The explanation was that as soon as the playoffs are set you know the potential host cities for games 1,2,6,7 and the two potential host cities for games 3,4,5. There was some level of certainty. Sure but it's still 5 possible places And after day 1 it's 4. They said that was easier than 9. I'm guessing they have to put some sort of deposit down on 100 rooms or so to lock it in. It's probably not a huge amount for MLB purposes but they fret over little things all the time.