Watching MLB Wild Card Round Isn't For the Faint of Heart

In case you didn't notice, and it seems with all the other sports simultaneously being played no one has, the MLB playoffs have arrived. It's the first year of the expanded edition and I was dumbfounded when I saw the schedule for the second day of the Wild Card round.

* Astros at Twins is at 1 p.m. ET. That's my bad. Didn't want to delete the whole post. And, no, you cynical lout, this was not an excuse for me to put an asterisk next to the Astros' name. I leave that up to Yankees and Dodgers fans.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 28, 2020

With 16 teams making the playoffs this year (up from 10 in years past) we're going to be in for an insane amount of baseball on Wednesday. A total of eight games will be played. Games start every hour on the hour from noon until 5 p.m. ET. Then we have nightcaps at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. That means there could be upwards of 13-15 straight hours of baseball broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and TBS.

Even crazier? If all the series are tied 1-1 after Wednesday, we'll be in for another eight-game day on Thursday too. The Wild Card round is now a best-of-three series so there will be elimination games on Wednesday and Thursday, adding to the drama.

You'd need some serious fortitude to watch this much baseball. Even the Tom Verducci's and Buster Olney's of the world must shudder at the idea of being glued to their TV for over half a day as grown men try and make contact with a spinning ball moving at a high velocity.

This is the ultimate litmus test for baseball lovers. Survive this and still want to watch the World Series and you are a true fan of America's past time. For the rest of us casual fans, highlights from 13 hours of baseball will have to suffice.