Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9510030052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For the first time since the World Series was first televised to a national audience in 1947 - the Yankees beat the Dodgers, if you're scoring at home - viewers will not be able to watch all of baseball's postseason games. Even with a satellite dish, it's not possible.
Sure, they'll all be televised, but ... they'll all be aired at the same time.
Until the World Series begins three weeks from today, the games will be aired on a regional basis. Some of you undoubtedly didn't know this. If so, it's only because you haven't been paying attention.
What this means is that as long as the Atlanta Braves are alive - and with their pitching rotation and underrated bullpen that should be awhile - their games are likely to be aired in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market. And Cleveland, Cincinnati, Boston, Seattle and the other clubs to reach the first postseason with wild cards will be playing at the same time.
The good news is that there will be live cut-ins to the other games in progress.
There could be an exception to the Braves' rule. For instance, if an intriguing pitching matchup is scheduled in another series or a potentially clinching game seems more meaningful, then markets not particularly in any club's sphere - and Roanoke is just as close in mileage to Cleveland and Cincinnati as Atlanta - could get another game.
The local NBC affiliate, WSLS Channel 10, was told by NBC on Thursday that it will be part of an American League regional network with the team designation to be decided no later than Monday.
ABC does not have a game until Friday. The local affiliate, WSET Channel 13 in Lynchburg, will know early next week what games it will carry.
The television package is just another part of the game made a mess by the Lords of the Big Flies. The postseason plan is the punctuation mark on the club owners' creation of The Baseball Network with NBC and ABC.
The network that delivered minuscule prime-time ratings on 12 dates this regular season will be history after this season. The owners want to return to national telecasts, albeit some on cable, for 1996. Envision an early October day with games starting at 1, 4, 7 and 10 p.m. That's the probable divisional playoff future.
This October, however, there will be no afternoon games in the divisional round or league championship series. No daytime games, period. All weeknight telecasts, unless both the National and American leagues are still playing Games 6-7 in their championship series, will start at 8 p.m. The Saturday and Sunday night games are at 7.
Another problem for viewers will be finding the games. NBC and ABC are splitting the postseason as never before, even the World Series, and the rotation doesn't follow ballpark changes, either. (See accompanying chart).
The local affiliates -WSLS and WSET - have little if no input into the games presented. The regional maps are being drawn by NBC and ABC, which have regionalized college and pro football for years. A Baseball Network postseason night in the first round of the playoffs will look a lot like an NFL Sunday afternoon early time slot, with four games going different places.
The announcing teams are set. NBC, which has the first two dates Tuesday and Wednesday, will have Bob Costas and Bob Uecker on an American League game and Greg Gumbel and Joe Morgan on an NL contest. ABC will have Al Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver, and Brent Musburger and Jim Kaat as its two teams, although neither team has learned with certainty which league it will be working.
For the divisional round next week, the Baseball Network needs two additional teams, and they'll work on ABC and NBC. Braves voice Pete Van Wieren and Larry Dierker will call an NL game, with Gary Thorne and Tommy Hutton on an AL contest.
CBS Radio will broadcast simultaneous games on a regional basis, and WFIR (960 AM) will air one game each scheduled night. WFIR sports director Bob Clark said that since the TV regionalization is likely to send the Braves into this market, the Roanoke station has asked CBS for a different game to provide two play-by-play stories into the market.
So, WFIR will begin its coverage with the National League divisional series that does not involve the Braves. That will be Cincinnati against Los Angeles or Colorado. Clark said CBS has an option to change the local game, depending on length of a series or the attractiveness of a matchup.
Of course, the postseason can't begin until the regular season is settled. There also are plans for Sunday and Monday if a divisional or wild-card race ends in a tie.
If there is what ESPN calls a ``meaningful'' game remaining Sunday, the season's final day - meaning a race isn't settled - then a game will be aired on one of its two cable networks. If it is an early afternoon game, it will be on ESPN2, with ESPN airing the NASCAR Winston Cup race from North Wilkesboro at 1 p.m. If the game involved doesn't begin until 3:30 or later, it will air on ESPN.
On Monday, if a playoff game is needed to break a tie for a wild-card berth or division title, ESPN will have that, too, probably in the late afternoon depending on the matchup and location (and travel considerations for the teams involved). ESPN is hoping for a late-afternoon start, but the situation is a lot like the postseason TV plan.
And that reminds baseball fans of Abbott & Costello's famed routine, ``Who's on First?''
by CNB