season.

Date	Opponent	Affiliate
June 18	Brooklyn Cyclones	New York Mets
June 19-21	Aberdeen IronBirds	Baltimore Orioles
June 22-24	West Virginia Black Bears	Pittsburgh Pirates
June 29	Hudson Valley Renegades	Tampa Bay Rays
July 1-3	Vermont Lake Monsters	Oakland Athletics
July 4 & 6	Hudson Valley Renegades	Tampa Bay Rays
July 8-10	Mahoning Valley Scrappers	Cleveland Indians
July 14 & 16	Hudson Valley Renegades	Tampa Bay Rays
July 21-23	Tri-City ValleyCats	Houston Astros
July 29	Hudson Valley Renegades	Tampa Bay Rays
July 31-Aug. 2	Auburn Doubledays	Washington Nationals
Aug. 6-8	Lowell Spinners	Boston Red Sox
Aug. 17-19	Brooklyn Cyclones	New York Mets
Aug. 23-25	Aberdeen IronBirds	Baltimore Orioles
Aug. 29-31	Connecticut Tigers	Detroit Tigers
Sept. 5	Brooklyn Cyclones	New York Mets

The Yankees, the AL East & Strength of Schedule

The Major League Baseball season is a grind. It's a 162 game marathon where even the best teams have their ups and they have their downs. Even the best teams can lose to the worst teams and you're only as good as your next day's starting pitcher. There comes a point in the season, and we're fast approaching this, where the year stops being a marathon and starts becoming a sprint towards the playoffs. The Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles are in a fight for not only the American League East Division but for one of the two available Wild Card playoff spots in the American League as well. The winner of these divisions and races when they are this close usually comes down to who is the hottest, the Blue Jays right now, and who has the most help by their strength of schedule, is that the Yankees?

As you can see the easiest schedule of the three goes to the Blue Jays while the Orioles have the toughest schedule. New York and Toronto have 10 more head-to-head match-ups while the Yankees and the Orioles face off just three more times. Toronto and Baltimore go at it six more times meaning this division is going to come down to those games head-to-head.

Manfred At Least Entertaining Idea of Shortening the MLB Season

Rob Manfred has come into the Commissioner of Major League Baseball’s job and has made many changes and improvement to the game of baseball in less than six months on the job but he’s not done yet. While Manfred is still working on getting exhibition games and possibly a team in Cuba and in other areas outside the continental United States there are many other agendas he is working on including, but not limited to, pace of play, Pete Rose, domestic violence in MLB, the designated hitter for the National League and even potentially shortening the MLB season from 162 games.

Manfred states that shortening the season has become a popular topic among players and owners as they prepare to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement and labor deal after the 2016 season. Manfred has made it his mission in the early part of the season to meet with players from all 30 franchises about many of the issues stated above and the idea of giving players more days off has been garnering the most attention. Manfred recognizes the financial ramifications that would come with a shorter season and compares it to when the American League transitioned from a 154 game schedule to 162 games in 1961 with the National League following suit in 1962. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen but it looks like Manfred is at least entertaining the idea and that may count for something with a new labor deal potentially hinging on the idea.