The World Series is the set of games that Major League Baseball makes the least accessible to the general public, starting them at 8:35 p.m. With games averaging about three to three and a half hours, it sets up the perfect week of zombie-like employees and students wandering around schools and the workplace all over America.
But Bud Selig, in all his infinite wisdom, actually tried to make a change for the better, something almost unheard of in his regime of rampant steroid use and exploding player contracts: he moved the start times for the games between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees up to 7:57 p.m.
The thing Selig doesn’t realize is that the 40 minutes he thinks he’s saving will have a minimal effect on people staying up to watch the game. It’s the playoffs; those 40 minutes will come back like nothing, keeping students and workers in their zombie-like states.
In the playoffs, every single aspect is micromanaged. Managers don’t want to make a mistake that costs them the game, so they are going to take every precaution to make sure they have the exact matchups they want on the field for every single pitch. We saw it in Game 3 of the ALCS when Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled pitcher David Robertson with two outs left in the 11th inning. All Robertson would have to do to force the 12th inning would be to retire one more batter. Instead, Girardi went to the bullpen for reliever Alfredo Aveces. Two batters later, Aveces yielded the winning double to Jeff Mathis.
The problem with this micromanaging is that it lengthens games significantly. In Game 1 of the NLCS between the Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers, a game the Phillies won 8-6, Philadelphia used seven pitchers, including three in one inning. That’s two pitching changes in that inning. That’s two times the television broadcast has to go to commercial break while the new pitchers warm up. That’s additional time for the broadcasters to talk about the new pitcher.
Add pitchers, hitters, and umpires trying to be perfect to the managers trying to be perfect, and you get an unnecessary amount of time added to the broadcast. The time a pitcher spends trying to make “his pitch,” plus the time he spends conferring with his catcher on what to throw the batter, plus the extra time the batter spends looking at his third base coach so he doesn’t miss the signs adds up. The 40 minutes will come back.
What would be easier? Start the games at 7:00 p.m. It’s so much more feasible for people on the East Coast as they can sit down and watch baseball over dinner. People on the West Coast might have to sacrifice the first few innings due to work and school commitments, but it still allows them to see the end of the game, something people on the East Coast usually miss under the current structure.
Bud Selig, if you listen to your fans (for once), you’ll do this. You want people to watch, and this will accomplish it.
Daniel Gallen can be reached for comment at [email protected].