This postseason has featured some classic games that have stretched into the early hours of the next day.  For it’s part, Game Two of the World Series ended at 12:36 AM EST.

For many fans who have work the next day, this was far too late to be up.  For those with children, you likely had them in bed well before the end of this game.  In fact, many were in bed before the seventh inning stretch.  When faced with these moments, many renew calls for postseason day games or earlier start times.

West Coast Problem

The thing about Game Two of the World Series was it ending at 12:36 AM EST was that it ended at 9:36 PM PST.  That is not something that should be dismissed, especially when the game was actually played in California.

While people on the East Coast deal with games ending late, people on the West Coast have to deal with games starting too early.  Game Two of the World Series, hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, had a first pitch at 5:19 PST.  That is part of the reason why Dodger Stadium wasn’t at capacity yet when the game started.

That’s not only a problem for people attending the game.  It’s a problem for people who wanted to watch the game at home.  Imagine being a die hard Mets fan who had to somehow leave work early enough to beat rush hour to get home and be on your couch ready to watch the World Series at 5:00.  There aren’t many of us who can.

Yet, that is an issue people on the West Coast have to face every World Series.  It’s a problem not just for them, but for Major League Baseball.

Remember, it’s not baseball’s responsibility to ensure friendly end times for baseball games for people on the East Coast.  It’s their responsibility to ensure that as many fans in America as possible get to watch the game.  That’s their responsibility not just to fans, but also to advertisers.

In making that decision, someone is going to have to suffer.  West Coast fans have to deal with missing the beginning of the game, and East Coast people will have to deal with being sleepy the next day.  Like all compromise, everyone is left a little unsatisfied.

Getting Young Children Interested

There’s not doubt an early start time would be friendlier for children.  Depending on their age, children are in bed before the game even begins.  For others, they will have to be in bed before the game ends.  In some sense, that’s not much different that the problem many adults face when watching the World Series.

Here’s the thing about that.  It’s really not much different that the regular season.  Are you really going to tell me that hour makes a real difference between your child watching the game or not?

Personally, I know my son falls asleep while watching regular season games, and he is already in before the World Series start times.  I know I smiled the other day when he told me he doesn’t like it when baseball is over, and he wants it come back.  I also know his fandom is largely predicated upon mine, and if I continue to be the ardent fan I am, he is likely to follow in my footsteps.

I also know his fandom will likely be shaped as he gets older.  With the anniversary of the Mets 1986 World Series having just passed, I talked to my dad about it.  I was allowed to stay up for Game 6 to its end in large part because it was my parents were hosting an engagement part for her at our house.  My Dad also revealed to me I watched many two minutes of Game 7 because I was already in bed because I had school the next day (Thanks Mom).

It wouldn’t be until Kirk Gibson‘s homer in the 1988 World Series that I would be allowed to stay up late for a game.  It is something I would do from 1988 until the present.  My missing the 1986 World Series had nothing to do with my fandom or my love of baseball.

World Series Day Games

The counter-point to this is maybe we can counter-balance the first two issues by having World Series day games.  In reality, this ultimately will have the opposite effect.

The logic behind it is fairly sound.  By having games at a time when everyone can watch, more people will be able to watch the games from beginning to end.  That goes double for children from coast to coast.

This argument ignores what it is like to be a parent of a child on the weekend.  In fall, especially the Month of October, parents and children’s days are already full of activities.  During the fall, there are soccer and football games.  There are some fall baseball leagues.  This doesn’t even include indoor sports that can be and are played year round like basketball, swimming, gymnastics, and dance.

There are also piano (or other musical instrument) lessons.  Recitals.  Birthday parties.  Pumpkin Picking.  Trunk or Treats.  The list goes on and on, and that is before you account for laundry, grocery shopping, and all the other househould chores that need to be accomplished by Monday.

During the Month of October, parents are running from place to place.  Even when there is nothing to do, you are outside playing with your children or taking them over to a friend’s house to play.  It just doesn’t end.

The reward?  Well, after a day of running around like that after a hard work week, you should be able to pop open a beer and watch the World Series.  Of course, you can’t if it has already been played at 4:00.  Instead, you are trying to catch pieces of the game here and there while you are doing things with your children.

Football Problem

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if baseball or football is more popular.  What matters is there’s going to be a conflict with day games.

If you’re a college football fan and a baseball fan, you’re going to have to choose between the two or toggle back and forth.  If your team is still in the playoff picture, and your baseball team is out of it, you’re likely going to watch your college football team.

Same goes on Sundays when it is a matter of the Jets or Giants and the World Series.  While there might be some toggling back and forth, you’re likely going to focus on your team rather than the World Series.

Why would baseball invite fans splitting their interest between two sports?  It’s insanity.  Oh, and by the way, there is no way Fox would every allow it.

Early Games Don’t Make Sense

Like everyone else, I would like earlier start times to games, and I would love games to end at a reasonably early enough time for me to get to bed at a decent hour.  It’s never going to happen, and it’s not happening because people don’t just live on the Eastern seaboard, and people have conflicts with earlier start times.

Like anyone else, I’d like to see a World Series day game in my lifetime, but it’s just not going to happen.  And even if it did happen, I probably won’t get to sit down and watch it for another 20 years.

So, as this World Series comes to a close, I’ll be more concerned about the quality of the games played than their start and end times because at the end of the day, I’ll always remember how great Game 2 of the 2017 World Series was, and I probably won’t be discussing how I was so tired at work the next day.