Poor Wild Card Scheduling Tough On Missouri Royals Fans

The Royals have made the playoffs and will begin a quick best-of-three Wild Card series against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. Yet my joy at the Royals making the playoffs was slightly soured by when they'll be playing.

I'm not ready to be done with baseball yet. However, depending on how the Royals play, I might have watched my last baseball game this season. All three Royals games for the Wild Card series are on the road in Baltimore. I get it; that's how it is and how it should be for the Wild Card: quick, dirty, win, or go home. Yet none of the Royals' games are evening games.

The Royals and Orioles play at 3:38 PM Tuesday, 3:08 PM Wednesday, and, if necessary, a 3:08 PM contest on Thursday. It's not as bad for Orioles fans in Baltimore because they're in the Eastern Time Zone. Even getting out of work at 5:00 PM, they can catch most of the game at a bar near work, listen to it on the commute home, or, if they don't live far from work, just go home and turn it on. It's a little more challenging for those in Missouri with that 3:00 PM start, especially if you're working till 5:00 PM and can't access a TV or a radio.

It could be worse; the other American League Wild Card series, Detroit vs. Houston in Houston, has all three games slated to start around 1:30 PM CDT, which would make it difficult for many folks to see.

The National Leage Wild Card contests are slated for the evenings, mainly with the Brewers and Padres waiting to see which teams they play, as the Braves and Mets finish the season with a makeup doubleheader today. It's still a little awkward for Padres fans in San Diego.

Padres fans get an early West Coast start time, with two games starting around 5:30 PDT and a third game, if necessary, at 4:00 PDT. I would have preferred that start time to watch the Royals.

Of course, Major League Baseball is trying to do a lot with the playoffs. It wants to take care of the fans who want to see and follow as many of the series as possible. It also wants to engage with the casual fan who may care that their team made it to the playoffs and doesn't care about the rest of it. They're also trying to put the games they think most people will engage with, fans of those teams or not, on when people can watch.

Sady for the Royals, Baltimore, Houston, Detroit, and, to an extent, San Diego. It's not them. I could watch the other series for my baseball fix, of course. And I'm sure we'll have the Royals games on a TV at the station. Yet it's not the same as going home, plopping down on the couch with a couple of dogs, chips, and a beer, and rooting for your team, hoping they get the victory and play another day.

Here's hoping Salvy, Bobby, and the Royals dispatch the Orioles quickly, so maybe there's some more October baseball in my future—Yaknow, night games that I can pop on the TV and watch. And perhaps a parade in our future. That would be beautiful.