Not even the Red Sox or the Yankees could get Toronto a prime time playoff slot

Despite the Toronto Blue Jays having the best record in the American League. Despite the Blue Jays winning the AL East division for the first time in ten years. Despite the Blue Jays playing one of their division rivals in the American League Division Series, the powers that be have decided not to give said Blue Jays a spot on prime time.

The start times for Games One and Two of the ALDS have been revealed and Toronto will be saddled with back-to-back afternoon affairs at Rogers Centre.

Not even the Red Sox or the Yankees could get Toronto a prime time playoff schedule

It is a somewhat surprising announcement considering the "tv quality" of the opponent that the Blue Jays will face. One of the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox will move on from their Wild Card Series and play the Blue Jays in the next round. One would think that those two coveted MLB franchises would have surely drawn enough interest from TV executives to pull the trigger on getting those games slotted into a prime time viewing hour.

But that's not the case as the Blue Jays and their TBD opponents will play in the afternoon at Rogers Centre on Saturday and Sunday. If the Yankees win, Game One between Toronto and New York will have first pitch scheduled at 4:08 p.m. and Game Two will follow suit on Sunday at the exact same time.

If the Red Sox advance (and they currently own a 1-0 series lead going into Wednesday evening), then Game One is scheduled even earlier on Saturday, with a 1:08 p.m. start time, while Sunday's game is scheduled for 4:08 p.m. The Blue Jays went 8-5 against both opponents and had the best home record in the American League at 54-27.

But the Blue Jays weren't great in afternoon contests this season with just a 35-33 record in day games compared to the Yankees (35-23) and Red Sox (32-24). Toronto was much better in night games with a record of 59-35 while the Yankees were 59-45 and Boston was 57-49.

Maybe this made sense in 2023 when the Blue Jays were the No. 6 seed and played the Minnesota Twins in two day games. The Twins aren't considered a big market and they had the worst record of any of the playoff teams at 87-75, but because they won a weak AL Central, they hosted the 89-73 Blue Jays and swept them.

But this upcoming showdown between the Blue Jays and either the Red Sox and the Yankees is a heavyweight tilt with plenty of star power on either side so it is a very unusual decision to put these games outside of a prime time slot and it would be even more surprising if Games Three and Four (if necessary) were also afternoon games when the series shifts back to the south side of the border.