Start Of 2011 MLB Season Moved Up To April 1st

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:04 am

ESPN has just reported that Major League Baseball has moved up the start of the 2011 season to Friday, April 1st so that the post-season doesn't go into November. Usually MLB starts on Sunday with one game and a full slate of games on Monday and Tuesday, but next year all teams could open with weekend series.

That won't affect the NFBC live drafts as we are already planning for drafts on the weekends of March 18-20 and March 25-27. But it will affect the Satellite Leagues and the NFBC Online Championship because we did host drafts on Friday and Saturday of those weekends in the past.

It's an interesting change for MLB, which once had a tradition of letting Cincinnati open the season with the first game. Man, that seems like a lifetime ago. Now the season starts on a Friday, which in some ways could be good for fans. Let's have a three-day weekend of baseball to get things started!!

Just a heads up if you're making plans for 2011.

Quack & Willy · Post by **Quack & Willy** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:20 am

Gonna make that 1st period of FAAB interesting how it will be handled as well.

Any early ideas on a midweek FAAB window Greg?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:09 am

Originally posted by Quack & Willy:

Gonna make that 1st period of FAAB interesting how it will be handled as well.

Any early ideas on a midweek FAAB window Greg? This will make it interesting, but I would think we'd just make Sunday, April 3rd the first FAAB period. That's my thinking now.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:37 pm

It looks like MLB is also considering a game in Asia again in 2011. A USA Today report suggests that Arizona and San Francisco could play March 25 or 26 in Taiwan. It last happened in 2008 when Boston and Oakland played in Tokyo. If that happens again, the NFBC will list how that will be played for Week 1 of the NFBC season because many drafts are still either taking place at that time or will be taking place. We'll put a set of rules in place to cover those early games if they happen.