Well the Rockies had a great run and blew everyone’s expectations – especially when you consider that back in the Spring Hurdle got fired because the team was so bad. I’ll be honest: Now that the Rockies are out of the Playoffs, my level of interest in MLB has significantly decreased. I did want to offer a thought, more-so an expansion of something I Twittered about last night before fatigue got the better of me.
The Rockies started playing at 8pm on a Sunday night, with the game ending well past midnight. We’re talking Mountain Time, never mind that we were playing Philly, an Eastern Time Zone team. Yet somehow baseball doesn’t see anything wrong with that.
Look, I’m not in so much denial about the Rockies’ stature that I believe the team warrants the major prime-time spot, and I am somewhat grateful that they re-scheduled the Rockies game to give Broncos fans the opportunity to watch.. but really an 8pm start time?!? Baseball can’t get away with the same tricks that basketball and hockey pull – their games are under 3 hours – and an 8pm start time doesn’t work for playoff baseball.
I’ve heard the detractors of my views (and debated with them on Twitter), that I am being selfish and am unwilling to sacrifice a little to support my home team. Perhaps they’re right, but consider this: Baseball has been in an arguable decline in popularity over the last few decades. Their die-hard fans aren’t getting any younger, and the only way to build your stature is by getting your product in front of as many potential fans – especially kids – as possible. It’s pretty hard to that when they’re all in bed.
I’ve stated previously that the NBA is pretty obnoxious about their playoff scheduling, but in the beginning they’re trying to fit in 8 games. Yet somehow baseball only has to manage 4 games and still finds a way to screw that scheduling up. Baseball is in a tough spot, but they need to start somewhere and accept a few things. For one, accept that you can’t avoid football and may just need to compete with it. If you’re going to play on a Sunday in the fall, you can’t avoid all of their games. Secondly, you need to make sure you’re on in the afternoons on weekends, the fact that you didn’t have a game scheduled on Saturday afternoon is nothing but a missed opportunity. Thirdly, if it’s too hard for you to take 2 games each night and alternate nights, then you maybe should accept the fact that the games will need to run on alternate channels. I know each sports feels their playoffs should run exclusively, but if you can’t manage the 4+ hours your game run then you need to do something.