Was the Yankees Loss a Blessing in Disguise?

The Los Angeles Angels beat the New York Yankees in an ALCS game for the ages. In a 7th inning that lasted 49 minutes, the Angels saw their 4-0 lead vaporized into a 2-run deficit in the top of the inning. But in the bottom of the 7th, the Angels came roaring back with 3 runs of their own, to take the lead and ultimately the win, with a final score of 7-6.

As disappointing as the Yankees may have been with the loss, perhaps it’s not all that bad. Of course, I’m assuming that the Yankees will eventually win this series, because if they don’t, then certainly blowing a 2-run, 6.5 inning lead is something that will come back to haunt them. But if the Yankees do go on to win this series, the limited time off they have between the end of the ALCS and the beginning of the World Series might be to their advantage.

The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NLCS and a berth to the World Series last Wednesday. However, the first game of the World Series isn’t until this upcoming Wednesday; thereby giving the Phillies a whole week off, something they haven’t had since March. In all of the other major sports, football, basketball, soccer and hockey, there’s no way that a week off is a bad thing—in fact, it’s celebrated. But in baseball, a game designed to be relatively harmless to the body and played every single day, a week off may be the worst thing that can happen to an individual player or team.

Take the 2007 Colorado Rockies. They were undoubtedly the hottest team in baseball. They had swept the Phillies in the first round of the playoffs. They had swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. But after that, they had to sit through an 8-day layoff before the Boston Red Sox finally won the American League, and because they lost all of their rhythm and momentum, they were subsequently swept by the Red Sox in the World Series.

While no one can unequivocally say that the Rockies were swept by the Red Sox because they had 8 days off, it’s hard to believe that had that series started 2 days after the NLCS that a team as hot as the Rockies could have lost to the Red Sox without winning a single game. But the layoff is what it is, and it is now a part of baseball culture since the MLB powers that be determine what’s in their best economic interest when scheduling the playoffs.

And not so fortunately, this is the situation the Phillies find themselves in. There was not a team in these 2009 MLB playoffs that was hitting the ball better than the Phillies. Not a one! They won the NLDS in 4 games, and they needed just 5 to take care of the Dodgers. But with 7 days between games, and about 11 days between starts for ace pitcher Cliff Lee, it’s quite possible that the Phillies momentum will be all but gone when the World Series finally tips off.

The Yankees of course, will probably have no such problem. Game 5 of the ALCS is scheduled for Saturday, and if the Yankees win that game, the team would only have 4 days off, which is very similar to the All-Star Break. Then again, tomorrow’s game could be rained out until Sunday, and provided the Yankees win, that would mean the Yanks only have to wait 3 days, which is a customary amount of time off when rain delays and such push games back and forward during the regular season.

It suffices to say that after 3 days off, the Yankees won’t have any rust to get rid of, their momentum won’t be gone, and Alex Rodriguez would have seen a pitch more recently than Phillies’ slugger Ryan Howard.

From a logical standpoint, there isn’t much the commissioner of baseball could do about preventing time off for the Phillies. The Phillies won in 5 games, and if it takes the Yankees-Angels series 6 or 7 games to determine a baseball winner, well than that’s what it takes, and naturally the Phillies would have to wait until the ALCS is over.

However, the commissioner could fix this otherwise arbitrary start date for the Series. First of all, World Series games in November are silly, but I digress. The fact is that the World Series should start as soon as both series are over. If the ALCS ends on Saturday, the first World Series game should be on Monday. And if it ends on Sunday, the first game should be on Tuesday. So whether this series goes 6 or 7 games, it should start before the Phillies have had a week off. But because of travel accommodations for the fat cats at MLB, this is not the case.

I understand why they choose to schedule the start of the series for a specific date, but that doesn’t mean that I’m okay with their reasoning. The start of the freaking ALDS was chosen within minutes after the finish of the play-in game, and then the game was played the next day!

And you know why they did that?

Because it was in the best interest of the sport and the teams, which is all that should matter! But when it comes to executives, television and dollar signs, the teams don’t figure into the scheduling equation.

Of course, whether the Phillies’ layoff is an actual disadvantage is up for debate, but most people would agree, that the winner of the ALCS will probably have more of a rhythm than the Phillies come Wednesday evening. Of course, any debate could be remedied if the Series just started as soon as possible. However, when it comes to baseball and fixing things, it’s like an Umpire calling balls and strikes, you just don’t ever know what you’re going to get.

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