It was far from easy, but the Rays got there in the end. A 3-1 victory over the Red Sox in game seven of the ALCS booked their date with the Phillies in this year’s World Series. The NL representatives have been kicking their heels since getting past the Dodgers last Wednesday, but the Rays will be no less keen to get the Fall Classic underway. They don’t have too much longer to wait, with this year’s World Series schedule once again calling for a Wednesday night start.Â
Like every other baseball fan, I’m glad we’re just a day away from game one (well, it’s more like two days as I write this owing to the time difference), but I can’t help thinking that the old set-up, where game one was held on Saturday night, made the opener an even more exciting occasion.Â
MLB moved away from tradition last year by switching the opening game of the World Series to a Wednesday night after staging the opener on a Saturday for the previous twenty-one years. As is so often the case with sport these days, TV coverage was the prime motivation for the change. Prime time audiences are higher during the week than they are during the weekend in the States and it was predicted that the viewer ratings would be higher for the whole series if the opening games reached a larger audience.Â
The switch to a Wednesday night opener is probably not a big deal for fans in the States, but it’s a bit of a pain for British-based ‘baseball nuts’ (to borrow Jonny Gould’s phrase). The World Series games start at approximately 01.05 in the morning over here (sometimes 01.30 after the opening ceremony has been strung out), which makes it difficult for many people to watch them live if they then have to get up and go to work/college/school a couple of hours after the final out has been made.Â
Although you can record the games and watch them back later, it’s not quite the same experience. You also have the problem of trying to avoid the score, ‘Likely Lads’ style, before sitting down to watch it. That’s not normally an issue with baseball games over here, but the sports sections of newspaper websites and the BBC will tell you who has won during the World Series if you’re not careful.
Under the old schedule, the Saturday night/early Sunday morning opener did at least offer British fans the chance to get in the World Series spirit and to join the crew on Five, tuxedoes and all, to watch the first game live.Â
You had two main choices when it came to getting yourself ready for the early start: catch a few hours of sleep during Saturday evening and set the alarm clock to wake you up, often setting another alarm as well just to make sure, or going out for the night and then arriving back home (hopefully not too worse for wear) in time to settle down on the couch for the festivities to begin. You could take in the game and then spend your Sunday snoozing. What could be better?
A 01.05 Thursday morning start isn’t quite so hospitable. If you can take the day off work or have another way to fit in some sleep (no lectures until the afternoon, contracting a mystery one-day illness etc) then you can find a way around it. Otherwise, it’s a case of taking matchsticks into work to keep your eyelids from slamming shut in the afternoon.
A weekend start is better for us, but the big TV ratings (and advertising revenue) take precedence over the preferences of a few European baseball fans.  And we’re all accustomed to suffering for our obsession in any case. We can face the slight hardships along the way in the knowledge that a great World Series will more than make them worthwhile.
I’m sure the Phillies and the Rays won’t let us down.
17 comments
Hi Matt – Over the years I’ve tried a few of the different methods you give for dealing with the late, late / very early-morning broadcast times in the UK. I’m fairly conclusive that the best method for me is to record the game and watch it the following evening.
Granted, it’s not the best experience to have to spend the rest of the day avoiding any mention of baseball in case you find out the result, plus you can’t let your guard down – I once prematurely found out the result of a post season series when Yahoo unexpectedly plastered a picture of the winning team as its ‘picture of the day’ on its UK home page (it wasn’t even the World Series). During the playoffs and World Series you can end up running on your own alternate timeline – always feeling one day behind the action.
However, I have realised through a few torturous nights trying to keep awake past the middle innings that I am not a night owl, especially not over a long series. I think you know you’re not doing the game (or Jonny and Josh’s discussions)justice when you’re fading in and out of consciousness on the sofa or cursing the fact you can’t go to bed yet as it’s going to extra innings.
Hi Tim. I have to admit that I resort to taping it as well sometimes. I once made myself nice and comfy with a cup of tea, a few pillows and a blanket, and ended up falling asleep not long after the game had begun! Fortunately the last couple of years (and this year) I’ve booked some time off work to allow myself to really enjoy the climax of the season. I normally watch the first game live and then I’ll often watch the rest off tape.
