Have to admit I enjoyed the final innings last night with the Diamondbacks’ crowd roaring:
"Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!
And there’s usually a quite sizable Dodger fan contingent in Dbacks home games. So that was especially good.
In non-playoff news, I got tickets for the Savannah Bananas when they’re in town next June. Hopefully we don’t get rained out again.
HERE WE GO PHILS! Home field advantage for NLCS! Go, Rangers!
I heartily endorse this part of your statement. To satisfy the baseball gods of fate I will predict the Phillies are blown out of the NLCS. The Phillies are a team that breaks their own record every time they lose a regular season game but perhaps we’ll see a new and positive post-season record set by them some day.
The Phillies have a very strong team. Nobody will blow them out of the water.
They are doomed. They are a hard luck team. Hopes will always die with them. They will not win if people expect them to.
I’ve watched them all year. They are the opposite of a hard-luck team. They seem unfazed by “heartbreaking” losses, and it has been tremendous fun watching their resilient, “we got this” attitude.
And I’ve been a Phillies fan for going on 60 years—I know a snake-bit Phils team when I see one. I have suffered. 
heres some dedication
8 PM Eastern start on a school night just to go up against the juggernaut of Sunday Night Football, brilliant scheduling!
Should have been a 5 PM Eastern start
I grew up on the east coast but now live in California. I shake my head at the late east coast start times for sporting events, especially as I age and go to bed earlier.
The game’s in the Central zone, so 7 PM local time start isn’t unreasonable, IMO. Your suggestion would be 4 PM local time, which would also be going against the late NFL games.
Same here (except Washington). Heck, I even wish the Seattle home games would start earlier. Why wait until 7:10 p.m. during the week? A three hour game means we’re up past 10:00! (I’m partly serious. It’s not a big deal when I’m watching at home, but going to a game is really difficult).
It would be nice when we’re playing an East Coast team to start a little earlier for the fans back there.
(Continuing the hijack; hopefully it’s alright)
I think it’s done to allow most of the people across the nation to see the game. Too early (on a school night) means west coasters are still at work and haven’t come home yet.
But I still feel bad for the east coasters because it’s so late.
I was a paper boy growing up on the east coast delivering the morning paper*, and I remember the score summaries showing no score for the west coast games because they were so late. I forget how they’d indicate that in the paper, something like “(late)”, or something like that.
* — The Hartford Courant: since 29 October 1764, America’s oldest continuously published newspaper! (I think that’s pretty cool)
For a Sunday, a late afternoon Eastern start makes perfect sense. MLB is going to lose the ratings war to the NFL regardless, so at least have the game on when it’s convenient for both East and West coast viewers on a Sunday.
It’s not a hijack. It’s a discussion of the MLB playoffs. It’s entirely on topic.
RickJay
Moderator
Rangers off to a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Astros, winning both on the road.
And yes, I loved this start time! Mondays at work absolutely suck, but at least this made the last hour much better. Manager is a Rangers fan and I hate the Astros, the beer may have come out the last half hour of the day!
Time to break out the trash cans.
Rangers looking unstoppable, what an unfamiliar feeling
The D’Back’s first pitch to Schwarber, home run. Fifth pitch thrown by ARZ to Harper, HR. 2nd inning, another solo for Phils! 5-zip right now!