Doubleheader (baseball)
Contemporarily, the term is also used to refer to two games played between two teams in a single day in front of different crowds and not in immediate succession.
The record for the most doubleheaders played by a major-league team in one season is 44 by the Chicago White Sox in 1943.
However, any major-league doubleheader now played is generally the result of a prior game between the same two teams being postponed due to inclement weather or other factors.
Reasons for the decline include clubs' desire to maximize revenue, longer duration of games, five-day pitching rotation as opposed to four-day rotation, time management of relievers and catchers, and lack of consensus among players.
It is now uncommon in the major leagues, even for rain makeups, since the use of stadium lights allows for night games.
They are still occasionally scheduled, one example being the Tampa Bay Rays hosting the Oakland Athletics in a single-admission doubleheader starting at 1:05 p.m. on the afternoon of June 10, 2017, at Tropicana Field.
[7] In a twi-night (short for "twilight-night") doubleheader, the first game is played in the late afternoon and, following a break, the second begins at night.
Except in special circumstances with the approval of the MLBPA, such as a makeup game resulting from a rainout, scheduling split doubleheaders is prohibited under the terms of the 2002 CBA.
Exceptions have occurred; for example, on August 22, 2012, the Arizona Diamondbacks hosted the Miami Marlins in a day-night doubleheader, the first doubleheader ever played at Chase Field, which was arranged due to a scheduling error violating another section of the CBA, which prohibits teams from being scheduled to play on more than 20 consecutive days.
[14][a] The only games left between the Phillies and Giants was a six-game set at the end of the season, scheduled to be played across three consecutive days of doubleheaders in New York.
Upon resuming the suspended game, the Phillies recorded the last two outs as the “home” team.
[15] To date, this is the only time the scenario of a suspended game being completed before a scheduled doubleheader has occurred.
[16] As a result, one of the games was made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday while the other was canceled entirely,[17] as it had no bearing on the postseason.
After the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start of MLB's 2020 season to July from its original intended start in March, the league announced on July 31 that all doubleheader games would be scheduled for seven innings each during the shortened season,[18][19] to reduce strain on teams' pitchers.
During the 20th century and before the advent of interleague play in 1997, only one instance was recorded in Major League Baseball: a Labor Day special event involving the New York Giants and Brooklyn Superbas.
During the second series of the season, a makeup game was scheduled at the ballpark of the opposing team as part of a day-night doubleheader.
For example, in 2007, when snow storms in northern Ohio caused the Cleveland Indians to postpone an entire four-game series from April 5–8 against the Seattle Mariners; three of the games were made up in Cleveland throughout the season, while the fourth was made up as part of a doubleheader in Seattle on September 26 with the Indians as the designated home team for the first game.
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Banks, who spent his entire MLB career with the Chicago Cubs, was known for his catchphrase, "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame ... Let's play two!
