If the start of the baseball season is the unofficial beginning of summer, then the start of the World Series has to be the unofficial beginning of winter. The 2009 edition of the so-called “Fall Classic” begins this Wednesday, and features the New York Yankees against the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. This will mark the first time that any of the first four games will be played in November, as game four is scheduled for Nov. 1. The only other time a World Series champion was named in November was in 2001, due to the postponement of games from Sept. 11.

Baseball schedules their playoff games so late so that regardless of geographical location, every fan can be home from work and see the game. 8pm Eastern translates to 5pm Pacific. Both New York and Philadelphia are in the Eastern time zone. So while the first three games are scheduled for 7:57pm EST (a thankful reprieve from the post-8pm games of the previous series), fans in the east will have to stay up as late as midnight on some nights to see the finish. If you are brave enough to stay up so late, be prepared for Fox’s inevitable showing of an in-stadium clock that reads “12:01am”.

Many of the daily papers in the east will have photos of the previous night’s games with a caption that reads something similar to “the game ended after our deadline, check our website for details”. The fans reading these papers are the same ones who couldn’t stay up to watch the end of the game. This is a problem. Ask anybody from either coast, and most will probably tell you that the end is more important than the beginning. Baseball is already the slowest moving of all major sports, but there’s no excuse for the outfield grass growing a quarter of an inch before the game ends.

Major League Baseball needs to start games earlier. Most weeknight games throughout the entire season begin shortly after 7pm in each team’s respective local time; why does baseball feel as if starting games so late is this important? Sure, they’re at the mercy of the networks needs, and who can blame them for not wanting to compete with NFL Sunday football, but there must be other options. Thirty seconds between pitches, three minute commercial breaks, the New York Yankees playing New York Yankee-baseball. Cutting back on any of these things will help fans – especially the younger ones – to tolerate the glacial speed of the game; and who knows? Maybe you’ll actually see the end of one before the next is scheduled to begin.