Reddick, Astros fume over 'absurd' travel schedule

Josh Reddick spoke out Thursday against the Houston Astros' travel schedule, which required the team to fly home overnight and face the Texas Rangers about 14 hours after landing.

The Astros wrapped up a four-game set against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night. Typically, teams play in the afternoon before flying to another city for a game the following day.

"To censor myself, it's BS. I don't think one person is happy about the night game travel," the outfielder told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. "I think it's a complete misjudgment on how they make a schedule. It's absurd, really. Look at us, we don't do that to anyone. We don't ever give them a (getaway day) night game unless it's Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. It makes no sense. It really makes no sense. A lot of guys aren't happy about it, myself included."

The Astros took the final game of their series with the Angels before hopping on a red-eye flight. They were scheduled to land at 5:15 a.m. local time on Friday in Houston.

"It'll be brutal," manager A.J. Hinch said before the team flew home. "It's one of those things that I hope they address in the next CBA ... Other teams do it - we're not the only one - so it's more of a broader topic across the league. Especially in our division (for) teams that are coming back to Texas, it's brutal."

The club sent Justin Verlander, Friday night's starting pitcher, back to Houston early so he could avoid the overnight flight.

"It's going to be a long day, but this is what we get paid to do," Reddick said. "We suck it up and hopefully take it as a little spark to fire us up."