I’m just happy that Moyer’s the probable starter for the Phillies in that Saturday, Brit-friendly game. He was a fantastic Mariner and I would love to see him get a World Series win to add to his CV.
Real baseball fans will certainly watch the Series. That obviously is a lot of people. As I had commented earlier, the casual sports fan will find other things to do. Football fans will watch their sport any evening that it is on (Sunday and Monday usually). I really do admire the way you guys have to figure out the best way to watch the games. Has there ever been any talk or chance of DirecTV becoming available in Britain? The Extra Innings package has at least 12 games on every day and night with more than that very often. That sure would be nice if that ever happened. What is Five? Does Five have it’s own broadcasters? Her the Series games will be on Fox nationwide. Do you get U.S. stations on any kind of satellite programming. I’m really in the dark about what you get, how often, etc. I take it you get MLB on the internet? Matt or Joe, could you explain it all to me? Hope all is well!
Please excuse my typing errors! Chico
Chico, these are some great questions, but I’ll wait for Matt to answer them. I think he’ll be in a good mood as he is currently watching his soccer team destroy the league leaders in the English second tier.
Thanks Joe. As you know, I was quietly confident heading into the game!
Chico. In terms of TV, British fans have two options.
Five is what’s known as a ‘terrestrial’ TV channel so everyone gets that without having to pay a subscription. They show two games a week, the Sunday Night ESPN game with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan (at 1.00 in the morning) and a game on Wednesday Night (again at 1.00/1.30 in the morning). They have two main presenters, one of whom is Josh Chetwynd who has played for Great Britain and has written two excellent books about baseball in Britain and Europe. For the World Series, Five shows all of the games live, taking the MLB International Feed (rather than FOX)which has Dave O’Brien and Rick Sutcliffe on commentary. As the games are broadcast in the dead of the morning, they generally don’t show any adverts in between innings and instead the two presenters (the other is Jonny Gould) provide analysis and a lot of fun reading out viewer e-mails and such.
The other TV option is to subscribe to a cable/satellite sports package which includes the North American Sports Network Channel. This is owned by ESPN and will be rebranded as ESPN America next year. This broadcasts a lot of the ESPN shows (Baseball Tonight etc)and about 5 or 6 MLB games per week during the regular season.
I’ve not heard any talk of Direc TV or the new MLB Network (due to be launched at the start of next year in the States) being made available over here.
For a lot of baseball fans, the MLB.com products are a real lifeline, whether the Gameday Audio subscription or the MLB.tv subscription. With the latter, we’re able to choose from every single regular season game (either live or watching them once they have finished) as none of them are subject to blackout restrictions for us. Obviously, we do have to contend with the time difference though. Day games in the States take place during the evening over here, whereas night games are in the early hours of the morning (typically 01.00 for games on the East coast and 03.00 from the West coast).
Any further questions, please just ask.
Matt: Thanks! That was very useful for me. It helps knowing what you get or can get if you choose. Just think of what it once was like with only the Trans Atlantic cable or radio waves for communication. Satellite technology has virtually changed the world. By the way, our family Winter sport is Ice Hockey. I also coach Hockey and my son plays. Still, we think of Baseball every day in the baseball off season. I am fairly familiar with British Hockey at the Pro level. Chico
I realize you guys are concerned about late start time, so it brings me no pleasure in mentioning this. If the series goes to a game six, it will start a half hour later than usual. This is because Democratic Presidential Nominee Barak Obama has purchased air time on all the American Networks to speak to the American People a week before the election about why he should be President of the United States. Major League Baseball, in an effort show they acknowledge there are more important things than baseball, has agreed to move the start of game six back a half hour in order to accomodate Obama.
More important things than baseball?!!!
Thanks for the update Joe.
Quick off-topic – So that would make Matt a Norwich fan? That win over Wolves also helped out my team, Reading. The hat-trick scorer: Leeroy Lita, on loan from Reading. Funny old world.
