Despite already postponing three days of scheduled games, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is firmly committed to playing the full 162-game schedule this season. When Selig decides it is time to resume playing games, which could happen as early as Friday, he also will announce he is extending the season to make up the games postponed this week.
“We are going to make them up,” Selig told the Tribune on Wednesday night. “There’s nobody I have talked to in baseball who hasn’t agreed with that.”
Selig is weighing whether to return to the field on Friday. That appears possible barring any negative developments with air travel or the national conflict in the aftermath of Tuesday’s apparent terrorist attacks.
But Selig said a 162-game season would be possible even if games were postponed through the weekend. That scenario could mean pushing the World Series into November for the first time.
Selig indicated the cooperation of Fox, which this year is the only network televising the playoffs, gives him the freedom to begin the playoffs later than Oct. 2, when the four first-round series are scheduled to begin.
According to Selig, Fox officials are agreeable to delaying the opening of the World Series, which currently is scheduled to run from Oct. 20-28.
“They know how I’m agonizing over this decision and they’ve been really supportive,” Selig said.
Including games on Wednesday and Thursday, which Selig formally postponed with two announcements on Wednesday, the interruption caused by the acts of terrorism in New York and Washington, has postponed 45 games.
Selig could have opted to shorten the season, eliminating those games not played. That decision might receive minimal criticism because six of the eight playoff races have the leader at least 3 1/2 games ahead with time running out. Selig also could try to make up games with a marathon round of doubleheaders next week.
But Fox’s willingness to delay its playoff coverage gives Selig the flexibility to extend the season. That’s good news for San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, whose 63 home runs are seven short of Mark McGwire’s record, as well as teams trailing in playoff races.
The Philadelphia Phillies are 3 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the National League East but had three games postponed this week against the Braves.
The National League West, where Arizona leads the Giants by 1 1/2 games, and the NL wild card are highly contested races. In the wild-card race, San Francisco leads St. Louis by a half-game and the Cubs and Los Angeles by 1 1/2 games.
The Cubs could be direct beneficiaries of 162 games. They had three games postponed against Cincinnati, which they have beaten nine times in 11 games this season.
Selig spent Wednesday in talks with officials from the federal government, other professional sports and baseball. He wouldn’t confirm that he spoke with President Bush, whom he befriended when Bush headed a group that purchased the Texas Rangers in 1989.
“I’d rather not getting into who I’ve spoken with,” Selig said.
It will be no surprise if Selig is taking his cue from the White House. He said his decision on when to resume play will be made independent of the NFL, which is expected to announce Thursday whether it will play this weekend.
Selig appears to be leaning toward a resumption of play on Friday or Saturday.
“We’ve already had a significant interruption. . . . I’m searching for the right answer and I want to do what I believe, what I believe is the socially responsible thing,” Selig said.
If baseball decides to extend the interruption beyond three days, it will be because of developments in America’s conflict with the perpetrators of the acts of violence. Selig said it is possible that baseball will play this weekend even if NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue decides to keep his teams off the field.
“They have to make their decision and we have to make our decision,” a highly placed baseball source said Wednesday. “I don’t think one has much to do with the other.”
Selig issued a statement Wednesday morning saying no games would be played on Wednesday night. He also crossed off Thursday night’s White Sox game at Yankee Stadium, honoring the stranded White Sox’s plans to leave New York by bus.
The team already was headed to Cleveland at the time of the announcement.
Later in the day Selig issued a second statement postponing Thursday’s games. That decision allowed all stranded teams to return home or to the site of their next series.
The Cincinnati Reds, who played only one of four scheduled games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, took a bus to Cincinnati.
Selig has preached on the importance of baseball in the fabric of America.
He is balancing a desire to put teams back on the field with the need to respect national security interests and the massive loss of life.
“I believe we are a social institution and we have a lot of responsibility to act in a manner that’s befitting what I think is a marvelous social institution,” Selig said.
“We need to be sensitive. I hope, I really pray, we can be a part of a national healing process. But it has to be done right and it has to be done with healing in mind, nothing else.”
