MLB Playoffs 2009

[Ian]

Okay, so I need to go on a bit of a here ...

I've never been a big Bud Selig fan to begin with ... then last year he pulled that shenanigans with Game 5 of the World Series and I really began to develop a strong dislike for the man.

But this year he's definitely solidified himself as my Most Hated Man In Pro Sports.

How in the world do you take the defending World Series Champions and make them play two home games that start at 2:37 in the afternoon and then follow that by two away games that start at 10PM??!??!??!?

Look, I can almost swallow a Saturday night game in Colorado starting at 10PM on the East Coast, but a Sunday night game??? I'm supposed to stay up until 1AM to see what could be the clinching game for the Phillies??

MLB has to figure out a way to make their playoff schedules more palatable to fans. Why don't they have some guts and do what the NFL does and run games against each other regionally?? It's absurd!!

Bud Selig is a clueless dolt. I have no idea how he's managed to hang on to this job as long as he has, but he's going to go down in history as possibly the worst professional sports President in history.

Okay ... over ...

[Scar]

MLB has to figure out a way to make their playoff schedules more palatable to fans. Why don't they have some guts and do what the NFL does and run games against each other regionally?? It's absurd!!

The NFL doesn't run 2 playoff games at once.

But I agree they have to figure out a better schedule.

[PirateLover]

Seriously this schedule is horrible. Thankfully the kids have off monday (although the teachers don't!) So I won't have to deal with no-shows and sleepy heads. The kids are really the ones who suffer here. And, what happens if we get into another debacle like last year and we start tomorrow's game and aren't able to finish? Do you play pt 2 on Sunday and push sunday's game to monday? Do you play 1 1/2 games on Sunday? Pedro is known as the rain maker... strange things happen during his starts... we may start calling him Mr. Freeze now.

Seriously though, this scheduling is insane.

[sportsguy2315]

How in the world do you take the defending World Series Champions and make them play two home games that start at 2:37 in the afternoon and then follow that by two away games that start at 10PM??!??!??!?

Look, I can almost swallow a Saturday night game in Colorado starting at 10PM on the East Coast, but a Sunday night game??? I'm supposed to stay up until 1AM to see what could be the clinching game for the Phillies??

First off, let me address your first point with a simple math equation:
Red Sox+Yankees+Dodgers (To an extent)=$ and Ratings for TBS and MLB
No offense to the Phillie fans, but it's pretty easy to see why their series against Colorado is getting the short stick in the NLDS. 3 of baseball's most recognized teams are in the playoffs this season. If you Bud Selig and were wearing the money goggles (As I'm sure he is), you'd see that you'd want the big names in primetime. It's also the basis behind your second point. The Eagles host Tampa Sunday at 1 ET, while the Broncos host the Patriots at 4:15 ET, so a 4 PM start in the East is out of the question as the Broncos are in town. The Twins and Yankees start at 7:07 ET, so by process of elimination that's why you're looking at a IMHO insane 10:07 ET first pitch Sunday night in Denver.

P.S. If my kid was in a similar situation and there was school the next day, I'd let them sleep in and just go in a couple hours late. No need to completely erase a day of school over a ballgame that gets done at 1 AM.

[PirateLover]

I'm more upset over the night games rather than the day games. Colorado is the coldest climate left, with freezing temps and snow predicted. Wouldn't you want to play that game during the day with the SUN so the players don't freeze??? Baseball isn't meant to be played in 21 degree wind chills. But because no one cares about the Rockies on a national level, we get the short end of the stick.

[Scar]

But because no one cares about the Rockies on a national level, we get the short end of the stick.

Only the Rockies huh.

[PirateLover]

Only the Rockies huh.

Philadelphia is right behind New York and Boston in terms of the broadness of our market. The Phillies...in fact almost all of our teams consistently draw fans across the country.

[Ian]

The NFL doesn't run 2 playoff games at once.

Yeah, you are right ... even on wildcard weekend they play four separate games.

Of course, none of them start at 10PM, but hey ...

Philadelphia is right behind New York and Boston in terms of the broadness of our market. The Phillies...in fact almost all of our teams consistently draw fans across the country.

Yeah, but Maryanne you know as well as I do that the national media hates Philly, for whatever reason. We get zero respect.

Even if we were playing the Dodgers or Cards I still think our series would be buried. I just hope the team uses this for motivation ... that "us against the world" stuff actually tends to work.

[barnaby]

Philadelphia is right behind New York and Boston in terms of the broadness of our market. The Phillies...in fact almost all of our teams consistently draw fans across the country.

