MLB Playoff Scheduling Makes No Sense: Why Compete With College Football?

Did you see the 75-yard touchdown pass, called back by penalty, that could have gotten Missouri back into its game against Texas A&M on Saturday?

If you did, then you're the problem.

You see, Major League Baseball was counting upon you to give college football a break on Saturday.

We've already done Georgia-Alabama. We won't get Michigan-Ohio State for a while. And unbeaten Army vs. unbeaten Navy? Can't wait.

This weekend, the schedule had a bunch of Alabama-Vanderbilts, Ohio State-Iowas and Army-Tulsas. Must-not-watch TV.

Or so MLB thought.

So Saturday was the perfect day to raise the curtain on the New York Mets, the San Diego Padres, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

Only it wasn't. 

As many Northern politicians have learned, you're never going to win a Southern state until you learn to speak their language.

And on Saturdays in the fall, that language is college football.

Whoa, Nellie.

Why in the world would MLB elect to begin the second round of its postseason—the first involving Judge and Ohtani—on a College Football Saturday?

Heck, even choosing a 1 p.m. Eastern starting time for the quadruple-header's first pitch backfired. All that did was give Bayou Bobs and Barbies an hour to sink their teeth into an intriguing Missouri-Texas A&M matchup. 

Even Californians, who really don't care much about the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians, had reason to snooze baseball as the sun rose over Santa Monica Boulevard. A rare UCLA-Penn State football matchup seemed to complement a mimosa better than the intellectual duel between catchers-turned-managers A.J. Hinch and Stephen Vogt. 

Turns out it wasn't. But by the time the grumpy Gold Coasters figured it out, the Guardians led 5-0, and all of a sudden their Bruins' 14-3 halftime deficit didn't sound so bad. 

So, why, in fact, was there baseball on Saturday?

Basically, because the late George Steinbrenner convinced MLB it was a good idea.

Make no mistake: Mr. Steinbrenner loved college football. Heavily supported his beloved Ohio State. 

There were few things he liked better than a Buckeye blowout. 

One was Yankee domination on a diamond, not a gridiron.

He, like many others, believed baseball was better off with two great franchises duking it out in the World Series. Rather than 12 good teams tugging rope for a week.

Television executives agree. Their money is made at the end of the postseason, not at the beginning.

And while Royals-Orioles and Tigers-Guardians are necessary evils to keep the rank-and-file adequately compensated, it's what comes last that turns millionaires into, well, Steinbrenners.

Enough of today's decision-makers are from the Steinbrenner school to become the majority that is making some really bad decisions for baseball. 

Like starting the playoffs two days after the regular season ends. Or in this year's case, one day.

The unstated reasoning: We don't want these Moneyball morons around long-term anyway. Boo hoo about being tired and not being able to line up star pitchers for the most important games of the season. Invest in more October-worthy players, then you'll get a dugout at the high-stakes table.

Had the wild-card round started on Thursday instead of Tuesday, we'd have had one game Saturday. It would have been at night, a dramatic win-or-go-fishing contest, and being that the Mets were involved... now that's one way to crack College Football Saturday. 

Quality over quantity.

So where would we be today? How about a celebrity-gathering Awards Show, Sunday or Monday night in prime time, now that one swing of the bat has put baseball back on the map?

Look what the NFL has done with the draft. You don't think MLB could trump that -- no pun intended -- by piggybacking on one of the greatest finishes in postseason history right into a glitzy event hosted by Miss Baseball 2024, Livvy Dunne?

It would give national recognition to the many who deserved it in the quickly forgotten marathon regular season, bridge one playoff round to another with a grand slam of momentum, and, most importantly, allow the Round 1 winners a few days to get their ducks back in a row. Just as they had before their success earlier in the week.

The baseball playoffs need to be about fairness, not about assuring that the teams that dominated the regular season—usually the ones that spent the most money—wind up playing each other at the end.

Take three days off at the end of the regular season, then sets of three before each subsequent round. If you need to move the regular season up a week in order to do this... the good news is there's no such thing as College Baseball Saturday in March. 

And at the end, once a REAL champ has been determined, I recommend riding that wave as well.

How about a day-after-the-season visit to the White House? Turn it into a national spotlight event rather than an afterthought funneled into a day off before a Nationals series?

You think Joe Biden (and whoever it might be next year) wouldn't love to have everyone's attention on Nov. 1? Maybe even his famous sidekick would show up.

Heck, even the Southern states would be watching.