World Series: Better Late Than Never

Image via Wikipedia

Major League Baseball is getting what it deserves when the Philadelphia Phillies take the field in New York against the Yankees in the World Series Wednesday night.

This is the best matchup the Series has had in years:  Power in both lineups as personified by Ryan Howard of the Phillies, and Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees.  The pitchers are no slouches, either:  Andy Pettite and Mariano Rivera for New York, and Pedro Martinez and Cole Hamels for the Phillies.

Philadelphia is going for their second consecutive world championship, something no National League team has done since the original Big Red Machine in Cincinnati did that in the mid-1970s.  The Yankees, for all the money they've spent on marquee players, haven't won the Series since 2000.  They are also the last to win back-to-back world titles (1998-2000).

What's not to like?

Uh, how about the fact that, for the first time since 2001, the World Series will end in November?  This scheduling quirk was created not by the good folks at Fox Sports, but by the World Baseball Classic that was held during an extended spring training, which most of us have already forgotten.  If the Los Angeles Dodgers and/or the Angels had made it to the Series, MLB would have gotten a pass.  But it's New York and Philadelphia, places where winter comes early.  Don't be shocked to see players and fans freezing their butts off, or games postponed due to snow.  Let's just hope we don't see any juiced-up snowmen.

With the exception of Game 4, all World Series games will begin at 7:57 p.m. in the East (6:57 in the Central time zone), a half hour earlier than it has been in recent years.  Big deal.  This year's playoff games have been averaging 31/2-4 hours, and sometimes more if they go into extra innings.  So don't worry about missing "CSI", "Grey's Anatomy" or "Mad Men".  The games will still be on when those shows are over, unless it's your bedtime.

Controversy over blown calls in the playoffs have prompted MLB to use only experienced umpires for its World Series crew.  There have also been people bleating about the need to expand the use of instant replay beyond disputed home runs.  Look, baseball has been around since long before the invention of TV.  We've seen what has happened to football since replay was introduced, in which most of the calls on the field have been validated.  Baseball needs more experienced umpires on big games and less replay.

Once Halloween is over and the holiday shopping season begins in earnest (with a brief break for something called Thanksgiving), the Yankees will be World Series champions in six or seven games.