I have to disagree with that a little.

A Sunday night game between the Phils and Mets ain't drawing much in say North Carolina. But a Yankees-Red Sox game is.

Outside of the Philadelphia area, not many people care about the Phillies, unless they grew up in the area and moved. But there are Yankees fans who have only seen the city of NY on TV.
The Phillies don't draw alot of national interest, even as reigining world champs. And their current playoff schedule shows that pretty clearly.

Go to the NY area, and their ain't too many Phillies fans. However, in the Philly area there is a fair amount of Yankee fans.

I just don't see the Phillies as a team of "national" interest. Heck, they won the WS last season, and all off-season the talk was about who the Yankees signed. And the Yankees didn't even make the playoffs.

[barnaby]

The MLB playoff schedule is the DUMBEST of all pro sports.

The times are weak, they used to have overlap in the games.
And come LCS, the games start around 8:30PM guaranteeing that any young fan can't watch all the games without being tired the next day at school.

And the fact that if a team plays all games in their respective series, they only play 19 games in 32 days!!
The least amount of games in a one month during the regular season is 25, and thats during the All-Star break month.
Every other month a team plays 27-28 games in a month. Thats 3 off days in a month during the regular season.
But in the playoffs a team that plays the max amount of games will 3 times that many off.

[gueli]

Yeah, but Maryanne you know as well as I do that the national media hates Philly, for whatever reason. We get zero respect.

The national media does not hate the phillies Ian, they just don't like YOU
(sorry it reminded me of a line out of band of brothers- "Lt sobell doesn't hate easy company private randelman, he hates you")

It does seem wrong to start a game so late- on a saturday...why not an afternoon game ? Oh yeah, because they don't want to interfere with NCAA football ...Sunday I can understand

[Hammer]

Philadelphia is right behind New York and Boston in terms of the broadness of our market. The Phillies...in fact almost all of our teams consistently draw fans across the country.

But other teams do not draw anywhere near to the level of the Red Sox and Yankees. Yes, there were many Phillies fans in Tampa for the World Series and the games there this season, but that has more to do with the fact the Phillies have held Spring Training in that area (Clearwater) since 1948. There are a pocket of fans there who grew up with the Phillies.

Yeah, you are right ... even on wildcard weekend they play four separate games.

Of course, none of them start at 10PM, but hey ...

That is because football has always been 1 and done and baseball, since its inception, has always been a "best of" series. I don't want them to spread out the games like basketball or hockey.

Yeah, but Maryanne you know as well as I do that the national media hates Philly, for whatever reason. We get zero respect.

Even if we were playing the Dodgers or Cards I still think our series would be buried. I just hope the team uses this for motivation ... that "us against the world" stuff actually tends to work.

I have to disagree with that a little.

A Sunday night game between the Phils and Mets ain't drawing much in say North Carolina. But a Yankees-Red Sox game is.

Outside of the Philadelphia area, not many people care about the Phillies, unless they grew up in the area and moved. But there are Yankees fans who have only seen the city of NY on TV.
The Phillies don't draw alot of national interest, even as reigning world champs. And their current playoff schedule shows that pretty clearly.

Go to the NY area, and their ain't too many Phillies fans. However, in the Philly area there is a fair amount of Yankee fans.

I just don't see the Phillies as a team of "national" interest. Heck, they won the WS last season, and all off-season the talk was about who the Yankees signed. And the Yankees didn't even make the playoffs.

DING, DING,DING!! Barnaby has the answer! The Yankees have drawn national media interest since the 1920's. Watch any Yankee game in an opposing ballpark on the opposing team's TV broadcast (I was able to do this with the MLB Extra Innings package) and you could not hide the fact that there was a large Yankee presence in those ballparks. Even the Red Sox aren't getting as favorable a schedule as the Yankees. Game 3 on Sunday in Boston is starting at noon! Angel fans can watch the team play while having breakfast!

Look, I am a huge Phillies fan, but I am also a realist and know that MLB and TV are going to choose what will make the most money for them. As you like to point out, Ian, we live in a capitalist country where the primary goal is to make the most profit possible.

[DAKustodial]

The energy was definitely great, but it gets better! Last year the NLCS and WS were just off the hook from start to finish. Last night the crowd was definitely good but there were some lulls. Where were you sitting? We had section 208.
Can't wait for tonight... I told my students that if they were good all day I'd put the radio on at 2:30 while they did their independent reading. Of course they probably know that it's just as much for me as it is for them

Hi Maryanne...

