Let's Play Few: MLB's Half-Baked Opening Day
Written by: Jeff Passan
World Series games creeping into November bothered baseball's brain trust, particularly commissioner Bud Selig, and he vowed for it to end in October this year. Fox wanted the series to start on a Wednesday. So MLB pegged Game 1 of the World Series for Oct. 19 and worked backward from there.
Rather than start the season on the traditional Monday -- March 28 would have been the earliest opening day ever -- MLB chose Thursday, which works as the kickoff to March Madness but is hardly a guaranteed score in April. By offering home teams the opportunity to choose whether they wanted to play Thursday or Friday -- most with precarious weather situations took Thursday, and warm-weather and domed teams chose Friday -- they almost ensured the split.
I repeat, baseball, Major League Baseball, needs a Baseball Commissioner that is NOT a team owner and one that is not "owned" or controlled by the team owners so that he--or she (that'd be refreshing, wouldn't it? a FEMALE Baseball Commish?--would make decisions for the betterment of the game.
It won't happen unless and until baseball fans raise hell and make it happen.
(Rather like campaign finance reform in the US--it won't happen until the people make it so.)
Enjoy your lightly-snowy weekend, folks. Think of it this way--you likely won't see much if any more of the light, fluffy stuff until the end of next year, if we're lucky.
Link to original story: http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201103/lets-play-too-many-baseball-slices-opening-day-half
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