Baseball may have lost its spot atop the hierarchy of American sport, but when you talk about opening day, there is no mistaking what sport I am referring to.
There is only one Opening day.
Baseball's opening Day is the unofficial start of spring, the moment when cold weather ceases to be a mere nuisance and begins life anew as a true intruder on our nation's desire to move on and out of winter. opening day is that one moment during which every baseball fan succumbs to the honest-to-god belief that ""this is our year.""
But this year, opening day was nixed. No, the gods at MLB and FOX instead gave us an ""Opening Weekend,"" apparently brought into existence as the only means of eliminating the need for baseball to continue past Halloween.
Rather than spending the first week of the season enjoying a marathon of sold out games, the barons of baseball decided to split the start of the season into Thursday and Friday games, supposedly enticing fans to take a day off and start off the weekend early.
But playing hooky on a Friday isn't the same. Ditching school, work, whatever you have to go to or even watch your team's opener is a rite of spring that baseball is simply not the same without.
The anticipation is the same, but it still seems something essential is missing from this new mix.
Then again, no one wants to see any more November baseball. As much as I would love to get a reprieve from having to hear about Derek Jeter as ""Mr. November,"" our national pastime is not a game that is conducive to playing in snow flurries.
While bad weather isn't confined to November, the premise set forth by extending the season past the end of daylight savings time is a dangerous one for the future of the game.
As a result of FOX insisting on multiple, non-travel off days being included in the playoff schedule, fans across the nation are exposed to the game in its ugliest form. Football might be even more attractive in bad weather, but baseball is all about a cool breeze on a warm summer night. Watching teams struggle through conditions ill-suited for the game reduces the appeal of baseball, not to mention the serious compromising of the system's ability to produce a true champion.
So that brings us to a pivotal question: Is ""Opening Weekend"" the only way to avoid baseball in November?
If we take the NFL approach of squeezing out every dollar the game has to offer, it just might be the only plausible solution. But since its inception, baseball has stood apart from the rest of the nation's major sports because it is about more than just dollars and cents, but rather providing a certain civic value to fans and the cities in which they reside.
Good will is thus an essential part of the marketing of baseball.
That said, MLB is left with one of two options. The first option (outside of shortening the season) it has at their disposal is to reinstitute Sunday doubleheaders. Sunday doubleheaders were an integral part of baseball throughout its golden age, turning a game into a civic event and a ballpark into a fair ground. But the prospect of doubleheaders is never appealing to players, and the potential for lost ticket sales (with two games sold for the price of one) will never pass the desks of owners. For the time being, doubleheaders are out.
The other potential option for substantial change is the TV contract with FOX. Even after the playoffs expanded in 1995, the World Series was complete before the end of October—even in the event of a rain out or two. While Sept. 11 delayed the 2001 World Series and gave us November baseball for the first time, it seemed like a one-time novelty and no doubt the appeal of such a late finish was aided by the drama of the series (and the fact that the final two games were held in warm and sunny Phoenix). When Jeter got the tag of ""Mr. November,"" it was done in jest out of the belief that we wouldn't see an opportunity for someone to usurp him.
Then, without much fanfare, the playoffs started to move farther and farther back. Some years it was just a calendar issue, but then the off days started coming into play.
Three days between the end of the regular season and the start of the division series. Two more (three for some series) built into the division series. Three more for the LCS. Another three for the World Series. Oh, and two or three between each round because now each series had to start midweek.
Already having to deal with the addition of the LDS round, baseball now had to account for the television-implemented addition a half month's worth of mandated off days.
The MLB playoffs used to be a condensed version of March Madness. October baseball was as good as it got. Now it's no more exciting than the drawn-out epic known as the NBA playoffs.
So do we really need to institute ""Opening Weekend"" to avoid baseball in November? Or is this just the most convenient solution to an issue that pits fan preference directly against financial potential?
I realize baseball gets paid handsomely for its concessions to FOX, but I firmly believe we have gotten to the point where it's no longer worth it.
FOX already ruined one institution with the added off days in October, and now MLB has responded by killing off another: opening day.
If you really want to beat the NFL, don't try to be the NFL. Baseball is at its best when it functions differently from any other professional sport; when it embraces its civic duty.
This is one of those times when civic duty needs to take precedent.
Is November baseball a bad thing for the sport? Email Max at max.sternberg@yahoo.com.