We were in 308 for the first game...just got tickets for Game 5 yesterday if there is one, but I'm really hoping there won't be!

Sorry you saw a tough one on Thursday but hopefully they'll finish this thing out in Colorado...I can't take this kind of stress this early in October!

[PirateLover]

Look, I am not saying that national interest in the Phillies is comparable to NY or Boston. However after those two behemoths, we hold our own-I don't think it's as low as the rest of you are making it out to be. This current team is very popular with players like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins. We could get thrown a bone every now and then and not have every single game start at a bad time. That's all I'm saying. Christine I'm surprised at the way your downplaying the following. This year especially, we had fans all over the country show up for games. I'm not saying it's equivalent to "Red Sox Nation" but it was pretty impressive. I don't think they all were necessarily Philly transplants.

Can I take this moment to complain on behalf of Twins fans now? You guys seriously got messed up by that ump in the 11th. The ball was clearly fair. Had Mauer gotten his double, he would've scored and the Teixiera home run would've tied the game, not won it. I sympathize.

[Hammer]

Christine I'm surprised at the way your downplaying the following. This year especially, we had fans all over the country show up for games. I'm not saying it's equivalent to "Red Sox Nation" but it was pretty impressive. I don't think they all were necessarily Philly transplants.

Maryanne, you are seeing this from the Philadelphia broadcast perspective, for the most part. They are going to highlight the Phillies fans in opposing cities and make it seem larger than it is (and I work within the company that owns the TV station that broadcasts most of the Phillies games). Every team does that as I saw watching other broadcasts this year for different teams.

[Ian]

I don't disagree that MLB has to try and maximize revenue, but the thing is how many Phillies or Rockies fans are really tuning in to Yankees vs. Twins or Red Sox vs. Angels. I'd bet a small minority. I mean I clicked over and checked scores every once in awhile, but that's it. I certainly didn't sit and watch the entire games.

So why not just run them head-to-head? It shouldn't affect ratings much on the other game and, on the Phillies game, it would probably improve ratings dramatically since I have to believe there weren't many people watching T.V. at 2:37 in the afternoon on Wednesday and Thursday!

[Hammer]

I don't disagree that MLB has to try and maximize revenue, but the thing is how many Phillies or Rockies fans are really tuning in to Yankees vs. Twins or Red Sox vs. Angels. I'd bet a small minority. I mean I clicked over and checked scores every once in awhile, but that's it. I certainly didn't sit and watch the entire games.

Ian, I watched all of the Yankees-Twins game last night and Red Sox-Angels. I do not think I am that small of a minority. I can almost guarantee that nationally people would watch a Yankees or Red Sox game over a Phillies game if they were put on head to head.

[Hammer]

Some info about the ratings for game 1 from MLB.com (highlights for emphasis):

The network's primetime game of Twins at Yankees earned a 4.3 U.S. household rating, up 23 percent, and 6,607,000 total viewers, also up 23 percent over last year's Dodgers at Cubs game in the same time slot. Twins-Yankees delivered a 21.6 rating in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market and a 13.4 rating in the New York market.

• The Dodgers' 5-3 victory over the Cardinals delivered a 3.3 U.S. household rating, up 10 percent, and 4,973,000 total viewers, up 12 percent over last year's Red Sox at Angels game. The Cardinals at Dodgers game delivered a 20.0 rating in the St. Louis market and a 9.6 rating in the Los Angeles market.

• The average household rating for the Phillies' win over the Rockies in Game 1 was even with last year's Brewers at Phillies game, receiving a 2.0 U.S. household rating and 2,758,000 total viewers. Rockies-Phillies delivered a 15.5 rating in the Philly market and a 5.9 rating in the Denver market.

TBS announced that the first day saw significant growth in all key demographics, including a 32-percent jump over last year in overall 18-34 age group and the same in male-only 18-34.

[sportsguy2315]

Game 3 of Phils/Rockies been postponed to Sunday at 10:07 ET, Game 4 on Monday time TBA with Game 5 Tuesday in Philly if necessary.

[Ian]

Okay, so ... am I nuts in thinking this delay really works in the Phils' favor?

They get an extra day for the team to adjust to the local time zone, a full extra day's rest for their pitching staff, and an extra day away from the momentum swing the Rockies got from winning game 2.

So now you have the luxury of pitching Pedro tomorrow and, if you win, pitching Blanton or Happ on Monday and holding Lee back for a potential game 5.

If there's no game 5, then both Lee and Hamels would pitch on extra rest when the next series starts.