Tuesday, October 28, 2008

You Think Last Night was Bad?

Wait until next year.

MLB, in its infinite wisdom, has the 2009 World Series scheduled in the first week of November, and if it goes a full seven games, it would end on November 5th. Unbelievable.

I can only imagine what it was like to have been sitting through that monstrosity in Philadelphia last night. The temperatures dipped below 40 degrees with sharp winds and steady rain.

For whatever reason, the 2009 season will begin on April 6, so that means it will conclude about a week later than this year. MLB refuses to schedule doubleheaders, or cut the season back to 154 games, and with the addition of the Division Series back in 1995, it makes the season end later. And now in recent years with more off days during the playoffs, it just adds to the risk of playing in really horrible weather.

They've been lucky in recent years, especially last year, when the Series concluded in Colorado. Last night was just a travesty, and it could have been worse had Carlos Pena not singled in the tying run in the sixth. They would have been forced to keep playing if the game wasn't tied, because they couldn't allow the Series to conclude on a rain-shortened game. It was the first time in World Series history a game was suspended, and they will pick it up from the bottom of the sixth. (Bud Selig later confirmed that there would be no rain-shortened games, that it would have to had gone nine innings for the game to count.)

And tonight, the weather forecast isn't much better than last night.

I bet next year Bud Selig and his MLB posse will be praying for the warm-weather or dome teams to make it to the Fall Classic. They get what they deserve for scheduling the World Series this late in the year. And next year: November.

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