Aren't the Game 1s typically later than the Game 2s regardless of market as the Game 2 teams had the prior day to themselves?
The NLDS game 1’s will be on 10/4. The ALDS game 1’s will be on 10/5 as well as the NLDS game 2’s. Each league will have one of the divisional series as an early game and the other as the later game on Friday, 10/5. If it’s Yankees vs. Red Sox then they will undoubtedly get the later games and we will have the afternoon games like last postseason. Where things will get interesting is if the A’s end up making it through the Wild Care game to face the Red Sox. Would the MLB rather have HOU/CLE or OAK/BOS series as their prime time games?
Actually, there is at least a 50/50 shot this thing starts at 8:15 as TBS will need a late game and no east coast game is going to start at 9:15 local time. With the potential of no west coast teams playing at home next Friday this is the solution. I think TBS gets the nighttime doubleheader that night, but I'm not certain. The Cubs hosted the Giants for an 8:15 start a couple years ago. As it is now I would say its between Cubs/Milw or Hou/Cle for an 8:15 start, and if the AL gets the night games then it would certainly be Indians @ Astros and not Red Sox/Yankees starting at 8:15 central. My best guess as it stands now would be Brewers @ Cubs 12:08, Dodgers @ Braves 3:38, Yankees @ Red Sox 4:38, Indians @ Astros 8:15. If Dodgers get homefield I'm not sure that it changes anything as I'm not sure if FS1 or TBS has rights to the late time slot, but you could potentially see FS1 showing the Dodgers at 9:30. TBS is kind of screwed with how the playoff teams are lining up. The only way they can really get the Yankees/Red Sox in prime time is to start the game ridiculously late local time. I have a hard time believing they will start a Yankees/Red Sox game at 9:15 ET.
Looking back at past schedules, MLB had St. Louis host NLDS Game 1 in 2015 at 8:45 central. I would not be surprised to see MLB schedule Boston/Yankees at 5:45 and then Indians at Astros at 8:45. If they do that people will b**** that it should've been a day game lol.
I can see the Red Sox/Yankees getting whichever time slot they feel has the most viewers. Even if it’s a late local start.
the talk of which time slot the stros and others may get. ahhh the playoffs are just around the corner
what amazes me is that they've had an even better season with three out of their four holy phenoms suffering injuries. 2 + months that those four weren't in the same line up card. Props to the A's and those fans who always bang the bongos. Enjoy it, that quirky front office might decide to trade everyone for lifetime supplies of sunflower seeds just because they can. Farewell AL west race.
Anything but noon game would be great. I’m anxious to see how slow the playoff games will be this year. With only 6 mound visits, I can’t imagine a 9 innings game will last longer than 4 hours. Well I hope it doesn’t.
The Astros are the team to beat, and there was no doubt in my mind, even when they were struggling, that they would win the division, The only 2 questions marks that could be liabilities in the playoffs: 1a- Correa's health 1b- Is Altuve fully healthy? (He has not looked like the dominant Altuve since coming back from the DL...) 2- Are the newcomers from the bullpen ready for prime time? 1a and 1b would be my biggest concerns, since I believe we can sustain a shaky bullpen by using Morton, LMJ, Peacock, etc., just like last year. Given how Osuna has pitched under the scrutiny of his personal; issues, I'd like to think he will be great in the playoffs as well. So then, I'm hoping Altuve will kick it up a notch once the games mean more and Correa can at least hit above the mendoza line and solidify the bottom of the line up. Our pitching and defense should carry us these playoffs, with the bats getting warmed up during clutch situations. I think we have what it takes to win it all again, so lets get it on!