MLB seems to have painted itself into a corner with the schedule of the four games on Tuesday in the League Division Series. There are two games that would normally take the prime time slots; the Yankees “visiting” the Rays and the Padres “visiting” the Dodgers. In a normal world, the Yankees-Rays game, played on the east coast of the US, would get a 7 PM EDT start. The Padres-Dodgers, played on the west coast of the US, would get a 7 PM PDT start. It works out nicely, as both games would be in prime time where their fans reside. The Marlins-Braves could start at 1 PM EDT, and the Astros-Athletics would go off at 1 PM PDT, giving fans 12 hours of baseball. MLB has not figured this out yet, as all games times are TBD (to be determined).

Unfortunately, one set of east coast teams are three hours behind their home fans, and one set of west coast teams are two hours ahead of their home fans. That makes it difficult to put the Dodgers in prime time on the west coast, because they would need to start the game at 9 PM local time. To put the Yankees and Rays in prime time on the east coast, they would need to play at 4 PM local time, a time when shadows come into play.

I suspect the Yankees and Rays will get the 7 PM EDT start. If that happens, it makes sense for the Astros and Atheltics to go off at 10 PM EDT (7 PM PDT). The Marlins and Braves could start at 4 PM EDT (3 PM CDT), so at least their fans getting home run work can see the end of the game. Then Dodgers could start at 8 PM EDT (7 PM CDT, 5 PM PDT), which means people in southern CA can see most of the game. Given the length of post-season games this year, a lot of this game will wind up in prime time. Yes, there will be overlap, but my experience is that fans really only care about their home team.

In summary, my schedule would be:

• Marlins at Braves, 4 PM EDT
• Yankees at Rays, 7 PM EDT
• Padres at Dodgers, 8 PM EDT
• Astros at Athletics, 10 PM EDT

Astros fans get the short end of the stick.

Update: Here is the actual schedule:

• Marlins at Braves, 2 PM EDT
• Astros at Athletics, 4:30 PM EDT
• Yankees at Rays, 8 PM EDT
• Padres at Dodgers, 9:30 PM EDT

So the Athletics, Braves, and Marlins fans have to follow the games at work. Astros fans get to watch the end of the game at home.