MLB Opening Day 2011 to fall on Friday, April 1; season to end on a Wednesday

Major League Baseball, trying to avoid having long underwear as part of its players' postseason apparel, is planning to start the 2011 season in earnest on Friday, April 1 - three days earlier than the traditional Monday opener.

It would be the first time a majority of teams start the season on a Friday since 1905, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The regular season would end Wednesday, Sept. 28 with playoffs opening on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1. The World Series is scheduled to start Wednesday, Oct. 19, a week earlier than the last two years. It would virtually assure the World Series would not be played in November.

"Anything we could do to finish in October,'' commissioner Bud Selig told USA TODAY, "is what I wanted to do. It shows how serious we are in doing this. I feel very good about it, and am pleased at everybody's reaction.''

Says Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Players Association: "Starting the season midweek, as we understand it, will allow for a much better postseason schedule than if we had the season begin on a Sunday night. We think that's a positive step.''

The playoffs have started in September only three times since the current postseason format was adopted in 1995. It opened last year on Oct. 7, and the World Series didn't conclude until Nov. 4 - the same date Game 7 is scheduled this year.

"If we can start a little earlier, and end a little earlier," says Texas Rangers veteran third baseman Michael Young, "that would be a good thing. Watching the playoffs last year, you saw guys freezing out there in New York. That time of year, you expect cold."

Said Ed Goren, president of Fox Sports, which broadcasts the World Series: "I think the commissioner is sensitive to getting the postseason over in October. But I've been in cities where the weather is awful in mid-October, and beautiful the first of November. So if we're playing Game 7 of the World Series on Oct. 28, and it's snowed out, don't blame baseball."

The season actually could start around on March 25 or 26 if MLB and the players association approve a proposed two-game series between Arizona and San Francisco in Taiwan. The teams would leave spring training on March 21, play two exhibition games in Taiwan, and then face one another in two regular-season games that would cut one home game off their schedules.

"I'm really excited about the possiblity,'' said Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall. "I've been asking Major League Baseball for years to please consider us. We would be honored.''

Baseball has opened the season in Asia on numerous occasions, most recently in 2008 with the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's playing Tokyo. The Diamondbacks and Giants players are expected to vote on the proposal in August, says Arizona infielder Augie Ojeda, who doubts they would stand in the way of the historic trip.

By Bob Nightengale