http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsEven though both the Mets and Yankees had lost their games before 5pm, I thoroughly enjoyed my workday and that was because there were so many day games on today. I’m left to wonder if this is what it was like for the previous generations of baseball fans?
Today more than half of baseball had started playing by 1pm. I started by listening to the pre-game show on WFAN live from Citi Field at around noon. Since this was a day game there were large groups of kids in attendance and you could hear them chanting “Let’s go Mets!” and generally having a good time at the park. It’s a great sound to hear in an office.
At lunchtime I met up with friends and the plan was to watch the first 45 minutes of the Mets game. The surprise was the Yankees were on too as their previous game was rained out and was rescheduled as part of a day night doubleheader.
So now Yankee fans were joining in on the fun of watching a day game. The restaurant we attended was packed with fans of both teams. On top of that the Boston/Toronto game was playing on a separate screen as well as the Phillies/Rockies.
Normally I wouldn’t go out and spend $15 to sit and watch a game for 45 minutes but because there was so much baseball going on it felt like a baseball holiday today.
Looking at a packed restaurant and watching people like myself come out and spend money they normally wouldn’t spend made me think, “Why can’t MLB have more day games? It certainly would stimulate the economy?”
Once lunch was over I went back to the office and continued listening to the game by streaming it on my MLB.com app over my phone. I left it on speaker so others could follow too.
The Mets game ended around 5pm and now for my commute home I can listen to the game highlights and all the callers calling in to WFAN with their takes on the game. It made the commute pretty bearable.
What would I normally do if this was a night game? I would flip back and fourth between channels of whatever I’m watching and the Mets game. If the game went on too late I would turn it off. I normally don’t ever stay up to listen to WFAN and the post game shows. It’s just too late. And of course I’m not spending money or enjoying the games with friends.
So I think the day game format is awesome! I’m left to wonder why can’t MLB schedule more days like today? At least once a week?
The Mets Report 
Hey David! I follow the MLB schedule pretty closely, and the MLB definitely schedules tons of mid-week afternoon games. In fact, about half of the games on Wednesdays and Thursdays have been day games this year so far. It'll probably stay that way in the summer once kids are out of school. I definitely see your point about the attentiveness- I'm much more likely to stay tuned into the game at 3 PM when nothing's on, rather than at 9:30-10 PM where if the game is a drag, I can turn on any channel and find some interesting programming. Day games during the week hurt attendance though, let's face it, most people have day jobs and can't regularly skip work to go to the ballpark.
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I hear ya Doug, the Mets make money when people attend, not when their fans watch during lunch hour. I checked the schedule and so far the Mets have had 4 weekday day game in 6 weeks. The Yankees have also had 4. Last wednesday, cinco de mayo, was the only time both teams had a weekday day game on the same day. Yesterday was a rescheduled game. It's pretty rare. Considering there is a 162 game schedule and we are 35 games in, that's not a lot of day games. The Mets and Yankees won't play a weekday day game on the same day again till labor day, Sept 6th. I'm not asking much. Just start with one day a week. Wednesdays are good since most people will go out friday night anyway to watch a game. I think it would be good for baseball, many small businesses would have a small pickup in the week, breaks up the workweek nicely and since more kids could watch a game once during the week you may even expand the fan base. So that's my suggestion for MLB. 1 day game a week and if we can get boths teams in the city to play that day game on the same day, even better.
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