Night Baseball

The first MLB game played under the lights took place on May 24, 1935, in Cincinnati. This week, 84 years later, a two-game series between the Mariners and Athletics takes night baseball to the extreme—at least for Seattle and Oakland fans on the West Coast who want to watch or listen live as their teams kick off the 2019 season. The games are in Tokyo.

With the time difference between Tokyo and the West Coast, the games start at 2:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time. Call them insomniac specials or graveyard shift games. By the time most working people are up and drinking their first cup of coffee, the Mariners flagship radio station, 710 AM, will either be broadcasting the post-game show or regular daytime programming.

For the time-zone challenged, there’s also the issue of figuring out what day the Mariners open their season. The answer depends on what country you are in. Tokyo time is 8 hours earlier than Pacific Daylight Time, but you have to add a day. The season opener, which takes place on Wednesday, March 20 on the West Coast is actually being played in Japan on Thursday, March 21 with a 6:35 PM start time. That’s great if you are in Tokyo. But how about the vast legion of Seattle and Oakland fans—you know, the ones who ultimately pay the bills? I wonder what sort of ratings ESPN’s TV broadcast will get.

This year Seattle is rebuilding. According to GM Jerry Dipoto that’s the only way to break the team’s long postseason drought (17 years and counting). Robinson Cano, James Paxton, Nelson Cruz, and Eddie Diaz, among others, were traded or not resigned during the offseason. With that much star power gone, experts are predicting a sub .500 record and a fourth place finish in the AL West.

Even so, I was planning to watch or listen to the opening game until I found out what time it starts. Opening day is magic, no matter what your team’s prospects are. Seattle’s home opener, March 28th against the world champion Red Sox, will also be fun—especially if we play well in Japan. But it won’t be quite the same.

The early season opening in Tokyo brings another oddity with it. The rest of MLB starts playing games for real on March 28th. That gives Seattle and Oakland a week to recover from their trip. They will use the time to play additional spring training games, which makes you wonder if the teams are really ready to open the season in Japan this week.

I can use the extra week to prepare for games that are played before my bedtime. I still need to get a wallet-size season schedule and a scorecard to tell who the new Mariners are.