MLB Postseason: Division Series Schedule Begins to Take Shape
By Matt Snyder
According to Major League Baseball, all Division Series game times are still “to be announced“, but TBS (the TV network with exclusive rights to the ALDS and NLDS) has begun to carve out timeslots in their programming schedule. Here’s a look at each day’s schedule and game times.
The MLB postseason begins on Friday, September 30 with two ALDS games. According to TBS, these games will be played at 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM. As it stands now, New York would host Texas and Detroit would host Boston. If these matchups hold, I would have to figure that Detroit-Boston would be the first game (6:00 PM) and New York-Texas would take the later slot (9:30 PM). Actually, no matter how the pairings end up, I would bet the AL East vs. AL West game ends up in the late slot.
Day two of the playoffs, Saturday, October 1, will be a baseball marathon with four games taking place (all on one TV network). The TV schedule lays out games with the following schedule: 12:00 PM, 3:30 PM, 7:00 PM, 10:30 PM. It’s hard to get a beat on which time slot the Tigers will end up in, but I think (hope) it’s safe to say that they won’t be playing at 10:30. You would have to think that the late game would be a game played somewhere west of the Eastern Time zone (or, at the very least, involve a team from somewhere west of the Eastern Time zone). If the playoffs began today, the only home team not in the Eastern Time zone would be Milwaukee.
Sunday, October 2 is a travel day for the American League, so there will only be two National League games played. The times for these games are 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM.
Monday, October 3 will hopefully be Detroit’s first road game of the postseason, but if they fail to lock up home field advantage then this will be the day that our “ALDS Game 1” tickets will be good for. The NL is scheduled for a travel day here, so we’re looking at just the two ALDS games. Game times will be 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM. I would not be at all surprised to see the same pairings in the same time slots as the Friday games. A three game sweep would mean that someone’s postseason dreams have been dashed.
Tuesday, October 4 will be another marathon if neither of the AL series’ end in a sweep. Game times will be the same as Saturday: 12:00 PM, 3:30 PM, 7:00 PM, 10:30 PM. It appears as though the first game to be dropped (should a sweep have already occurred in the AL) is the noon game. If both American League series have ended by this point, then TBS will more than likely revert to the 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM schedule for the NL games. If all four series end in sweeps, then this will be the last night for the Division Series round.
Wednesday, October 5 will be another scheduled travel day for the American League, so the only two games on tap are in the National League (if necessary). Scheduled times are 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM.
Thursday, October 6 will see the fifth games of the American League Division Series (if necessary). The current scheduled times are 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM, but it’s very likely that a single game would be played somewhere around 8:00 or 8:30 PM (but this is just speculation on my part).
The fifth games of the NLDS will be on Friday, October 7 (if necessary). Scheduled times are 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM.
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