Fox Ruins Baseball

I'd like this explained to me. Both the ALCS Game 2 and the NLCS Game 1 are being shown at the same time tonight on two different networks by Fox Sports. Don't they want to maximize their audience tonight? Here in New York, the NLCS is being shown on Fox, while the ALCS is being broadcast on F/X.

To me, there are two more logical routes to go:

1. Show the ALCS starting at 4 PM ET, and the NLCS at 8:20 PM (Hey, day baseball. What a concept);

2. Start the NLCS earlier, at 7 PM, while beginning the ALCS at 10 PM ET. (That would be hardship on the Tiger fans, but the true fans will stay up.)

I just don't get showing both games simultaneously. And as usual, the 8:20 start time for the East Coast is too late, as these postseason games normally go on for at least 3 1/2 hours, as Fox has to bomb us with 10,000 commercials for their fall lineup. (MLB actually allows Fox longer breaks in-between innings for more ads. Criminal.) Fox seems paranoid about the games not beginning before 5 PM on the West Coast, but yet they don't give a toss about games ending at midnight ET. (And the World Series night games will begin around 8:40 ET.)

And they wonder why their ratings for the postseason has been in the crapper for years.

As my friend Steve says, "Fox ruins baseball."

How true.