Playoff schedule, and it Sucks for the Twins

[mrtwinsfan]

Wild Card Series  every game will be around noon , im not a  fan it, So Lets win it in 2

Game Date	Series	Matchup	Network
10/3/2023	AL Wild Card A, Game 1	AL Wild Card #3 at AL Division Winner #3	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	AL Wild Card B, Game 1	AL Wild Card #2 at AL Wild Card #1	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	NL Wild Card A, Game 1	NL Wild Card #3 at NL Division Winner #3	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	NL Wild Card B, Game 1	NL Wild Card #2 at NL Wild Card #1	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
10/4/2

[mnfireman]

57 minutes ago, mrtwinsfan said:

Wild Card Series  every game will be around noon , im not a  fan it, So Lets win it in 2

Game Date	Series	Matchup	Network
10/3/2023	AL Wild Card A, Game 1	AL Wild Card #3 at AL Division Winner #3	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	AL Wild Card B, Game 1	AL Wild Card #2 at AL Wild Card #1	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	NL Wild Card A, Game 1	NL Wild Card #3 at NL Division Winner #3	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	NL Wild Card B, Game 1	NL Wild Card #2 at NL Wild Card #1	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
10/4/2

There are no times assigned to the games as of yet...

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, mnfireman said:

There are no times assigned to the games as of yet...

Ahh … details matter not 😉

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 hours ago, mrtwinsfan said:

Wild Card Series  every game will be around noon , im not a  fan it, So Lets win it in 2

Game Date	Series	Matchup	Network
10/3/2023	AL Wild Card A, Game 1	AL Wild Card #3 at AL Division Winner #3	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	AL Wild Card B, Game 1	AL Wild Card #2 at AL Wild Card #1	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	NL Wild Card A, Game 1	NL Wild Card #3 at NL Division Winner #3	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
	NL Wild Card B, Game 1	NL Wild Card #2 at NL Wild Card #1	ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
10/4/2

It all depends on opponent, just like every other game. If the Twins draw Seattle or the Blue Jays, it's probably not the first game. If the Brewers draw the Marlins, that's probably the first game. If the Brewers draw the Cubs, that's not the first game.

Too many variables in play to say anything for certain.

[SoDakTwinsFan]

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

[jmlease1]

4 minutes ago, SoDakTwinsFan said:

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

I'd like it a lot more if I could work from home and have the game on these days...

[nicksaviking]

5 minutes ago, SoDakTwinsFan said:

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

Working from home, I'll take all the noon games I can get. Evenings are way busier with kid and family commitments.

But I feel for everyone else.

[Brock Beauchamp]

16 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Working from home, I'll take all the noon games I can get. Evenings are way busier with kid and family commitments.

But I feel for everyone else.

Same. 

[HokieRif]

I think its all dependent on the matchups and what's going to get the biggest TV draw.  If the season ended right now my guess would be the following:

- Toronto at Tampa, ~1pm Eastern

- Chicago at Milwaukee, ~3pm Eastern

- Houston at Minnesota, ~5pm Eastern

- Arizona at Philly, ~8pm Eastern

 

Absolute speculation on my part, but this makes the core viewership in each game not having to watch anything before noon.  I would also expect all of those times to get mixed up for game's 2 & 3 (if necessary). 

[Trov]

They will announce times when they know matchups.  The times will be based on expected TV draw.  Generally the Twins get the bad time slots based on that.  Being they are more likely to match up to either another central time zone, or pacific that will impact things.  If we face Seattle, it is likely we will get at minimum a later afternoon start, else Seattle fans will need to be watching games at 10:00, and will get less viewers from that alone, but if the start it in afternoon, they will get more viewers from that market.  However, if we get a Texas team, starting earlier in afternoon will not be issue.  

I just hope they start after 5 central, else I will not get to see any of game 1 or 2. 

[mrtwinsfan]

2 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan said:

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

Yes and thats the point of my post ,  to bad some folks love to Bitch here,    Yes it Sucks

[chpettit19]

3 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan said:

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

Since I can watch at work I don't mind it much, but back when I had a job that didn't allow for such things I was quite annoyed by it. I'd hope baseball has numbers that show there's enough people willing to sacrifice their afternoon to turn on the TV, but it'd be interesting to know what the numbers would look like if they did all 4 series as night games. I assume their hope is that baseball fans (not just team specific fans) would tune into all 4 games if they're spread out, but I'm not sure that's actually true.

[wsnydes]

I watch most games on the radio anyway, so I can do that pretty much anywhere at any time.  I understand the point though.  

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan said:

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

I hate even more that they split the games and the different rounds over multiple networks to require you to have a premium cable bundle to get all the games. If I could stream all the games on MLB.tv I wouldn't care what time it was on.

[IndianaTwin]

I trust my son quite a bit (host of http://blog.unnecessarysportsresearch.com/, where you can find such tidbits as when Cris Collinsworth recently became the fourth person to be color commentator on at least 450 NFL games) when it comes to broadcasting assignments. He's usually pretty good at predicting who gets each slot as well. 

