Today should be Opening Day.
The baseball season, enjoyable as it is, simply starts too early. (It also ends too late, though that’s a topic for another day.)
Other sports have similar problems. Football training camps seem to be held year-round, and the Super Bowl keeps creeping further and further into February. The basketball and hockey seasons run all the way from autumn to June.
But there’s something different about those situations. Football is a sport that seeks to ignore harsh weather, while basketball and hockey are played indoors.
Baseball, on the other hand, is renowned as the Summer Game. So why are fans forced to shiver through miserable conditions on Opening Day, which should be one of the most festive and enjoyable dates of the season?
These were the conditions at the beginning of four outdoor games on March 30:
38 degrees with a 12 mile-per-hour wind in Boston
39 degrees and 13 mph in New York
42 degrees and 10 mph in Chicago
45 degrees and 8 mph in Washington
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Two questions can be asked.
First, who really thinks it’s a good idea to schedule games in those cities on March 30? Each home team hosted an opponent from a place that is warmer (or has a domed stadium): Boston vs. Baltimore, New York Yankees vs. San Francisco, Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee, and Washington vs. Atlanta. Wouldn’t it have made sense, at the very least, to reverse the home/away arrangements?
Second, who really finds it desirable to start the season so incredibly early? Take a look at the senseless way that Opening Day has been pushed forward over the past 100 years:
1923: April 17
1933: April 12
1943: April 20
1953: April 13
1963: April 8
1973: April 5
1983: April 4
1993: April 5
2003: March 30
2013: March 31
2023: March 30
Baseball’s Modern Era began in 1961. Opening Day that year was set for April 10, featuring a single game in Washington, with President John Kennedy throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. The other teams all swung into action a day later, April 11.
That was precisely 62 years ago, and it still seems to be a sensible schedule today. If nothing else, consider the differences in the average high temperatures for March 30 (this year’s opener) and April 11 (today):
Boston (50.3 degrees on March 30 vs. 55.5 degrees on April 11)
New York (55.1 vs. 60.6)
Chicago (53.2 vs. 58.3)
Washington (61.1 vs. 66.2)
That’s an improvement of roughly five degrees in each city, with a corresponding decline in the possibility of sleet or snow.
I know there are other factors involved — for one, the extreme length of the regular season; for another, the ever-expanding nature of the playoffs. But baseball would be well advised to get its schedule in order.
The Summer Game should be played when it’s warm.