Play Ball Already!

It would've been so easy for Major League Baseball to do the smart thing. Big surprise, they went the other way.

Since 1990, the World Series has been scheduled to begin on a Saturday. This year, finally realizing that Saturday is also the lowest-rated TVnight of the week, MLB decided to begin the World Series on a Wednesday. Sure, why not? But it meant a schedule change.

Seven non-playing days (travel days and off days) were built into the 2006 playoffs schedule. Beginning the Series on a Wednesday meant MLB had a choice: They could move Game 1 up to Wednesday, October 17th (and eliminate three non-playing days), or push it back to Wednesday, October 24 (and add four non-playing days).

The former option would've been tough but doable. One possibility involved eliminating most travel days within a series and beginning the LCS on a Monday:

ALDS (Best of five):

Monday, October 1: Travel day
Tuesday, October 2: Game 1 at Ballpark A
Wednesday, October 3: Game 2 at Ballpark A
Thursday, October 4: Game 3 at Ballpark B
Friday, October 5: Game 4 at Ballpark B (if necessary)
Saturday October 6: Game 5 at Ballpark A (if necessary)

ALCS (Best of seven):

Sunday, October 7: Travel day
Monday, October 8: Game 1 at Ballpark A
Tuesday, October 9: Game 2 at Ballpark A
Wednesday, October 10: Travel day
Thursday, October 11: Game 3 at Ballpark B
Friday, October 12: Game 4 at Ballpark B
Saturday, October 13: Game 5 at Ballpark B (if necessary)`
Sunday, October 14: Game 6 at Ballpark A (if necessary)
Monday, October 15: Game 7 at Ballpark A (if necessary)
Tuesday, October 16: Travel day

This schedule would've:

1. Forced teams to use their fourth and sometimes fifth starters the way they did during the regular season. They'd dance with those that brung them.
2. Eliminated extra travel days. If you think that's harsh, those four days off (minimum) during the two-week playoff period still compares favorably to the regular season. During all of September, the Boston Red Sox got just three days off.
3. Given us the World Series a week earlier. The most important games of the season would have that much more of a chance of being played under weather conditions similar to the regular season.

Instead they added four non-playing days (including one right in the middle of a homestand!) and scheduled the Series to begin on October 24th. What does this mean?

1. It means they've scheduled a total of 11 off-days during the playoffs. Eleven! And that's assuming every post-season series goes the max, which, so far, no series has. By the time the World Series begins, for example, Colorado, will have had as many days off playing in October (16) as they did during the entire six months of the regular season (not including the All-Star break).
2. Teams don't have to rely on their fourth and fifth starters. They can keep using only their best relief pitchers. Their position players can rest. It's almost like another sport.
3. Game 7 of the World Series -- the biggest game of the year -- is actually scheduled for November. So much for the boys of summer.

You'd think if you had the chance to make the most important games of the year more like the rest of the season, rather than less, you'd do it. For whatever reason, Major League Baseball hasn't.

Once, early in his career, sportswriter Thomas Boswell was interviewing Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver in the dugout when the National Anthem began playing. Weaver kept talking but Boswell wondered aloud if maybe they shouldn't stand. "Relax kid," Weaver told him. "We do this every day,"

Well, we used to.

Comments

[Quaoar]

In some ways it's better than last year's schedule. The Oakland-Minnesota series was all weekday day games (some starting at 10:00 am PST) so that many fans in those cities could not watch the series live. This tear, the games are scheduled at a reasonable time, but you're right that they scheduled far too many off-days.

Maybe a compromise where they could have more off-days during the Division Series to maximize viewership so that there aren't 4 games on the same day unless it's a weekend game. For the Championship Series they would follow your schedule.

[MrLion]

Another reason for low ratings: the games start so late and take so long to play that they end long after most peoples' bedtimes. In fact, Saturday's Diamondbacks-Rockies game ended after closing time for sports bars in some states.