Major League Baseball released its tentative schedule for 2015 and some changes were made that can change how late the playoffs will end. The season opener is six days later than it was this year and the season-ending series (wait for it) is between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros.
The season begins on April 5 with Sunday Night Baseball and Opening Day is April 6 in which the other 28 MLB teams will play. This year, the season began with a Sunday night game on March 30 and then Opening Day followed on the 31st. In 2013 the season began on April 1; in 2012 it began on April 4; in 2011 it began on March 31; and in 2010 it began on April 4. The last time the season began on April 5 was in 2009 when the Braves and Phillies played in the opener.
This later start to the season pushes back the postseason series if they happen to go deep to either six or seven games, meaning the World Series could again take place in November as it did in 2009 when the Yankees defeated the Phillies and again in 2010 when the Giants defeated the Rangers. This plays an important role because the weather has gotten much colder over the years - in 2012 when the Giants swept the Tigers in the World Series, the final two games in Detroit were played under conditions that featured a below 40-degree wind chill. The games took place between October 24 and 28.
After the Yankees/Phillies World Series in 2009, MLB commissioner Bud Selig said that he wanted the playoffs to avoid being stretched into November and fought to have the season start on Friday, April 1, rather than the traditional Monday Opening Day. Unfortunately, Selig didn't get his way, and the season started on April 4 and ended on November 1. Prior to the official schedule release that year, USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported on the matter:
"It would be the first time a majority of teams start the season on a Friday since 1905, according to the Elias Sports Bureau," he wrote, via this HardballTalk article. "The regular season would end Wednesday, Sept. 28 with playoffs opening on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1. The World Series is scheduled to start Wednesday, Oct. 19, a week earlier than the last two years. It would virtually assure the World Series would not be played in November."
But it looks like that no longer matters to the league. The 2015 schedule has the season ending on October 4 with the World Series beginning on October 28 and ending on November 5 at the latest. Unfortunately, if the Yankees were to somehow under the least likely conditions to make the World Series next year, we won't be able to see Mr. November at his best.
