Baseball season is over

It had been nine years since the Yankees were able to spend their way to a championship. They came close in a couple of epic World Series — that 2001 series against the Diamondbacks was probably the best World Series I can remember — but fell each year to a team that had a lower payroll. Usually a much lower payroll. Last year, they didn't even make the playoffs, thanks to a bunch of young upstarts from Tampa Bay.

But these Yankees, the most expensive team ever assembled, would not be denied. All their high-priced stars contributed somewhere along the way, from A-Rod to CC to Jeter to Godzilla, the series MVP. (Speaking of which, they say he's got to go ...)

It's kind of hard for me to reflect on this series in any meaningful way, because (a) there wasn't much late-game drama, and (b) though I tried my best, I didn't manage to get through one single game without falling asleep, because they started so late and I get up early. I did wake up for the ends of a couple of them, including last night, but ... well, I won't belabor the point. (See my October 30 post for more thoughts about the time the games started; I would add that last night's game ended at almost midnight.)

And the New York Yankees have won their 27th title. I suppose we should be glad to have had eight seasons in there with someone else hoisting the trophy. May we go at least eight years before their next one.

It's an outrage! An outrage, I tell you!

Major League Baseball and the Fox network seem bent on keeping as many kids as possible from being able to watch the entire World Series. The games are all starting at 8 p.m., which means that if they go relatively smoothly, the earliest we can hope for them to end is about 10:45 or 11. How old were you when your parents first let you stay up until 11 on a school night? And would you be a baseball fan today if you hadn't been able to watch World Series games to their conclusion when you were a kid? (Probably, but maybe less so?)

I myself usually go to bed around 10 these days, and through the first two contests of the '09 series, I have thus far failed to stay awake until the conclusion of a game. Wednesday night, I just went to bed, but last night, I dozed off on the couch and later woke up to see the last couple of innings. But I slept through one of the most unusual plays you'll ever see, the line drive that Ryan Howard (allegedly) caught before turning it into a 3-6 double play. I did see the replay, but it's never the same as seeing it in the moment.

And you'd think that after having games one and two on school nights, they'd at least have games three and four on Friday and Saturday so everyone can stay up without worrying about getting up the next morning. But no, today's an off day. Saturday's game starts at 8:20, and then — and I think this ticks me off the most of all — Sunday's game, which could start at just about any hour, starts at 8 again, ensuring that people like me don't get as much sleep as we'd like that night, and that school kids don't get to see the ending. Game five is set for 8 p.m. Monday, followed by an off-day Tuesday, and then, if necessary, games six and seven start at 8 on Wednesday and Thursday nights. So even if the series goes the full seven, there will be only one game that does not end past 10 p.m. on a school night in the Eastern Time Zone, the time zone with the nation's largest population, not to mention both cities whose teams are involved.

I love major-league baseball, but I hate Major League Baseball, for many reasons. This is a very big one.

Oh, yeah

It probably hasn't escaped anyone who cares enough about Cleveland sports to read this blog, but just in case it has ...

Tonight's World Series opener pits Cliff Lee of the Phillies against CC Sabathia of the Yankees. I've defended those trades, but still, that's just a little bit depressing.