Such a move will come on Easter Sunday, a holiday for many in America. The date also falls on the penultimate day of Passover.
Should the Red Sox be opening the season so late on a holiday Sunday night?
Easter Sunday is one of the few times in the year where families are able to set down plans and get together to enjoy each other's company. However, thousands of people will be pulled away at night to either attend, work or watch the game.
While sports can be a big part of holidays, Easter has never quite been a holiday with sports programming specifically aired for it. Thanksgiving belongs to football, while Christmas Day is all about basketball. Baseball doesn't have a specific holiday to its name, but given that Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day all fall in baseball's season, it certainly isn't wanting for a holiday.
Complicating things is that Sunday is a day where workers and students will need to be back in action Monday morning. Traffic at night will be heavy, taking many people out of commission who might otherwise enjoy the opening salvo of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry on TV.
Speaking of traffic, it's not going to be pretty in Boston on Sunday night for the game, what with Easter traffic already clogging the roads. Those coming in for the game and then subsequently departing after will ensnarl already backed-up highways.
Not to mention the complaint levied against baseball time and again about the postseason starting too late for children to watch. It's important for baseball to cater to the next generation of sports fans, and starting baseball off with an 8 p.m. night game won't allow many kids to participate in the joyous occasion that is the start of baseball. Many workers might also miss some of the action as Boston-New York games tend to go on for four hours, if not more.
It's likely simple numbers dictating that baseball begins its season the first weekend of April, especially considering World Series play has a chance to stretch into November. It doesn't change the fact that airing such a highly anticipated game at night on Easter Sunday will put a crimp in a lot of people's plans.
But then again, shouldn't the Red Sox and Yankees get prime-time billing? It's one of baseball's most bankable assets, and putting the biggest rivalry in sports center stage on a Sunday night is a no-brainer.
Not to mention that cars these days have radios — whether of the common variety or satellite — and there are worse things than listening to Josh Beckett set the Yankees down while twiddling your fingers in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
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