Tigers stick it to the Red Sox by refusing to honor a simple request

The Boston Red Sox face a brutal little stretch of games this week, partly because of bad luck, partly because of unfortunate scheduling and partly because of the Detroit Tigers' stubbornness.

Boston played one game in Cleveland on Monday to make up for a rain out earlier in the season, before traveling to Baltimore for a two-game set against the Orioles on Tuesday and Wednesday and then onto Detroit for a four-game series Thursday through Sunday.

With Wednesday's game at 7:05 p.m. ET and Thursday's game at 1:10 p.m. -- and a flight plus hotel check-in wedged in-between -- Boston reached out to Detroit to inquire about bumping Thursday's start time until later in the afternoon or early evening. Just a gentleman's request between a couple good sports.

Detroit promptly said no even though Major League Baseball allows the team to start the game at whatever time it wants.

Dombrowski is well educated on the Tigers' schedule, of course, because he was the team's GM before being fired last year and finding a new gig with Boston. Is Detroit trying, in part, to stick it to its former executive who's now helping an A.L. rival?

Possibly, but it's probably not personal. The Tigers are only 4.5 games behind the Indians in the A.L. Central and two games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card race. If denying Boston's request is to gain a competitive advantage, hoping to pick up a game on the tired Sox, they have every right to do that. There's also a potential logistical issue, with a Lions game scheduled for Thursday night.

If the Tigers wanted, it all could be worked out, though. Baseball karma is real.