The Dodgers-Yankees game scheduled for Saturday at Yankee Stadium was postponed by rain, turning the series into a split doubleheader on Sunday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had been lined up for the originally planned Sunday matchup, was moved to start the early game instead.
The change matters because it reshuffled the entire broadcast and pitching plan around a game that had been set to carry the weight of a marquee weekend series. The first game was scheduled for 9:35 a.m. PT on SportsNet LA, while the nightcap was set for 4:20 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock, with Jason Benetti, Orel Hershiser and Roger Clemens on the exclusive national telecast.
Before the rain came, the matchups were supposed to be Emmet Sheehan against left-hander Ryan Weathers on Saturday and Yamamoto against Cam Schlittler on Sunday. After the postponement, Yamamoto took the mound in the first game, leaving the rest of the pitching picture for the series to be sorted out around the new structure of the day.
This was the first rainout of the season for the Dodgers, though it was not the first weather delay they had already absorbed. Their series finale in Washington D.C. against the Nationals on April 5 started two hours and nine minutes late because of rain, and their game against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on June 23 was delayed 28 minutes before the first pitch.
The shift also wiped away the original broadcast setup. Saturday’s game had been slated for Fox, Sunday night was supposed to belong to NBC, and Monday against the Phillies for, but the postponement pushed the Dodgers to SportsNet LA for the first game of the doubleheader and NBC and Peacock for the nightcap. The result was a crowded Sunday schedule built around one rainout and one immediate adjustment, with Yamamoto now carrying the early game and the rest of the weekend compressed into a single day.
