Baseball, CBS Try to Figure Out How to Make Schedule 162 Games

Baseball and CBS could not complete their effort to restore the 162-game schedule Wednesday, but both the commissioner’s office and the network said they were hopeful it could be done within a few days.

The first week of the season was wiped out because of the owners’ 32-day spring training lockout, and the first week of games must be rescheduled for there to be a full season.

The option being given the most attention is extending the season by three days and trying to reschedule two games during the season, according to officials at the network, the commissioner’s office and the players’ association.

The New York Yankees rescheduled one of the three games they missed from their opening series against Cleveland on Thursday, April 12, which had been an off-day before a three-game series at home against Texas. And the Boston Red Sox rescheduled a missed game at Detroit for April 12.

“We’re trying to preserve the 162-game schedule and we hope we’ll be successful,” said Rich Levin, a spokesman for the commissioner’s office.

CBS begins its $1.06 billion, four-year contract with baseball this season. The network expected the playoffs to start Tuesday, Oct. 1, and the World Series to begin Saturday, Oct. 13.

Commissioner Fay Vincent said Tuesday the preferred method would be to play the last week of the season during the first week of October, and push back the postseason by a week.

Under the plan being discussed, American League teams would make up their scheduled opening series during the season and play what had been their first scheduled weekend series on Oct. 1-3.

AL teams make only two trips to each city per season, while National League teams make three trips to each team in their division. The NL schedule would make up the weekend games during the season and reschedule the missed opening series from Oct. 1-3. The playoff would begin Friday, Oct. 5.