As noted earlier by Eamonn, the remainder of Game 5 of the World Series is scheduled to begin completion tonight at 8:37 PM. Many of us have seen a game suspended after the first pitch due to weather conditions, but in the vast majority of instances, the remainders of these games have been tacked on to a future scheduled matchup between the two teams in questions. In other words, you got something like a 1.5-header out of it. The remaining innings were played, immediately after which you were able to enjoy another game in its entirety.

Tonight’s game baseball-playing exercise will be unique for two reasons. First off, there has never been a suspension of a World Series game. The second reason, one I find more intriguing, is that it’s very possible that we’ll only watch three and a half innings of baseball tonight. Maybe just three if the Phillies retain a lead. Let’s think about that. What is it going to be like for you, the baseball fan, to watch that little baseball?

Psychologically, what will this do to you? An example: I didn’t come to appreciate HBO programming until a few years ago. For the first twenty years of my life, I was used to watching a half-hour of television comprised of twenty-two minutes of programming and eight minutes of commercials. Then I started watching thirty minutes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Fascinatingly, I found that around twenty-two minutes in, I was expecting the show to end. But, nope, eight more minutes of Larry David ambling through a neolib lifestyle and contributing nothing to anyone. Television, more than perhaps anything else, is adept at conditioning us. You know this game may last only three innings, but you may not actually process it, and if the game does end after an hour, you will be a disappointed and unhappy individual, especially considering that you may not see another baseball game for months.

And what if you’re holding a World Series get-together with your friends tonight? Will your friends pro-rate the amount of beer they bring over? The worst-case scenario is that your friends will walk in the door with a six-pack of Sam Adams (or if he/she is the old friend from high school that you don’t really like anymore, Miller Chill), only four of the bottles will be missing. Will they know to position the two bottles on opposite ends of the cardboard six-pack, or will they be dumb? Will they just toss it, weighted on one side, into the fridge, leaving it to fall over when someone else opens the door?

Perhaps, though, you can parlay these circumstances into something positive. Tonight I plan on evangelizing some friends who have never been interested in baseball. I’ll goad them into watching a game with me, and sweeten the deal by telling them it may only last an hour. They’ve never heard of such a thing. A concept as simple as “less baseball” may very well prompt them to give it a try. They’ll see two great teams and, if the Phillies win, a raucous celebration at the end of it. I’ll then turn to them and say, straight-faced, “You see, this - this - is baseball.” They’ll love it; they’ll want more, only to despair when they learn that they won’t be able to watch it again until April. But at least when you badger them into watching Opening Day with you next year, they’ll be more inclined to humor you.