The 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star break has come and gone, and with all of the festivities around the sport wrapped up, excitement continues to build for the trade deadline and what should be a fantastic second half of the season.
With so many teams contending for a post-season berth, the next two months should bring out the best in them all, and while not everyone is set to be a contender, and nowhere is that more obvious in the first series after the break than the NL East battle between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.
Mets-Phillies Game Brought Forward on Thursday
GettyBrandon Marsh and Juan Soto.
Their first game after the break was slated for Thursday night at 7.10 PM Eastern Time, but hours before the game, it appears as though the air quality in the Northeastern United States is going to force this into a change.
After being first reported by Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies confirmed the news shortly thereafter, announcing that the game has been brought forward one hour to 6.10 PM, with the belief that the air quality in Philadelphia will be too big of a factor to play through later in the night.
According to the Phillies official release, gates will be opening as usual for this one, and while an hour change may not seem like too much, given that the MLB average game time has now come down to 2 hours, 42 minutes, it’s safe to say that this change may be the difference between finishing the game and not.
Thursday’s game is just the first of three set to be played between these division rivals, with Saturday and Sunday hosting the final two games, and while it’s unclear how that will be effected by the air quality in Philadelphia, right now the two teams are focused on working their way through Thursday’s game safely.
Which NL East Team Starts the Second Half Right?
Heading into this one, stakes could not be more different for these teams, as the Phillies look to keep pace with the Atlanta Braves in the East while the Mets look to claw their way out of the basement in the National League after posting a 40-57 record through their first 97 games of the season.
Assuming no more changes are made to this one, Game one of the second half will feature a solid pitching battle between righty Christian Scott of the Mets and righty Aaron Nola for the home team, and while the first-half was drastically different between these two, all it takes is one game to spark momentum for the struggling Mets in the second half.
Right now, the plan is to go ahead with this game and hopefully get things done before the air quality becomes too bad to battle through, but given the conditions in the Northeastern United States over the past few days, it’s safe to say that fans attending the game should keep an eye on the weather and the official team channels in case of any more change.
Why is the Phillies-Mets Game Time Today Changed? When Will it Start?