Split Doubleheaders — Baseball Bench Coach

This past Friday was a glorious baseball day for me. I attended a split doubleheader in Cincinnati with the Reds and Brewers facing off at Great American Ballpark in the early afternoon and then again in the evening. My two friends and I planned the outing months ago with the hope of seeing the Reds play meaningful games in pursuit of a division championship or a Wild Card. Well, that didn’t quite work out as our Cincinnati squad went into the day at 64-70, clearly out of the Wild Card hunt. We did see some good baseball, highlighted by the MLB debut of the Reds top pitching prospect Rhett Lowder in Game 2.

I used to love going to doubleheaders. I have such fond memories of trips to Crosley Field with my Dad and watching in his words, “two games for the price of one”. One time on Father’s Day we saw Giants’ pitchers Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry face off against the Reds’ Jim Maloney and Sammy Ellis in two terrific games. As I got older, my buddies and I would enjoy many Friday nights at Riverfront Stadium taking in “twi-night doubleheaders”, where the first games would start around 5:00 p.m. and the second would end late in the evening. Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub, said it so aptly, “Let’s Play Two!”

There are many types of doubleheaders in MLB history – the “classic” back to back games with the first one starting in early afternoon; the “twi-nighters”; the “seven inning” doubleheader games (2020 and 2021) in response to the pandemic; and the modern day “day/night” doubleheaders where owners can get two gate revenues in one day. We’ve also seen a handful of “home and home” DHs where the Yankees and Mets on three occasions have played in each other’s park on the same day due to rainouts earlier in the season. Crazily, three tripleheaders are recorded in MLB history, all in the early years (1890, 1896, and 1920) and long before the players’ union was formed. The White Sox played the most doubleheaders in a season – 44 of them in 1943. The 1962 Mets would just as soon forget the doubleheader concept; that year they played 30 doubleheaders and were swept in 17 and split 10 of them.

For many years, MLB placed numerous, classic doubleheaders on teams’ schedules. At the peak of doubleheader play, in 1959, about a quarter of games played were part of a doubleheader. In 1979, that declined to around 10% of games, but still a sizable number. Over the last forty years, scheduled doubleheaders have become almost extinct. Play on the field is one reason, as starting pitchers are no longer on a four-day rotation, but rather, five. Much more significantly is the revenue impact. Team management cannot justify one gate and two games. Playing 81 home games means 81 times the turnstiles should be clicking.

As a result of the players’ lockout and the season beginning one week late in 2022, the 2022 season marked the return of scheduled doubleheaders. There were actually 31 doubleheaders on the schedule – 26 day/night ones and 5 of the “classic” variety. Doubleheaders certainly take a toll on the players and lineup management, which is somewhat lightened by the rule change in 2012 that team rosters may be expanded by one player for each game of doubleheaders now played. For the 2024 regular season, there was not a single doubleheader on the MLB schedule. Our split action last Friday was the result of a rainout earlier in the year.

One of my worst baseball memories was actually a scheduled doubleheader between the Reds and Padres in 1973. My parents and I arrived in the fourth inning of Game 1. We missed seeing the Reds score 3 runs in the first inning, and as it turned out they were the only runs scored all afternoon. You see, the rains came as the top of the fifth inning ended. Fortunately, for the Reds, the first game was considered complete and a Cincinnati 3-0 win. Unfortunately, for my family, the second game of course was also washed out. On that day, I saw 2 innings for the price of one game!

Last Friday my friends and I saw two losing efforts by our Reds. It was also an extremely hot day, but we survived with the help of lots of beverages, often adult ones. Between games we explored one of the many restaurants in Cincinnati’s “Banks”. We reminisced and laughed, caught up with our family and professional lives, and just plain relaxed. We had an absolute blast, although of course it’s now two games for the price of two (and a lot more).

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach