Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Austin Hedges is accusing the MLB of putting profit over player safety after the Pirates continued on with Thursday’s game against the San Diego Padres at PNC Park despite poor air quality from Canadian wildfire smoke.
“It’s obvious. They got to get the money in and it’s clear as day,” Hedges told 93.7 The Fan on Thursday. “It seems like money takes precedent over player health.”
The finale of the three-game series between the Pirates and Padres was delayed 45 minutes on Thursday over “weather conditions and air quality index.” The Pirates announced the team would move forward with the game after discussions with the MLB and MLBPA.
Despite the Pirates’ 5-4 win and series sweep of the Padres, Hedges wasn’t happy they played. He was not in Thursday’s lineup: “It’s not fun to go out and play baseball when you think you’re putting your life on the line.”
Both teams played in similar weather conditions on Wednesday during the Pirates’ 7-1 win over the Padres, which Hedges described as “terrible,” “awful” and “kind of scary.”
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The conditions on Thursday were no better. The website Airnow.gov deemed the air quality index “very unhealthy” at 231 AQI in Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. ET, just before the game began. Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen even put on a mask when he reached base in the first and sixth innings.
“Of course I’m concerned,” McCutchen told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before the game. “You read the alerts. You read everything they’re saying, trying to stay safe from outside. One of the main things is to avoid strenuous activity, and that’s what we’re doing for three-plus hours out there.”
Before Thursday’s game, Hedges questioned why the teams were playing and bemoaned the lack of education around the subject of air quality.
“It’s clear as day when you look at your phone and you check the numbers. Like, it’s told you don’t go outside. … They’re not saying that for no reason. We’re not any different than any other humans.”
Hedges said “fans shouldn’t have been here” either. He added, “It’s frustrating, but we still show up and go to work. “Hopefully there’s more clarity on this situation.”
MLB games in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. were postponed earlier this month due to Canadian wildfire smoke, the first games that were pushed back from smoke since September 2020, when two games between the Mariners and Giants were moved from Seattle to San Francisco due to wildfire-related smoke.
Air-quality postponements are handled by MLB, not host teams.
“There should be people in the league that are looking out for us,” Hedges said. “That are experts in this, that should be making a clear decision, well before the game starts, whether this is safe or not for the players, which should be the number one most important thing.”
Pirates manager Derek Shelton reiterated Thursday that “our player safety is a number one concern for us.”
Contributing: Gabe Lacques
