Postseason games on weekday afternoons is bad for growth of the sport. (Courtesy of Twitter)

The postseason in the MLB is some of the best television you can watch. As we enter the Division series, this year should be no exception, with a crop of fun teams still in play to shake things up. You have the Arizona Diamondbacks making the playoffs for the first time since 2017 after a very rough five years. The Baltimore Orioles won the AL East just two years after finishing with the worst record in baseball. The Texas Rangers are back in the dance following a six year playoff drought. That’s on top of powerhouse teams we’re all familiar with like the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros. All this intrigue should translate to eyeballs. But it’s not.

The MLB Wild Card series, carried by ESPN and ABC, averaged 2.25 million viewers. That’s not awful, but on average, it’s down 2.8 million from last year’s slate. Granted, each year brings different matchups, some sexier than others, but a nearly 3 million drop in viewership goes deeper than who’s playing who. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred went out of his way to make baseball more appealing to the average viewer this season. Instituting massive changes like a pitch clock that has sped up pace of play across the league exponentially and strict limits on defensive shifting, the league sought more action and in a quicker fashion. The changes were a resounding success in the regular season. Viewership was up across the board on ESPN and FOX, with FOX reporting a 31% increase during the summer. Social media engagements with MLB on Twitter and Instagram went up 25%. There was even an uptick in fan attendance, with total fan attendance crossing the 70 million threshold for the first time since 2017. Fans seemed to appreciate the quicker games and a style of play that was a bit more reminiscent of the early 2000s. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a step in the right direction for a sport that’s been on the downward slide when it comes to national attention. Despite all of this genuine progress, the MLB just can’t get out of its own way.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins squared off in an American League Wild Card series matchup just one week ago. With neither team boasting much playoff success since the mid ’90s, the series would be a massive triumph for whichever franchise emerged victorious. The Twins ended up sweeping in two games, claiming their first postseason series win since 2002. That’s an amazing moment for a team that hasn’t had any form of playoff success in 21 years — it’s a moment that baseball fans everywhere should have been able to witness. Unfortunately, the series clinching game was played on a Wednesday at 4 p.m.

And it’s not the only series to suffer from weekday afternoon treatment. The Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers probably got the worst of it, with both of their Wild Card games being played at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Whether or not you think the matchups are true needle movers kind of goes out the window in postseason play. These are some of the most important games that will be played all season. Do or die games. Why are we playing these games at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday?

No, I’m genuinely asking. I think that 3 p.m. is a wonderful time in general. I love 3 p.m. Easily in my top 12 hours of all time. Tuesday’s not a bad day either. But it’s really not easy for me, or anyone else for that matter, to sit down and watch a playoff baseball game at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday. Most people aged 22 or under have school. Most adults have work. Even with how easy streaming is nowadays, people are busy during the afternoon on weekdays. I’m by no means opposed to watching a game on my computer during class or work. I love undermining the establishment. It’s just gonna be way more difficult to give my undivided attention to a game that undoubtedly deserves it.

That’s a 3 p.m. start time for East Coast viewers by the way. If you’re on the West Coast, that game is starting promptly at noon. I am, selfishly, very grateful that major sporting events base a lot of their scheduling around east coast viewers. But if 3 p.m. is difficult for myself, an East Coast viewer, what does that mean for a West Coast viewer that just wants to watch some playoff baseball?

We’re in the Divisional Series now and it’s still an issue. If you had told me, “Hey the wild card games are gonna get played on weekday afternoons, but that all stops once the DS starts,” I can get behind that. That’s not the case. The Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins are locked in a 1-1 tie in their ALDS matchup at the moment of writing. The series is guaranteed to go two more games with a potential third if necessary. All three would take place on a weekday afternoon. The series will either be decided on Wednesday, a 2 p.m. start, or Friday, a 4 p.m. start. Either way, a team will be advancing to the ALCS while people are hard at work. Those should be some of the most electric baseball games we get all season, and the league is limiting their potential viewership simply by scheduling them on a weekday afternoon.

I get the fear of putting games against each other. It’s the playoffs. You want your fans to be able to watch every game. The MLB believes that they’re picking the lesser of two evils by spreading out the slate with earlier games and limiting potential overlap. I’d like to disagree. I think it’s easier to throw on two games at once than it is to watch a game in the middle of a school/work day. On most football Sundays, my roommates and I organize a two screen setup to get as much football as possible. It’s great. I’d happily do the same with playoff baseball. Heck, if you want to get archaic, you could just flip in between games during commercials. You still might get more out of it long term.

I have admittedly not watched as much postseason baseball as I’ve done in years past. A large part of that was my beloved New York Yankees exterminating any shred of happiness I possessed by late July. The Yankees missing the playoffs has undoubtedly fed into my delightful sarcasm and the occasional screaming fit directed towards my two foster kittens, but it has not diminished my love of watching baseball.

Playoff baseball is an absolute delight, and I’m still trying to consume as much of it as possible. It would just be nice if the games were played at night, the way most other professional leagues conduct their postseasons.

But for the time being, that appears to be wishful thinking, so I’ll settle for watching the 1-4 New York Giants drive my dear friend Brian Rabacs, GSB ’24, into utter madness.