This year was no different. There was the entire Orioles/Tigers series, for example. This was the series many were looking forward to most — So. Many. Detroit. Aces. — but I didn’t end up watching a single game. The start times? 5:37PM on Thursday, then 12:07PM on Friday, and then 3:37PM on Sunday. Series over. Missed it all.

There was Jake Peavy vs. Stephen Strasburg in Game 1 of the Giants-Nats series, a fantastic pitching matchup scheduled for 3:07PM on a Friday. Monday’s 5:07PM start for what could have been the deciding Game 3 wasn’t much better; it was over before most Giants fans had gotten off of work.

At least they didn’t make it to a Game 5: That potential Peavy-Strasburg rematch, despite its appeal, was scheduled for 5:00PM on a Thursday. Tough call, would you have watched that crucial playoff contest, or the Fox 5 Action News report about a new polar bear at the Bronx Zoo?

Aside from inconvenience, the MLB playoff schedule completely diverts from regular season start times. Why, exactly, must the postseason so vastly differ from the norm — where day games during the week are exceedingly rare, and first pitches almost always occur after 7:00PM local time? You know, so working people can actually go to games without sacrificing a vacation day.

A playoff series over, all before dinnertime!

It seems like, above any other priorities, MLB designed the schedule so that games do not overlap. When there were four games scheduled, one began at noon, the next at 3PM, then 6:30 PM, and then, finally, at 9:30. God forbid you have two exciting games going at once.

Since 2012, baseball’s playoffs have resembled the World Cup, which also recklessly schedules games consecutively during (supposed) work days. But baseball’s playoffs don’t enjoy the global popularity or the rarity of a World Cup. No one, save the superfan, is shirking work to catch a first-round playoff game. What, you want to stream a live MLB game at work? Yeah, good luck with that.

Maybe baseball should look at the NBA, whose first round of playoffs are probably the most entertaining and unpredictable in sports. There, the league stacks games on top of one another in the first two weeks of postseason, all tipping off after 7PM, occasionally broadcasting same on different cable networks.

The benefits are obvious: Viewers are able to flip their attention between games, taking advantage of another option if any one game’s a clunker. Multiple thrillers occurring simultaneously — that leads to increased fan interest, Twitter buzz, and a better chance at capturing digitally distracted millennial eyeballs.

This year’s postseason games have proven that they’re exciting enough to be deemed must-see TV. It’s time for MLB to wake up and start scheduling to its advantage.