Phillies move up start times for a few 2022 home games
Photo via The Athletic
The average length of regular season baseball games hit an all-time high in 2021, a huge bummer for any young Phillies fan trying to watch games on school nights (like myself). Thankfully, an announcement from the team Monday seems to show the team realized the games are getting longer with no immediate fix in sight.
Starting next season, most Phillies games that take place Monday through Thursday in April, May, and September (basically, school nights during the year) will start at 6:45pm ET instead of 7:05pm, a 20-minute bump from the 2020 season, the team announced in a release.
This is definitely a step in the right direction as baseball tries desperately to create more excitement among young sports fans.
Honestly, they should go even bigger and move it up to 6:30. With more people working remotely than ever before, and 90 minutes still plenty of time to get from the end of the traditional work day to the ballpark, what’s the downside? I also think they should go the same on summer week nights.
This, of course, does not fix the fact that baseball games regularly feel like attention span-sucking marathons. Compare the 3-hour, 10-minute average from last season to the other big three:
- NBA in 2018: 2 hours, 11 minutes
- NFL in 2010: 3 hours, 12 minutes
- NHL in 2004: 2 hours, 19 minutes
The idea that baseball is approaching football levels is brutal, considering football is played once a week and basically has its own day dedicated to it. Committing three-plus hours to watching baseball five teams each week from April until September? Oy gavolt.
The Phillies open the 2022 regular season March 31 in Houston against the Astros.
