CHICAGO — It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday, and the summer sun is shining as the masses pour out of Wrigley Field.
Some skipped school, some called in sick, some are on vacation. But all — at least, all of those pulling for the home team — are in good spirits. The Cubs won. Flags were waved. The song was sung. When it all goes well, that’s how it goes in the Baseball Day Game Capital of the World.
That optimistic buzz bounces out onto the streets of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood as the El rattles past the Addison red line station. Beneath the tracks, folks duck into local spots for another pint or a bite. Those with obligations scatter away, to prepare dinner or pick up the kids — or whatever they want to do, really. It’s still sunny out. There’s still day and night to enjoy.
And fans aren’t the only ones delighted by the clock’s welcoming hands.
The Cubs, showering and dressing in the subterranean home clubhouse, are similarly gleeful, eager to get gone, to get outside. They’ve played, they’ve won, and now they’ve got other things to do. A handful have dinner reservations, some with one another. Many will zip home to their children or wives or partners. Others will loaf and scroll. But by the time the rest of the Friday MLB slate gets underway, the Cubbies will be off the clock.
This is because the Chicago Cubs are the only team that always plays Friday home games in the afternoon. Saturdays and Sundays, too, are usually day games. From that singular schedule comes a better quality of life for all Cubs employees and an enviable work-life balance that is exceedingly rare in the demanding world of pro sports.
That’s even more true for the players.
”I think it’s in the recruiting video,” Ian Happ, a lifelong Cub, recently told Yahoo Sports about weekends at Wrigley. “Like, hey, this place in the summer, Friday at 1:20, 40,000 people. You can’t beat it. And you’re gonna get to see your family. There’s no other place where you get that.”
“It’s something we definitely talk about in our sales pitch for players,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell explained. “For the rest of the league, day games are an inconvenience, but when you play for the Cubs and you play so many more of them, they become routine. It’s something that you learn to love.”
For decades, the Cubs played exclusively day games. Wrigley Field didn’t install lights until August 1988. When the park finally did, the city instituted restrictions about how many times per season the team could play at night in an attempt to keep noise and traffic in the neighborhood to a minimum. Another reason, hilariously enough, was a fear that evening games would hurt local businesses because citizens would be at Wrigley instead of dining out.
Over time, that ordinance has become pointless — the Cubs play night games during every home series, and area restaurants do just fine — but it has endured, mostly as a nod to tradition. Also, probably, because it provides the team an incremental competitive edge on multiple fronts.
One benefit has to do with familiarity. Many other franchises avoid home day games at all costs. Attendance tends to be lower; people are in school or at work. The Cubs don’t have that problem. Wrigley’s grandeur puts butts in seats at any time of day. That means Cubs players are generally more acclimated to playing day games, which can be a legitimate shake-up for routine-oriented players on visiting teams. Over the past 10 years, MLB home teams have a .540 winning percentage in day games.
The other advantage revolves around free agency.
“When it’s pitched right, it’s the best recruiting tool in the world,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said of the plethora of day games. “If you were to take the baseball out of it, the quality of life with family, friends, teammates — it’s hard to beat.”
The 32-year-old Swanson was raised near Atlanta and spent the first seven years of his MLB career with the Braves. But when he reached the open market for the first time after the 2022 season, the Cubs came a’calling. And while his hefty, seven-year, $177 million contract surely carried the most weight, Swanson suggested that the Cubs’ community atmosphere and weekend schedule played at least a minor role.
”Baseball is already hard on family life. You get less hours with the people that matter the most to you,” said Swanson, who is married to Chicago Stars FC and USWNT star Mallory Swanson. ”Having the ability to go home, to see my daughter before she goes to bed, I’ll put her down, Mal and I get to make dinner together. It’s perfect for family life.”
It’s also great if you like good eats.
Chicago is a legendary food town, overflowing with quality restaurants. The Cubs, because of their schedule, get to take full advantage of the Windy City’s culinary prowess. Casual team get-togethers are easier to organize when there’s more time after the game. That helps create a sense of real camaraderie. Visiting teams, because of the daytime starts, also often go out for big group dinners when in Chicago.
”People talk about it,” Swanson said. “There’s no better food city in the world. And as teammates, we actually get to do things together in the city.”
In an age when most players are more disconnected from their team’s city than ever before, the Cubs have fostered something legitimately different. So often, players are going from ballpark to house and back, rarely getting to immerse themselves in the culture of the place they live.
The Cubs don’t have that problem.
“It’s like having a somewhat normal job, like having a 9-5,” Happ said as he put on his street clothes. “You’re out of here by 5, you can do, like, a 6 [or] 6:30 dinner. It’s great.”