Why are MLB games never played in the morning (ex.10:30 AM)?

Question

Why arent MLB games played in the morning...lets say like a 10:30 or 11 am game ? They're always in the afternoon and night and best times of all is a 110 and a 710 start ...the late 8pm or the mid afternoon( 3 - 4 PM ) starts arent that good. But anyways.. why do MLB games never have morning start times?

I just read in the paper that a local independent league team is having a 10:35 AM game .. this is the first i heard any professional baseball team have a morning game .

Answer 1

Ticket sales. Players prep time.

Afternoon games that start at 12pm can work because people can work half day and then go to the ballpark. The earlier it is, the more time people take off from work or school and sometimes people can't do that so ticket sales would hurt.
Players would have to get up earlier in order to get to the time. What if they play a long game the night before, that goes 15+innings. They won't get that much rest and the quality of play will be diminished.
Those would be my main reasons for not having morning games.

Answer 2

Two primary reasons, both linked:
1. Ballparks have electric lights.
2. Ticket sales are better (as are tv ratings) when more people can show up, which tends to be after business hours.

The Red Sox always request a home game on Patriot's Day (Massachusetts holiday in mid-April), and that game typically is the only morning game scheduled all year -- in general so that the game is concluding about the time the Boston Marathon runners are passing through nearby Kenmore Square. And last year one AL Central team, I recall it was Minnesota, had a morning game on a weekend because (IIRC) there was a very tight schedule with a college football team in the same arena, so that was unusual but had a specific reason for it.

Other than the Red Sox's one game a year, the morning game is essentially a thing of the past.

Answer 3

TV coverage and rating are lower in the morning. Plus, a 10:00 am game on the east coast would be 7:00 am in the west.
The earliest you will get is when some teams have a Day Camper day, they may start 11 or 12.

Answer 4

How many people do you think would be willing to get up early to go to a baseball game on the weekend and subject themselves to being in the hot sun when the sun is at its highest point in the sky? And how many players would be willing to get very little or no sleep after playing a night game? And during the work week, few people would be willing to give up an entire day of work to make it to a morning game.

There is one exception: The Red Sox celebrate Patriot's Day (which commemorates Paul Revere's famous ride and is a holiday only Massachusetts and Maine recognize) and the running of the Boston Marathon by playing at home on the third Monday in April with a game time in the morning. In the past, the game began at 11:05 a.m. so fans could watch the marathon runners go by Fenway Park's neighborhood. When the start of the marathon was moved up this year, the game time was set at 10:05 a.m.

Answer 5

Most teams have a game just about everyday, so traveling and then getting up to warm up before 10 wouldn't give the players much rest. Constantly playing in different time zones also factor into setting the game later in the day.

Answer 6

They play the games at a time that they think the most fans
can attend the games. That way the owners of the teams can make money to pay the players

Answer 7

The Red Sox have a late morning start every year, in the hopes that the game will be over without having that traffic interfere with the Boston Marathon.

The Minnesota Twins have a late morning start just about every year, so that the field can be turned around to it's football configuration for a Golden Gophers game.

The "B" games in spring training are always morning games.


There goes your question.

Answer 8

Well datz not true b/c the A's have had morning games. TIS season There waz one at Tampa Bay @ 10:40 am & there will be another at Baltimore @ 10:35 am.

Answer 9

They are, the Cubs used to play the Pirates once a year at a very early hour. It was very popular game too, because it was the one time those people could see a game.

Answer 10

if u think about it if a team is playing in the west coast and the game is at 110 ,then in the east it would be that time 1010, so i think it has alot to do with were its played and the time zones