World Series 2011 Schedule: Dates, Start Times for Cardinals-Rangers Series

With the St. Louis Cardinals' defeat of the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 6 of the NLCS on Sunday night, the matchup and schedule for the 2011 World Series are now set.

The Fall Classic gets underway on Wednesday, Oct. 19, as the American League-champion Texas Rangers will travel to the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, the home of the National League-champion Cardinals.

Why do the Cards get home-field advantage, you ask, especially given that they're a Wild Card team that snuck into the postseason with a 90-72 record while the Rangers won the AL West with a 96-66 regular-season mark?

Well, because of the ridiculous rule Commissioner Bud Selig instituted several years back allowing the winning league of the All-Star Game to have home-field advantage in the World Series.

As you no doubt remember, the NL dusted the AL 5-1 back on July 12 to win its second straight Midseason Classic and clinch home-field for the NL team.

Regardless of your thoughts on the home-field advantage rule, here’s the full World Series schedule between the Cardinals and Rangers:

WORLD SERIES
	Date	Matchup	Network	Air Time (ET)
Game 1	Weds., Oct. 19	Rangers at Cardinals	FOX	8:05 p.m.
Game 2	Thurs., Oct. 20	Rangers at Cardinals	FOX	8:05 p.m.
Game 3	Sat., Oct. 22	Cardinals at Rangers	FOX	8:05 p.m.
Game 4	Sun., Oct. 23	Cardinals at Rangers	FOX	8:05 p.m.
Game 5*	Mon., Oct. 24	Cardinals at Rangers	FOX	8:05 p.m.
Game 6*	Weds., Oct. 26	Rangers at Cardinals	FOX	8:05 p.m.
Game 7*	Thurs., Oct. 27	Rangers at Cardinals	FOX	8:05 p.m.
* if necessary

According to MLB.com, "Air time for each game will be at 7:30 p.m. ET, with Game 4 on Sunday as the one exception. Its air time will begin at 7:45 p.m."