Playoff Calendar Juggled : Major Leagues Alter Dates; Angels Might Be Hurt by the Switch

Let’s see now . . .

The 1985 National League playoff series opened in the West, with the Dodgers entertaining the St. Louis Cardinals.

And the 1985 American League playoffs opened in the East, with the Toronto Blue Jays playing host to the Kansas City Royals.

Since the playoffs annually alternate on a geographical basis, the National League’s will open in the East this year and the American League’s in the West.

Right?

Wrong.

The best-of-seven National League championship series will again open in the West, with the Houston Astros apparently playing host to the New York Mets on Wednesday night, Oct. 8.

And the best-of-seven American League playoff will again open in the East, with the Boston Red Sox or Toronto Blue Jays apparently playing host to the Angels or the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night, Oct. 7.

Why aren’t they alternating this year?

It’s a bit complicated, but the bottom line is that the major leagues are seeking to cooperate with both television and the National Football League in gratitude for the NFL’s willingness to change sites and times of October games that conflicted with previous playoff or World Series games.

Does it really matter?

Of course.

Who wants to lose the home-field advantage?

For example: The Angels, instead of being home for the first, second, sixth and seventh playoff games, if it goes beyond four, would be home for the third, fourth and fifth.

They have played about as well on the road, 36-31, as at home, 40-26, but partisan crowds are at their biggest and most zealous during the playoffs. It’s a different season. The fact that the Angels were 3-3 in Boston and 4-2 in Toronto during the regular season might not matter.

Said General Manager Mike Port: “Any club that gets into the playoffs wants to host as many games as possible.”

In addition, the Angels could be hurt fiscally as well. They can now have only three games in their 70,000-seat stadium instead of four. The listed capacity of Boston’s Fenway Park is 33,583. The listed capacity of Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium is 43,737.

Nevertheless, Port said, the Angels currently are thinking only about reaching the playoffs. The playoff calendar is out of their control, he said.

Besides, he might have added, the Royals and Cardinals both reached the World Series after opening last year’s first best-of-seven playoffs on the road, then ultimately having to return to Toronto and Los Angeles to wrap them up.

The decision affecting the 1986 playoffs was made during the December winter meetings in San Diego and was designed to alleviate a situation in which some NFL teams might have been forced to play four straight games on the road, from the last Sunday of the baseball season through the two weekends of the World Series, which this year will start on Saturday night, Oct. 18.

Blake Cullen, public relations director of the National League, said that some stadium leases might have been jeopardized, particularly in the West Division, where the Dodgers are the only team that doesn’t share its stadium with the NFL. He said that by opening the expanded playoffs in the NL West again this year, putting the weekend games in the East, the conflict potential was lessened.

The alternating concept will return permanently next year, when the final home stands can be scheduled to avoid potential conflicts and the weekend World Series games--of which there can be four--will be played in an American League park, where there are fewer conflicts with the NFL.

All of this developed because the expanded playoffs added another weekend to the postseason tournament.

Said Cullen: “We should have kept last year’s playoff schedule the same as it was in ‘84, then gone back to the alternating plan this year. But we didn’t do it then, so we have to do it now.”