With all due respect, Jase, that's not accurate.
The Seattle @ Oakland game on Thursday night was originally scheduled to begin on SNP at the start of the game. About a week before, that was changed in order to insert a completely unnecessary hour of Sportsnet Central; thus, we joined the western game in the fourth inning. WHY? That same SC telecast was available on every other SN channel ... the thoughtlessness of supplanting the first hour of a LIVE baseball game with a news report that can be seen on four or five of their other channels is beyond stupid.
The same thing happened today. The Toronto game was over and once more, although the Seattle @ Oakland game was originally scheduled to start on time, the jokers in the SN scheduling department decided that nope ... those of us following the Mariners (or the A's) would have to instead wait to join the game in the third or fourth inning. Once again, instead of serving their audience in the west with respect, we had no recourse but to sit through the last two innings of the Baltimore @ Chicago White Sox game. When SN joined it in the 8th inning, it was tied at 2 with every indication an extra inning game was a strong possibility. Fortunately for us, I guess, the home team scored in the bottom of the inning and it ended soon thereafter. Had it gone long, we'd either be receiving the western game in the last few innings or not at all.
Oh ... and btw, they're doing the EXACT SAME THING ON SUNDAY!
The point is this: what kind of justifiable explanation can SN offer for these unnecessary and intrusive decisions? Such treatment has yet to occur with ANY of the ubiquitous Blue Jays, Yankees or Red Sox telecasts. The only conclusion that appears obvious is that it's eastern elitism in full bloom. (Our interests count, yours don't). What SN seems to be saying is, "the games of the American League East matter far more than those of the west. Yeah, you'll get your western games sporadically here and there, but they may very well be truncated or otherwise sliced and diced. Don't like it? Too damn bad." The ONLY acceptable reason for delaying a LIVE telecast is in the event an earlier game on the same channel is running long. That's beyond SN's control and we can't rightfully complain too much (although there's no reason I can find for not putting the second game on a different SN channel, therefore giving baseball fans east and west complete games).
It seems the programmers in Toronto are choosing to cut up western games as a matter of course with no consideration for those looking forward to them. It's a lousy way to treat those paying the freight in provinces other than Ontario. The myopic SN schedulers need to realize that the message they send each and every time is, "We don't much care about you subscribers that prefer to see the western division of the American league. You'll have to be satisfied with viewing parts of games based strictly on our whims."
WHAT KIND OF SERVICE IS THAT? It's not unreasonable to conclude that such decisions are ignorant and dismissive of those with interests beyond Toronto-inflected sports. It shows contempt and an utter disrespect for the audience outside of their home base. We pay the same (or more) than those in the east, yet we receive a far less agreeable schedule of games ... and it's one that is always subject to change.
BTW, Jase ... do you or any of the other administrators here have a relationship and/or contacts at SN? If so, would you kindly bring this to their attention? I no longer bother sending messages along these lines to them for the simple reason that they choose not to respond. Not one reply, even to tell me to buzz off. Frankly, I see that as just one more example of a company's cavalier, elitist attitude.