Yesterday’s NLDS Game 3 win over the Brewers at Wrigley Field was electric. The four-spot the Cubs put up in the first inning was enough to breathe a sigh of relief but not quite enough to ever feel comfortable,
especially with the Brewers tacking on runs in the fourth and seventh inning. The stakes could not be higher with the Cubs one win from elimination and once again, the vibes were elite at the historic landmark. Some of that was surely just the extra adrenaline of the MLB Postseason, but no small part of it was the combination of that adrenaline combined with Day Baseball at Wrigley Field.
Through a quirk of scheduling the Cubs have played four day games at home this Postseason. They are 3-1 in those games, and while I may be biased by the fact that I’ve been at all three of those victories, it’s impossible to overstate the vibes in these games. The atmosphere around the ballpark has been beyond electric. Surely the fans of other teams are already queuing up their arguments for why the parking lots that surround their ballparks are a hotbed of activity before day postseason games too. However, none of those other fanbases have a cathedral of baseball built in a neighborhood that has had 111 years of growth and evolution centered on the ballpark in their midst.
Take game one against the Padres, where activity in and around Wrigley Field kicked off at 7 a.m. with free beefs from Mauro Provisions at Murphy’s Bleachers:
The game was scheduled to start at 2:08 p.m. and was positively buzzing with excitement (and maybe a few beverages) well before noon.
But it’s more than one off gimmicks to bring fans to the neighborhood early. Everyone who lives here will tell you, Cubs fans need no excuse to mill around the ballpark for hours before a game and hours after it’s over. After all, we’ve got elite dive bars so dedicated to Chicago and Day Baseball they’re cooking up candy cane Malört specials for your drinking, uh, pleasure?
As other fanbases groaned a bit that their best seasons were being shunted outside of prime time to what are generally considered less optimal game times during the work day, Cubs fans were putting in time off requests and making their plans to be at Wrigley Field for as many hours as their jobs would allow. And you’ll forgive the self-promotion for a second, but we are just better at this than any other fanbase in baseball. Take, for example, this graphic showing the number of home and away day games played by each team (apologies for the quality, this is what happens when you find the perfect graphic to make your argument on Reddit:
This graphic is from two years ago, so I imagine that A’s number has changed, as they played almost every game in Sacramento at night. Every other team and fanbase in baseball has substantially less experience at this than the Cubs. That has trickle down effects in everything from pre-game preparation, like what time players arrive at the park, their pre- and post-game routines, but also experience with the elements, like dealing with a high sun when there are no clouds in the sky or shadows that make it difficult for players to see spin on the ball.
That difference is also the historical remnant of the Cubs long existence with no lights at Wrigley Field at all. A legacy that’s still celebrated today in this excellent shirt from Obvious Shirts that pays homage to the original fight over the lights:
Yesterday’s must-win Game 3 for the Cubs was likely the last iteration of Day Baseball we’ll see at the corner of Clark and Addison this season. As the number of teams in the MLB Postseason shrink all of the games get pushed to the evenings, like tonight’s 8:08 p.m. Central Time start. I’m a bit sad to see the day games end, honestly. Given the experience advantage the Cubs demonstrated this season winning three of four day games at their home park, I imagine the team might be a bit sad to see it end this season too.
