MLB Finally Addresses Playoff Start Time Issue

Monday, May 18, 2009


Good lord, today is full of some crazy news. The latest, is that Major League Baseball has decided to push up the start times of its Playoff games, a full 40 minutes when compared to last year. The official start of the pregame show will be 7:30pm EST, with first pitch coming shortly after 8pm. Via MLB....

World Series games this October will start approximately 40 minutes earlier, a concerted response by FOX Sports and Major League Baseball to concerns about late broadcasts inconveniencing East Coast and young fans.

First pitches will be scheduled for shortly before 8 p.m. ET, following the conclusion of pregame shows now scheduled to go on the air at 7:30.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who recommended the change in starting times to FOX Sports, called it "a terrific announcement, something I have waited a long time for."

"I really feel good about where we are," said Selig, who indicated the American League Championship Series games on FOX also will follow suit and start prior to 8 o'clock. "Our goal is to schedule games so the largest number of people can watch, and FOX has gone to an enormous amount of effort to make this happen. It's been a great joint effort between the two us."
This has been an ongoing debate for years now, and it's great to hear they finally decided to address it. I remember some of those Red Sox-Yanks games going to almost two in the morning, and for us East Coasters...that's just healthy. Hopefully everyone can enjoy most of the games now, and everyone can get some damn sleep!

World Series games will start earlier (MLB)

Posted by Awful Announcing at 1:25 PM

9 Comments:

Sure, it's nice. But really, who cares. If you love baseball, 40 minutes is not that big of a deal.

GMoney said...
May 18, 2009, 1:29:00 PM  

Getting rid of Tim McCarver and putting Mark Grace in the booth would be a better move.

Nathan Brice said...
May 18, 2009, 1:31:00 PM  

We need Midnight Cowboy and Mark Grace together. That would be great. That is Joe Buck for those of you that did not get that.

Nathan Brice said...
May 18, 2009, 1:32:00 PM  

I've always wondered why they talk about maximizing the audience by starting late. I realize it allows the west coast viewers time to get home, but you lose most of the east coast viewers before the end. Apologies to the west coasters, but as a viewer, if you have to miss 1/4 of a game, would you rather it was at the beginning, or at the end?

pete said...
May 18, 2009, 2:18:00 PM  

"if you have to miss 1/4 of a game, would you rather it was at the beginning, or at the end?"

That's easy, the beginning.

/ALCS Game 6 on TBS'd

May 18, 2009, 2:21:00 PM  

Rick James:

Exactly. If you're a viewer at least.

I don't understand how the league and the networks never figured this out. Starting early makes the west coast miss the beginning (not home yet), but starting late makes the east coast miss the end (gone to bed). Either way, half the people are missing part of the game, so why not at least ensure that everyone gets to watch the end? No one watches (or cares about) the pregame show anyway, so it doesn't matter.

pete said...
May 18, 2009, 2:33:00 PM  

I agree with Pete. And let's get real. Baseball is a northeast sport. The northeast cares the most about baseball, which explains why the Yankees, Mets,Red sox, and Phillies have the greatest fan bases. The west loves the NBA. so have the NBA play-offs start at 9:00 and let the real fans that like baseball, get to watch there teams play and finish, without having to call in sick the next day because they were up till 1:00 watching baseball.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2009, 8:20:00 PM  

Now if NASCAR would just say something to FOX about the 1.5 - 2 hr pregame before every race.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2009, 9:21:00 PM  

Pregame needs to be 10-15 minutes, no more than that. Here's a quick recap of the series so far, here's what to watch for, and here are the lineups. Start pregame at 7, first pitch at 7:15. Game over by 11. Postgame until the streetlights go off.

Unknown said...
May 19, 2009, 12:57:00 PM  

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