Jun 1, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first base Bryce Harper (3) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Philadelphia won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
The Phillies will host the Colorado Rockies Wednesday night, marking the first night game at Citizens Bank Park this season.
Evening games at Citizens Bank Park will come with a slightly later first pitch this season, as Wednesday's tilt is the first of many 6:45 p.m. ET start times this season:
One small change for 2025: All of the 6:40 p.m. home starts are shifting to 6:45 p.m. https://t.co/ABMejQVDv5
This comes after the default start time for all home games in 2023 and 2024 was 6:40 p.m. ET. In 2022, the Phillies first experimented with the 6:40 p.m. ET start time for Monday-Thursday games at Citizens Bank Park in April, May and September. They eventually shifted all home night games to that time in 2023. Prior to that, the default start time for all Phillies evening home games had been 7:05 p.m. ET for years.
While there isn't a huge difference between 6:40 and 6:45, there were definitely some strong opinions from fans on moving the start time from 7:05 to 6:40.
Those in favor of the of the earlier start time believe that having the games end half an hour — or now, 25 minutes — earlier than they did with a 7:05 start time allows more fans to see the end of the game. It gives you an extra 25 minutes to get home if you are attending the game and don't live in the city. Even if you do live close, there's something to be said for getting home from the park before midnight.
But opponents of the earlier start time tend to be people who work until 5 or 6 and struggle to get home/or to the park in time to see the first pitch and would benefit from the extra 25 minutes. With the implementation of the pitch clock in 2022, they believe there's no reason not to start games at 7:05 once again.
Perhaps 6:45 is some sort of compromise. You can bet that broadcast partners like NBC Sports Philadelphia and SportsRadio 94 WIP have had a say in determining that bumping the start time of home games back five minutes will be beneficial.
