There was a small but meaningful break from the modern sports-TV grind this season: the Subway Series stayed in the daylight.
Both Sunday meetings between the Yankees and Mets were played in the afternoon and shown on YES and SNY. No late-night shift.
No ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball” takeover. Just baseball on Sunday afternoon, the way fans in the ballpark and at home got to experience it this time around.
That mattered for more than one reason. Mets fans got Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.
Yankees fans heard Michael Kay, Paul O’Neill and David Cone. And the people who bought tickets weren’t stuck dragging themselves home late on a work night after a Sunday showdown.
That was the case for the Yankees’ 2-0 win in the Bronx on Sunday and the Mets’ 7-6, 10-inning win on May 17 at Citi Field. Neither game was pushed from day to night because ESPN wanted the country to get the prime-time version.
For years, that kind of move was just part of the deal. It happened so often that fans got used to it, even if they didn’t like it.
This season was different because ESPN no longer has baseball on Sunday nights. NBC now holds “Sunday Night Baseball,” but neither Subway Series game got pulled into that slot.
Some fans made it clear they appreciated the change.
Steven Attias of Woodbury said: “Why I don’t miss ESPN Sunday night games (including Subway Series)
- I hate ‘on-field, in-game interviews’.
- I want my Gary, Keith & Ron!!
- As a former Mets plan-holder, I hate when games are ‘stolen’ from our planned times and moved to late night.
- Sunday games are supposed to be family-friendly. Moving them to night games creates all kinds of issues with school (and work) on Monday.”
Phil Pivnick of Oceanside had a similar take: “I have a 40-game weekend plan for the Mets. I’ve had it for years.
I never had any desire to go to an 8 p.m. Sunday night start.
And when you tried to sell the tickets on the secondary market, it seemed like no one else wanted to go. Even against the Yanks, which should have been a hot ticket.
It never was because of the Sunday night start.”
That probably sounds familiar to plenty of Mets and Yankees fans.
The Yankees, for their part, spent years dealing with Sunday games against the Mets and Red Sox getting bumped to nighttime for ESPN. Back when it was Yankees-Red Sox, ESPN was the place for all the big-name drama and those endless highlight packages.
There was another small example of the change recently, too. The Yankees hosted the Red Sox for a four-game series in late August, including a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.
The Friday night game was an Apple TV exclusive. The Saturday night game aired on Fox.
The other two games were on YES and were played in the afternoon.
Not a total victory, but close enough for fans to enjoy a rare one.
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