World Series Weather
 

Tonight is game 7 of the NLCS, Dodgers at Brewers in Milwaukee.. I checked the forecasted temperature, 38* at 8pm. And with the potential of having a Brewers vs Red Sox World Series in late October, it could be one of the colder ones on record. Baseball was never a cold weather sport. The pursuit of the almighty television dollar has, in my opinion, reduced post season baseball to an endurance contest, who can play in the cold, wind and mist or rain. Is that how we now determine the best? Will we see the athletes perform at their best? I am of the camp that it hurts baseball performance. And the poor fans in the stadiums. It is not football, screaming and jumping around at every play. I am in the minority I am sure, but I believe the season is too long. I will have to live with it, but I am disappointed. The cold season baseball will eventually lead to all domed stadiums, ick

A lot of World Series have been played in similar weather for as long as baseball has been played. It's always October and often northern teams are in the World Series.

"The 1950 Major League Baseball season began on April 18 and ended with the 1950 World Series on October 7, 1950. The only no-hitter of the season was pitched by Vern Bickford on August 11, in the Boston Braves 7–0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers.[1][2] The 1950 season saw the first use of a bullpen car, by the Cleveland Indians.[3]"

Quoted from Wikipedia, but the point is we now start the last couple days of March and end the first day or two of November. The end of the World Series being October 7th in 1950 would be a very slim chance of cold weather. Granted, most games if not all games were played in daylight, which is warmer. More teams, 162 game season rather than 156, and levels of playoffs of course have extended the season. Expansion was about money, longer season was about money, two levels of playoffs prior to the World Series is about money. All great, more baseball is good baseball. I was lamenting the increased chance of weather bordering on unplayable. Imagine holding a bowling tournament outside in 35* weather, dumb analogy but the point is baseball is a summer sport, started that way and was played for decades without starting in March and ending in November. I am older, 69, and remember watching the Go Go 1959 White Sox on a black and white TV in the auditorium of my elementary school. And the weather was not a factor in the games until major expansion of the schedule and going to night games. October in the day time is cool enough, but without sunshine it can be brutal. And we want to name the best team in those conditions when for the season it is usually pretty warm? Just my rant, but I love baseball, and always will:)

And hardly any doubleheaders, so the season is stretched out even more.

I think if it wasn't for the weather we would have more teams make the playoffs and a longer playoff run. I wouldn't want to see the playoffs reduced but perhaps a few less games in the regular season.

A reasonable thought, but money trumps reason here I do believe

I pleasantly remember after noon World Series games. The world stopped or got put on hold while T.V.s were brought to work to watch the series.

Money doesn't trump reason; money is the reason.

The "money guys" can rest easier now---two of the larger TV markets are in the "World Series" , so fire up the commercials and lets shear some sheep!

I find myself watching TV with the sound muted and just flip back and forth on a couple different games. There's plenty of video with all the pertinent information and one can unmute for an occasional official's penalty explanation!

The fact is, I watch too much TV, maybe the guys will come over and we can jam!

Fog

I agree with you. Same with the NHL. They should reduce it from 82 to 80 games but then both owners and players make less and that's a no-no.

One thing that most fans can agree on (I think anyway) is that the pre-season games can be reduced in all four of the big sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL).

Attendance at regular season early spring games and late fall games, when kids are in school, are usually very low. Baseball is a family game and I think the seasonal attendance figures would not change that much if some early spring and late fall regular season games would be dropped.

In terms of weather, a Boston / Milwaukee series wouldn't be much different than a Boston / LA series. Since the Brewers play indoors! Kind of amazed nobody mentioned this... Boston is the potential problem. The year the Phillies played Tamp Bay (2008), it was kind of messed up - the Florida team played indoors and the Phillies played outside, resulting in the only WS game I'm aware of that had to be called because of weather and then finished (not replayed - FINISHED) two days later in an abbreviated 4 inning game.

I get the appeal of the playoffs and giving more teams a shot at the post-season and making the regular season arguably a bit more interesting. Not to mention the revenues from those two playoff series before the WS. But to me baseball has always been a long-haul game and I actually liked it better when it was just the AL and NL and the best team in each met in one 7 game series. Or, at MOST, when they split each league into two divisions so there was only an LCS preceding the WS. But I don't like having teams that are only the 5th or 6th best team in the league getting in through the Wild Card (or winning a really weak division) and having a shot at the whole thing. Because even the worst team in baseball is gonna win about a third of their games and can get hot and win a few series against much better teams. I just hate to see lesser teams in there.

But, hey, I also HATE the designated hitter rule and never watch AL baseball during the season because of it, so I'm just a bitter old man I guess. But NL baseball is strategically and tactically soooooo much more interesting!

“But, hey, I also HATE the designated hitter rule and never watch AL baseball during the season because of it, so I'm just a bitter old man I guess. But NL baseball is strategically and tactically soooooo much more interesting!”

Hey come on now raysachs, you know The Rule: There’s NO crying in baseball.” 😂

They need to go back to 154 games.

As long as I stick to the NL, there’s not!