It used to be, when I was much much younger, that the World Series was played entirely in October. It never even came close to Halloween, even if there were rainouts.
November was reserved for the awards announcements. I remember waiting anxiously to hear who had won Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and MVP honors. It was a big deal, because all these awards were announced before Thanksgiving. Then, after that, teams usually concentrated on trying to sign the top free agents, or perhaps making potential blockbuster trades.
Now, that has all changed. The World Series gets played (in part) in November. The season is already long enough, between spring training and 162 regular season games. Then MLB went ahead and added the wild card, expanded each league to three divisions, and added another playoff series.
So when you sit down to watch this year's series between the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees you won't be surprised to be watching games played in 30 or 40 degrees, will you? You won't be shocked to see a few flakes fall from the sky either, right? Maybe you'll be treated to one, or maybe even two rainouts. I say this series can go into mid-November, if these things occur, along with the full seven games.
Then there's the issue of the season awards. Will they be distributed before Thanksgiving, like I've always known? I wonder if the excitement of waiting to see if some of your favorite ballplayers won any individual awards has been diminished. There will be no build-up like before, with only about two weeks to hand out all these awards, instead of a whole month.
I'm all for new traditions, and I understand you have to change with the times, but baseball in November is not something I'll embrace kindly. Call me old, call me grumpy, but call me at about midnight so I can catch the last inning of the game - I'll be sleeping by that time!
November was reserved for the awards announcements. I remember waiting anxiously to hear who had won Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and MVP honors. It was a big deal, because all these awards were announced before Thanksgiving. Then, after that, teams usually concentrated on trying to sign the top free agents, or perhaps making potential blockbuster trades.
Now, that has all changed. The World Series gets played (in part) in November. The season is already long enough, between spring training and 162 regular season games. Then MLB went ahead and added the wild card, expanded each league to three divisions, and added another playoff series.
So when you sit down to watch this year's series between the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees you won't be surprised to be watching games played in 30 or 40 degrees, will you? You won't be shocked to see a few flakes fall from the sky either, right? Maybe you'll be treated to one, or maybe even two rainouts. I say this series can go into mid-November, if these things occur, along with the full seven games.
Then there's the issue of the season awards. Will they be distributed before Thanksgiving, like I've always known? I wonder if the excitement of waiting to see if some of your favorite ballplayers won any individual awards has been diminished. There will be no build-up like before, with only about two weeks to hand out all these awards, instead of a whole month.
I'm all for new traditions, and I understand you have to change with the times, but baseball in November is not something I'll embrace kindly. Call me old, call me grumpy, but call me at about midnight so I can catch the last inning of the game - I'll be sleeping by that time!