He said Tuesday's games are currently set for 2, 4, 7 and 10 p.m. Eastern, though sometimes they get shifted a bit. The 4, 7 and 10 p.m. games would be on ESPN. ESPN2 is used for the overflow -- as in, to show the beginning of the 7 p.m. game if the 4 p.m. game runs long. The 2 p.m. game is on ABC. That hits the sweet spot in their programming of being before the evening news in Eastern time and after Good Morning America in Pacific time. 

As noted by a previous commenter, the time slots are determined after knowing the pairings. Of note is that as of now, we know that there will be an AL game in the Eastern time zone (mostly likely Tampa Bay, but conceivably Baltimore) and likely one in the Central (most likely the Twins, though it could still be Texas or Houston, with a small chance of the Pacific zone with Seattle). In the NL, we know there will be a Central time (Milwaukee) and most likely an Eastern (Philly needs a win or an Arizona loss to be hosting as the 4 seed).

The next update on start times could come when Seattle loses any chance of hosting and ESPN knows it's dealing with two Eastern and two Central times. That increases the likelihood of the 10 p.m. Eastern start getting moved up. If moved to 9 p.m. Eastern, that's an 8 p.m. local start in Minnesota or Milwaukee. Less than ideal, but a sacrifice that gets made for TV. 

So assuming two Eastern and two Central games (and significantly, no Pacific), it's also worth taking into account the visiting teams. The Cubs are still in the race and are probably the biggest ratings draw among possible teams. If they make it, that series has a good chance of being in prime time. If the Twins would get Seattle, they are a little more likely to be later in the day, since you have a Central team and a Pacific team. Similarly, if Arizona is playing, you have a Pacific team (technically, Mountain Standard, which acts like Pacific Daylight, since Arizona doesn't use Daylight time), which increases the likelihood of them starting later in the day.

Recognize as well that there are four games on both Tuesday and Wednesday. They won't necessarily have the same schedule, though they also probably aren't going to turn around and have the Tuesday 10 p.m. series play on Wednesday at 2 p.m. There's not yet a precedent for this setup being played as midweek games. Last year, they were on the weekend.

Thursday's schedule won't be set until they know how many games are to be played. 

 

[Nine of twelve]

26 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

 we know that there will be an AL game in the Eastern time zone (mostly likely Toronto, but conceivably Baltimore)

 

We know you meant Tampa Bay, not Toronto.

[Nine of twelve]

4 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan said:

Does anyone else just hate with a passion playoff baseball games being played during the early afternoon?  Or is it just me?

Good thing you weren't born 50 years earlier. The first World Series game played at night was in 1971.

[IndianaTwin]

31 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

We know you meant Tampa Bay, not Toronto.

Indeed, I did.

Thanks -- it's corrected. 

[insagt1]

might not be a lot here who remember (fondly I might add) that all world series games were played during the day for decades. And we all looked forward to it. Sometimes we hid our transistors in our desks, or under them...and sometimes we had teachers who were huge baseball fans who allowed us to listen for awhile. There were no playoffs back then, so this was truly a special occasion.

I remember I was between school and home when Maz hit 'that' HR in 1960. I also remember the Gillette parrot commercials superimposed on the TV screen between innings. It was a ton of fun.

Things are totally different now. Since the 1970's playoffs and night baseball began to rule the roost. Suddenly people wondered how they could ever have played those games during the day. But again since it was just the world series, the stadiums were packed and we all managed somehow! It was a different time and we all adapted to the changes. I can't imagine a WS game played during the day anymore. But I loved it back then. Oh yeah, and there was this Don Larsen perfect game thingy too!!

[Boswell]

My departed former father-in-law told me how in northern Minnesota in the fall of 1965, the schoolteacher wheeled in a TV for the class to watch the Dodgers and Twins (at least for one of the games). 

[RpR]

Pffft

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Boswell said:

My departed former father-in-law told me how in northern Minnesota in the fall of 1965, the schoolteacher wheeled in a TV for the class to watch the Dodgers and Twins (at least for one of the games). 

My High School played the games over the entire school loudspeaker  system, all day.

[RickOShea]

1 hour ago, Nine of twelve said:

Good thing you weren't born 50 years earlier. The first World Series game played at night was in 1971.

I remember as a kid watching WS games in some classrooms, if you had a cool teacher.  Otherwise, you would have to run like hell to get home from school, to maybe catch the final inning or 2.

[IndianaTwin]

16 minutes ago, RpR said:

My High School played the games over the entire school loudspeaker  sytem, all day.

@USAFChief's high school principal walked around showing off the abacus they were using to keep score on. 

[Mai.K]

I am S.Korean and I will watch the postseason in S.Korea.
No matter what time the game is, it's dawn in Korean time.
So I have two days off from work!!!

[Nine of twelve]

My sixth grade teacher also did the wheel-the-TV-into-the-classroom thing in 1966. Even though it was black-and-white TV and poor picture quality I still remember seeing Brooks Robinson on the screen against the hated Dodgers.

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Mai.K said:

No matter what time the game is, it's dawn in Korean time.
 

Ah-ee-gu!

[Brad.dahlen]

I expect us to get at least one night game - it sounds like we are getting the Michael Kay - Alex Rodriguez broadcast team. I think they will let A-Rod have a night game. 

[MABB1959]

It is nice that this is all we have to bitch about right now!  

[jimbo92107]

I will be allowed to watch the last regular season game from a special pet carrier somewhere in the stadium. After that, it's back to the storage closet...