Matt: More questions! I read with interest your column about MLB having a game in possibly London. That would be really great if it would ever happen. My question: Where do the London Mets play? The Pirates? Are they baseball stadiums? Where do those college teams play in the new college league? Do they simply cut out a field on an existing football or cricket field? Youth baseball? Is there any baseball in Leeds? I have hit you with a lot of questions! As you know there are thousands upon thousands of Baseball fields here in every corner of the U.S. with probably millions of kids playing little league. Kids drop out of playing as they get older and move up and the competition gets harder. By college age, it really gets tough. Do U.S. youth teams ever come there to play? I wonder how a very good HS player here would stack up there and what level he would play at? That probably can’t be answered. Anyway, thanks for answering my questions. I continue to learn!
Matt: I can probably save you some trouble and effort. I am reading the BBF website and getting a lot of information. Extremely interesting. Still would like any info. from you and any thoughts on anything you are aware of (comparing good teenage players here to GB teenagers, etc.) Thanks!
Hi Chico. The BBF website does provide a fair amount of detail, so hopefully that’s given you a better idea of the British set up. There really aren’t any stadiums to speak of here and there are only a few places where they actually have baselines and such. Historially it’s been very difficult for teams to get support from their local councils to put any sort of proper baseball facilities in place. The sport is a long way down the list of priorities against the likes of football (soccer), cricket, rugby and many more. From the wider European perspective, there are some decent (if modest) facilities available, particularly in the Netherlands. Joe may be able to offer a bit more insight into this than I can.
There simply isn’t that many kids who play baseball, so that in itself hurts the level of competition. A British Baseball Academy group went over to the U.S. during Spring Training this year and they matched up well against the competition they faced though. The BBF has a good youth set up so you do find the odd one two youngsters making their way over to the States to play at college level. Of course, the best athletes are busy playing soccer or other sports that can lead to a professional career in Britain. It’s not easy to draw too many comparisons between GB and the U.S., simply because there are so few kids who play over here.
To answer a few of your other questions, there isn’t a baseball team in Leeds although I believe there are a few softball teams and the Menwith Hill team isn’t far from Leeds.
I think the college teams just make do with setting up a temporary area on a playing field (marking out the baselines etc). I don’t know of any proper diamonds that are used in the developing college set up and, as mentioned earlier, there are barely a handful of proper diamonds full stop in the U.K.
It all comes down to money really. Particularly with baseball being booted from the Olympics, getting any sort of funding can now be very difficult.
Tim: Yep, I’m a Norwich City fan. It was a great result for us last night, even if we did benefit from a few shocking moments by Wolves. No doubt Lita will be in tip-top condition when we send him back to you later this month!
Hi Chico,
Here’s an exercise you can do that should answer a couple of your questions.
Firstly, right-click here and choose “Open in New Window†to open up a satellite image of Roundshaw, which is where the Croydon Pirates play, in South London. This is where the last few National Finals have been held. You will notice cut-outs for the bases, a mound, a left-field bullpen with another mound, a permanent perimeter fence, and a batting cage (in need of some repair work) to the south-east of the diamond. No lines are marked as this image is from the off-season. (Note that the car parking is not for the baseball field – it is for the sports club to the north).
Next, click on the zoom-out button once. You will see a second diamond to the west, with more extensive infield cut-outs but no perimeter fence (orange plastic fencing is used as temporary home-run fencing during games). You will also notice a few soccer pitches (the one to the north of the second diamond is not there during the summer).
Finally, click on the zoom-out button once more and drag the map to the left (to reveal the large grassed area past the industrial estate immediately to the east of the first diamond). Count how many soccer pitches there are.
This is one of the main baseball centres in the country, yet the two diamonds are greatly outnumbered by soccer pitches. Imagine what the situation is like in areas where baseball is not played.
The situation is better in some other European countries. The Dutch are famous for their immaculate fields, and some other less-likely nations, while not having a large number of diamonds across the country, have at least one highly impressive baseball centre (Portugal and the Czech Republic would be good examples).
Joe: Got it! I now have mind’s eye view of the fields. Thanks so much!!