re: Why so many afternoon games to start the season?

He explained in a press conference yesterday that he set it up like this because this year he has 2 different teams coming in and they have 2 games per day. He put LSU the early games to make sure even if the weather is an issue they get in all their games.

I also think he would rather have his pitchers throwing during the warmest part of the day vs a night game where temps can get into the 40s and maybe even 30s at this time of the year.

As said, everything he does is scripted as is for a reason. This seems to be a schedule deal to get in games and also a safety precaution for pitchers.