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Wednesday, September 12
 
Baseball Q & A: What's next?

By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com

Q: When will the season resume?

A: Friday is a best-case scenario. But I was told by officials of five different teams Wednesday that still isn't certain. There are serious logistical issues. Some teams have to travel great distances and the status of air transportation remains unclear.

There is also, obviously, still a need to remain as sensitive to greater events as possible. And no one knows what lies ahead from day to day. Because President Bush is so attuned to the role sports -- and baseball in particular -- can play in national healing, it's expected Bud Selig will look to Bush for guidance on when it's appropriate to play baseball again.

Q: Will postponed games be made made up?

A. It appears they will, assuming play resumes this weekend. Because all 15 matchups this week repeat themselves next week in the other city, doubleheaders were an option. However, that would leave division races and wild-card races in the hands of minor-league pitchers called up to start extra games. No one prefers that scenario. So extending the season seems more likely.

But every solution creates a problem. And extending the season means rescheduling the playoffs -- which creates a whole new set of logistical issues. So it's conceivable games won't be rescheduled. But when so many people have devoted so many months of their lives to the baseball season, baseball would prefer to play a full 162 games if that's at all workable.

Another possible problem is if teams don't end up playing the same number of games, a playoff spot could be won or lost because of an unplayed game. This happened in 1972, when a labor dispute wiped out the first week of the season. Detroit won the AL East with an 86-70 record while the Red Sox finished second at 85-70.

Q: What travel problems do teams face?

A. Just getting from Point A to Point B is a major challenge right now. Only eight of the 30 teams in the major leagues will remain in their current cities for series this weekend. So 22 have to change locales. A number have to travel extensive distances. The Giants travel from Houston to San Francisco (1,900 miles). The Diamondbacks travel from Phoenix to Milwaukee (also 1,900 miles). The Red Sox go from Tampa Bay to Baltimore (1,000 miles). The White Sox began bussing from New York to Cleveland on Wednesday, leaving open the option of bussing again from Cleveland to Minneapolis on Thursday (total distance: 1,200 miles).

The Giants reportedly were investigating bus and train options if they were unable to find a charter. Also, at least a half-dozen players were not with their teams Tuesday because of Monday's off day, and some were having trouble finding alternate means of transportation.

Q: Is television a factor in these decisions?

A. Measured against more important issues, changing dates and times of playoff games -- and their impact on network schedules -- pales in importance. But televising the postseason, whenever it begins, is a huge concern for baseball within its own confines. On one hand, there is more TV flexibility this year than in the past because only one broadcast network -- Fox -- is televising games.

In previous years, when NBC wanted to televise games just on certain nights, juggling playoff and prime-time schedules was more complicated. On the flip side, changing the schedules for the Division Series is slightly trickier, because only two networks -- Fox and Fox Family -- are scheduled to televise games, instead of the four that aired games in the past -- Fox, NBC, ESPN and ESPN2. So if the new schedule cuts out off days and requires four games a day, that creates potential schedule issues if all games are to televised nationally. Fox has ironclad pro football obligations on Sundays. So if series don't begin until Friday or Saturday, the baseball playoffs collide with those obligations.

Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com.







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AUDIO/VIDEO
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 MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will proceed with caution before resuming play.
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 ESPN's Mark Schwarz talks with Brooklyn native Rich Aurilia and the precautions the Giants are taking.
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 ESPN's Kelly Neal reports from Shea Stadium, which is being used as a rescue headquarters.
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