There’s an explanation, and it’s part of the CBA.
You might have noticed that the scheduled 6 p.m. CT starting time for last Wednesday’s Cubs/Dodgers game at Wrigley Field didn’t match any usual night-game time for a game during the week. Those are usually 6:40 p.m. CT in April, May and September, and 7:05 p.m. CT the rest of the year. (Hint, Cubs: Many fans really like the 6:40 time and would love to see it all year.)
Anyway, any deviations from that are usually for national TV (Fox or ESPN). But this game wasn’t part of those channels’ packages. So why the unusual time?
To explain, we first have to start with the two Cubs/Dodgers games in Tokyo. Yes, that’s right. What do those games have to do with this? The Japan games were, as you might remember, Cubs “home” games, with the Cubs batting last. They were taken out of the Wrigley allotment for this year, so the Cubs will play just 79 games at Wrigley Field.
Had the Tokyo Series not happened, there would have been a four-game Cubs/Dodgers series at Wrigley Field last week, and the game times likely would have been 6:40, 6:40, 6:40 and a 1:20 getaway day game last Thursday. The Dodgers had a series at home at Dodger Stadium against the Pirates over the weekend, so a day game Thursday would have given them appropriate time to return to Los Angeles for the opening of that series Friday evening.
But since there was an off day last Thursday, and the Cubs didn’t want to play a Wednesday afternoon game, the starting time was governed by a portion of the MLB/MLBPA collective-bargaining agreement. The relevant language says:
The latest possible start time for getaway games on days when the visiting Club travels to a home off-day or either Club travels to another game the following day shall be determined by taking the portion of the in-flight time that exceeds 2 1/2 hours, and subtracting that amount of time from 7 P.M.
The “in-flight time” noted is on a chart in the CBA that has a time for each MLB city combination. In the case of a Chicago to Los Angeles flight, that’s listed as three hours, 29 minutes. Thus the amount that’s subtracted from 7 p.m. is 59 minutes… so in this case, the Cubs could have listed a starting time of 6:01. Just to make it a round number, they made it 6:00. The first pitch last Wednesday was actually thrown at 6:05 and the game ended at 8:45. The Dodgers’ flight arrived at LAX at 1:41 a.m. Pacific time, so they could have their off day Thursday at home.
So that should clear up that question, if you had one.
Angels management took this to an extreme last Thursday in their home game against the Pirates, before heading on a road trip that started in Minnesota. (The Pirates didn’t have to travel at all after the game, as Pittsburgh stayed in Southern California to play the Dodgers!)
Sam Blum of The Athletic explains:
If it were up to many Los Angeles Angels players, they’d enjoy a late afternoon plane ride after Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, landing in Minnesota at a reasonable hour.
They’d get dinner, a restful night’s sleep, and all the time needed to prepare for Friday’s game against the Twins.
That’s what would have happened had the Angels followed a standard set across the league and played an early afternoon getaway day game against the Pirates. It’s a common practice that’s followed almost universally across the sport.
Instead, the Angels scheduled Thursday’s game for 6:29 p.m. — nine minutes earlier than their typical evening start time of 6:38 p.m. It’s the latest possible minute allowed for first pitch, according to the sport’s collective bargaining agreement.
In most cases, teams like this would schedule afternoon games, especially with flights over three hours. But the Angels were allowed to do this by the CBA, and by gum, they did it, even though several of their players were pretty unhappy about it:
“It’s not ideal for sure,” said Angels superstar Mike Trout. “I don’t know when we’re supposed to land, but it’s going to be early. And we’ve got to play that night. And the worst part about it is, the next day is a day game.”
“I don’t think it’s healthy for anybody,” said Angels closer and four-time MLB All-Star Kenley Jansen. “To finish playing a night game like that, get in at six in the morning. Then you’ve got a 7 o’clock game, and the next couple days you have 1 o’clock games. It’s definitely not fair.”
“I don’t think it should be allowed, to be honest,” said Angels outfielder Taylor Ward. “I think there definitely should be rules in place to prevent that. Because it’s kind of crazy.”
The Angels don’t draw for weekday afternoon games as well as they do for night games, as noted in the article:
A year ago this week, the Angels hosted the Orioles in a weekday series. The first two games, night games, averaged 24,442 fans. The final game, a day game, drew 19,557.
Those roughly 5,000 extra fans, and the money they’ll spend, are likely why the Angels will have their longest night of the season this week.
And it’s even longer than you might think, as Blum points out:
While the Angels typically fly out of Long Beach Airport (LGB) or John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, they’ll likely have to fly from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after the game, due to 10 p.m. curfew rules at their preferred points of departure.
That adds at least an additional 30 minutes to their trip. The team also found out earlier this week that the Twins moved their Friday game from 7:10 p.m. to 6:40 p.m., making it an even quicker turnaround. The change was put in place to mitigate downtown traffic caused by the Timberwolves-Lakers NBA playoff game being played across the street.
So this isn’t good for anyone, except maybe for Arte Moreno’s bottom line. The Angels are averaging about 39,000 fans per game this year, which currently ranks sixth in MLB. That’s not nothing, but having the players in peak condition to play also should be a consideration. The Athletic article says that Angels opponents “frequently end up with difficult travel schedules as a result of Angels’ start times.” Blum asked for comment from the MLBPA and MLB:
“The MLBPA is constantly evaluating our collective bargaining agreement and soliciting feedback from Players across the league to ensure that their working conditions allow them to maximize their potential on the field,” a union spokesperson said when asked if they’d look for changes to this policy during negotiations.
A league spokesperson declined to comment when asked if they’d be open to mandating earlier start times on getaway days, to avoid this specific scenario.
It should not surprise you, then, that after the Angels’ flight arrived at 4:25 a.m. Central time Friday in Minneapolis, that they got trampled 11-4 Friday night by the Twins — and wound up swept in the series, outscored 21-5.
Let’s hope owners and players can figure something out that’s better than this. When you watch a MLB game, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for the players to be put in the best possible situation to succeed, to get enough rest and be in peak physical condition. Being a top MLB player isn’t just the two and a half or three hours you see them on the field. There are lots of other things that go into preparing for game performance. MLB and its teams should make that as easy as possible for players.