Often times much of a high school baseball team’s success is crafted during the offseason, particularly through the American Legion schedule that spans each summer.

But because of the success of several Eastern Maine high school teams this spring, the start of the 2008 American Legion Zone 1 regular-season schedule will be delayed by at least two days.

Zone 1 play was scheduled to begin Tuesday evening with a full slate of five games, followed by a single game Wednesday between the Brewer Falcons and Motor City of Bangor.

But with the rosters of six Zone 1 teams featuring players still alive in the high school playoffs, all games slated for Tuesday and Wednesday have been or will be rescheduled, said Zone 1 commissioner David Paul.

Games later in the week are still up in the air depending on whether any high school teams advance to Saturday’s state championship games, and at least two Zone 1 teams fielding Zone 1 players are assured of having that opportunity based on matchups in the Eastern Maine finals.

“We’re playing it by ear right now,” said Paul. “Hopefully we’ll get some games in Thursday, but it all depends on who’s still playing by then.”

The 11-team Zone 1 consists of Bangor, Brewer, Calais, Hampden-Hermon, Lincoln Lumber, Motor City, Penquis, Presque Isle, Orono, Trenton, and Waldo.

Of eight high school teams that will play in this week’s Eastern Maine finals, six involve schools that feed into Zone 1 American Legion programs.

Brewer High School and Hampden Academy will play in Tuesday’s Eastern A final. Old Town, which sends players to the Orono American Legion team, is in Wednesday evening’s Eastern B title game.

George Stevens Academy, whose players compete for Trenton, and Searsport, whose players compete for Waldo, meet in Tuesday’s Eastern C final.

And Lincoln Lumber includes players from Katahdin of Stacyville, which will play Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook in Wednesday’s Eastern D final.

For any of those teams that reach the state finals, none of their players would be available for American Legion play until at least next Sunday.

This week’s postponements serve to shorten an already tight American Legion summer schedule, Paul said.

Because this year’s American Legion national tournament is being played earlier than usual, Aug. 22-26 at Shelby, N.C., other postseason tournaments similiarly are being played earlier – and leaving barely a month for Zone 1’s 20-game regular-season schedule, Paul said.

This year’s Zone 1 tournament is scheduled for July 25-28 at the Winkin Baseball Complex on the campus of Husson College in Bangor. The state tournament follows Aug. 2-6 in Augusta, with the Northeast Regional Aug. 14-18 at Bristol, Conn.

This year’s state tournament will increase from eight to 10 teams, Paul added, with the addition of a new Zone 5 that consists of at least eight teams from York County that formerly competed in Zone 4.