1. For unimportant regular season games, the reason is that there are new games the next day. The league goes on. It doesn’t make much sense to watch yesterday’

1. For unimportant regular season games, the reason is that there are new games the next day. The league goes on. It doesn’t make much sense to watch yesterday’s match. 2. For important postseason games, the experience is communal. I’m either watching with friends or virtually watching with them via group chat. And we’re commenting on literally every play as they happen. It’s a big deal if my live stream is seconds behind theirs. 3. Such postseason games are imbued with urgency, anticipation, and excitement. A serious fan derives a lot of pleasure from the immediacy this requires. It’s nothing like deciding when to watch an episode of Bojack Horseman. When the St. Louis Cardinals are in the postseason, for example, the entire city reflects it. It’s a moment in time, a cultural event. The whole town is talking about it. You can’t decide you’d rather have that experience next month when your schedule is less busy. It’s not up to you. It can only be experienced real-time. On the original comment: none of this has anything to do with time zones. Even without time zones, there would be a “time” difference because of the geographical differences. A good “time” to watch on one coast is likely to be a bad one on the other, just because most human beings like to sleep when it’s dark where they are.