For the first time in MLB history, eight playoff games were played in one day. What was this glorious day like for those who lived it? Emma Baccellieri kept a diary while she watched.
Written content by Emma Baccellieri via Sports Illustrated
There has never been a baseball day quite like Wednesday. There have never been eight playoff games in one day, much less eight playoff games with four potential elimination games, each doled out an hour after the last. Now, Sports Illustrated has a full slate of coverage around the actual games. But what about the game-watching experience? A record of what it was like to try to balance all eight? For posterity’s sake, I wrote it down:
12:00 p.m. ET: MLB is trying to brand this as the Fall Frenzy—a right-sized amount of chaos, just enough to invoke the opening Thursday of March Madness, all fun and no stress. Maybe! But that framework strikes me as… optimistic. The day feels both like it’s supposed to call for an intricate game plan (Watch Game A until X happens, Watch Game B until Y, etc.) and like it can’t possibly live up to expectations (not all of these can be that fun). So I’ve decided that I’m not going to go with splitscreens or multiple devices or a makeshift ripoff of NFL Red Zone. I’m just going to watch some baseball.
12:08 p.m.: There are four hits in the first six pitches of the first game. I’m suddenly very aware of the difference between a 1 p.m. weekday start (delightful, ideal, a treat) and a 12 p.m. weekday start (unnatural, weird, patently wrong). Perhaps I’m not ready for this.
1:10 p.m.: Both Trevor Bauer and Max Fried are dealing; this game is moving quickly in a fun, zippy way, full of strikeouts. The Astros and Twins get underway, and everything is beautiful, nothing hurt.Read more from Sports Illustrated.
Watch more baseball highlights here:
Follow “News Without Politics” for the best unbiased sports and U.S. news stories.
Stay informed daily on updates without media bias on the coronavirus from News Without Politics.
