MLB Introduces Flexible Scheduling For 2024 World Series
Somehow, the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season is already in its final two months. And as is customary with the playoffs rapidly approaching, the league announced its postseason schedule. With a specific, and important, twist.
In years past, the league set up its playoff schedule to ensure that the World Series would start after the conclusion of the championship series in the National and American Leagues. While creating certainty as to the start and closing date of the World Series, it also meant that if both sides closed out the LCS in a shorter series, there'd be a lengthy layoff before starting the most important series of the season.
Well as MLB revealed on Thursday, that's set to change.
For the first time, the league has a flexible start date for the World Series, depending on what happens in the LCS round. Here's how it would traditionally play out:
- NL and AL Wild Card Series: October 1-3
- ALDS: October 5-12
- NLDS: October 5-11
- ALCS: October 14-22
- NLCS: October 13-21
- World Series: October 25-November 2
However, if the NLCS and ALCS both end by October 19th, the World Series would start on October 22nd and finish on October 30th. Much better.
Nov 1, 2023; Phoenix, AZ, USA; General view of th world series logo before the ages between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers in game five of the 2023 World Series at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
MLB Gets The World Series Schedule Right
We've seen teams in the NBA and NHL struggle with lengthy layoffs, and while this schedule adjustment doesn't entirely eliminate that possibility, it does provide a better alternative.
If one team finishes the league championship series in four games, they'll still be hit with a lengthy layoff. But at least there's now a solution if both teams close out a series win quickly. It's the right call, and also could increase fan interest without a week of downtime during baseball's most important national window.
The league though, still has yet to come up with a better solution for the huge layoff that division winning teams have before their first series. The regular season finishes on September 29th, meaning teams that win their divisions and get the automatic bye will once again go six days between games. Even longer between competitive games, depending on how their divisions pan out.
Given the randomness inherent in the baseball playoffs and the lack of advantages given to the "best" teams, this could be remedied by compressing the wild card series schedule. No built-in travel days after the series, and flexible division series scheduling so that teams that win 2-0 don't have two days off to set up their rotation for the NL or ALDS.
Whether the league will ever adjust the first part of the postseason remains to be seen, but their adjustment to the World Series shows they're open to new ideas. It's a start.