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A MLB tutorial says

if you hear someone mention October baseball they are likely referring to the postseason as it takes place during the month of October.

Does it still mean the same thing if I substitute "in October" or "during October" for "during the month of October"?

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  • Your substitutions don't change the meaning. However, I should point out that the sentence doesn't make sense anyway. If it's postseason, then it would take place after the end of the season. Since the end of the season is October, postseason would be November. So, if somebody mentions October baseball, they're not talking about postseason.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Apr 25, 2020 at 5:10
  • @JasonBassford The 2019 Major League Baseball postseason began on October 1, right?
    – WXJ96163
    Commented Apr 25, 2020 at 6:23
  • Presumably it refers to the postseason.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Apr 25, 2020 at 8:11
  • Knowing next to nothing about baseball, I had found this in a Google search: "The Major League Baseball season begins in April with Opening Day and ends in October with the World Series." Of course, that was said in 2010. Perhaps the season dates changes each year. If so, and if the postseason in the MLB tutorial is accurate only for some years, then in the years it is accurate, as @KateBunting says, it must be referencing postseason, not the end of the baseball season.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Apr 25, 2020 at 12:26

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October is a month, so 'October' and 'the month of October' are interchangeable. (Compare '2020' and 'the year 2020'.)

I don't know much about MLB, but I know that postseason baseball takes place over a period of time (?weeks, a month), so in this case there is no real difference between 'in' and 'during' (assuming that the postseason falls entirely in October).

If there is any real difference in other cases, it would be that 'during October' implies a longer period of time (it's related to 'duration'). Compare 'Our two-day seminar takes place during October' (questionable usage), 'Our one-week conference takes place during October' (acceptable) and 'Postseason baseball takes place during October' (certainly acceptable).

Contrast a birthday, which is one day. I would have to say 'my birthday is in October' not 'my birthday is during October'.

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