[EmpireWF]

The Seattle Mariners were not too thrilled with the temporary 2008 schedules released last week.

Mariners | MLB Notebook | Mariners upset after getting "worst schedule" | Seattle Times Newspaper
"The Mariners have a few gripes, starting with the addition of nearly 5,000 air miles. Whereas the M's flew 51,000 miles this past season, they will be over 55,000 next season.

That includes three trips to New York before the All-Star break, two to play the Yankees and one for an interleague series against the Mets.

The Mariners don't like the fact that all but one of their ventures into the Eastern time zone (they play 12 such series) are part of two-city trips. They lobbied for three-city trips to alleviate the travel, but only three of their 12 road trips are three-city trips, mostly to the Pacific and Central time zones.

Another gripe is a stretch in May in which the Mariners travel for three games in Texas, come home for three games at Safeco, and then immediately leave on a road trip to Detroit and New York.

Finally, they are concerned about their first trip of the season, which opens with three games at Baltimore, April 4-7. With no more games in Baltimore scheduled during the season, they fear a repeat of last year's Cleveland disaster. The Mariners and Indians had a four-game series snowed out in April. Because the two teams had no more scheduled games in Cleveland, the Mariners were required to make three separate trips to Jacobs Field for makeup games."