The series finale between the Dodgers and Reds has an odd start time, beginning at 5:40 p.m., an hour and a half before the standard night-game time at Dodger Stadium.
Day games during the week in Los Angeles have waned over the years. This season there were only four such games, starting at either 12:10 p.m. or 1:10 p.m. on getaway day. The finale against the Reds starts earlier than normal, but not too much earlier. The explanation can be found in the collective bargaining agreement.
This happened earlier this year, when the Braves were in town on the first homestand of the season. On April 2, the start time was even more specific at 5:38 p.m., which was the latest allowable by the CBA. The relevant passage comes from Article V(C)(8):
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. However, the foregoing sentence shall not apply to getaway games that are broadcast on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” or rescheduled games.
Thursday is an off day for the Reds, but they are returning home for a weekend series against the Cardinals. Traveling to a home off day satisfies one of the conditions to require specific timing constraints.
Let’s return to the collective bargaining agreement for Appendix C, which includes flight times between major league cities.
From Los Angeles to Cincinnati, per the CBA, is a flight of three hours, 48 minutes. Subtracting 2 1/2 hours from that is one hour, 18 minutes, and subtracting that from 7 p.m. makes for a latest possible start time of 5:42 p.m. on Wednesday.
Rather than opting for the ultra-specific 5:42 p.m., the Dodgers went with a round number of 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday.
