The World Series could end in November this year. Major League Baseball can do without all the “Mr. November” jokes, so the league took a creative step last year: a flexible start date for the World Series.
It’s not easy to cram a four-round postseason in a month. But it’s even less ideal if the World Series teams roll through the league championship series, then sit around for close to a week before the World Series starts.
MLB unveiled this creative reform last year: If both World Series teams complete the league championship series in no more than five games, the start of the World Series would move up three days. Nothing kills interest in an everyday sport like a week off before the most important games of the season.
The reform did not come into play last season. Although the New York Yankees won the American League Championship Series in five games, the Dodgers needed six games to complete the NLCS.
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When MLB announced its postseason schedule Tuesday, the flexible start date for the World Series was gone. With the Dodgers coming within one victory of making that happen last season, league officials and television partners had the chance to prepare for two possibilities for the start of the World Series. The uncertainty of what date to promote, and the need for alternate travel plans and hotel blocks, left the parties with the thought that a fixed date for the World Series remained a better plan.
The World Series this year is set to start on Friday, Oct. 24, with a possible Game 7 on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The wild-card round starts Tuesday, Sept. 30, with the division series round starting Saturday, Oct. 4. The teams with the top two records in each league earn a bye in the first round and advance directly to the division series.
If the postseason started Tuesday, the Dodgers (68-51) would be the No. 3 seed in the NL, behind the Milwaukee Brewers (74-44) and the Philadelphia Phillies (69-49). The wild card teams, in order of seed, would be the Chicago Cubs (67-50), San Diego Padres (67-52) and the New York Mets (63-55).
In that scenario, the Dodgers and Mets — the NLCS combatants last season — would meet in the wild-card round this season.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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