Tom Brennan - “Weather” to Play April Night Games in AAA and AA is the Question

HEY HONEY, LET’S GO TO THE SYRACUSE NIGHT GAME ON APRIL 4!!

 

I presume that it is for TV revenue purposes, but Syracuse in AAA and Binghamton in AA play many night games in April. 

BRRR…

Now, there is great variability in temperatures in actuality, but AccuWeather has monthly charts showing what normal average highs and lows are temperature-wise throughout any given month, including April.

That said, in April 2025, Syracuse played 12 night games, or at least was scheduled to play 12 night games. I believe a few were postponed due to weather. 

But let’s assume the same dates for night games as juxtaposed against normal expected temperatures for that date, not actual temperatures.

Syracuse played night games at home on April 3 and April 4 in 2025. 

- The normal temperature chart for those dates shows low of 29° at night. 

They then moved onto Lehigh Valley, where they played night games on April 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. 

- The normal average nighttime temperature is for those dates 29°.

Syracuse played a game in Buffalo at night on April 17. 

- Normal low temperature for that date? 37°.

Syracuse then moved onto Worcester Massachusetts. They had games at night on April 22, 24, and 25. 

- Normal low temperatures for those nights? 37°.

Finally, they had one night game remaining in April at home on April 29.

- Normal low temperature 42°.

In Binghamton, there were 11 scheduled home and road night games in April.

Average normal low temperatures for those games?

Apr. 4 - 28°

Apr. 8 - 29°

Apr. 10 - 30°

Apr. 15-18 (4 games): 40°

Apr. 22, 23 - 35°

Apr. 25 - 36°

Apr. 29 - 40°.

Now to be fair, nighttime lows are normally not achieved during nighttime game hours; those nightly lows would usually happen later in the evening. 

But those seriously low temperatures for so many night games also have windchill factors that are probably lower during night games, on average, than the listed temperatures above, which are only actual temperatures, not windchill factor temperatures. 

The players presumably are impacted in two ways in such frigid temperatures:

1) Their offensive and pitching and fielding production has to be negatively impacted in such cold conditions, so when you look at players’s season numbers, when those players have played night games in those locations, you have to factor that in.

Just looking at Syracuse in 2025, they hit .233 in 31 March and April games, with 25 HRs.

The rest of the season, they hit 145 HRs in 119 games and batted .250, a much higher pace.

The Binghamton HR rate in April was the same as for the whole season, but they hit .234 in April, but a much higher .252 over the rest of the season.

2) 1 would think that the risk of injuries, such as muscle pulls, arm injuries, etc., are much greater in very cold temperatures. You can get away with playing in cold temperatures in football, because guys are constantly moving. In baseball, there is much less ongoing player movement and it’s easier to get cold and tight in very low temperatures.

If it were me, I wouldn’t play any night games in either of those leagues until May. 

Day games have the benefit of being warmer, by 10-15 degrees on average. For those locales, although it is not warm during April days in most cases, on sunny days, you also have solar heat that helps players not feel frozen while playing. 

I don’t know how much money these teams make by having their games televised on milb.tv, but it would seem that the Mother Ship teams for those AA and triple AAA teams (e.g. NY Mets) ought to be able to subsidize those teams to not have their valuable prospects, struggling through cold night weather and likely higher risk of injury, just to make a few extra bucks.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe most players could care less. I think they do.

I do know that the one year I did watch some mild.tv games very early in the season. The camera views from centerfield towards home plate showed very few fans in the stands, and those fans in the stands were dressed like they were Having a night out in Siberia.

My recommendation, which will most likely go “unheated” on the subject, is to have no AA and AAA night games before May 1 in those leagues.

It is an issue that frankly gets me hot under the collar.

WRITING UPDATE:

I am planning a writing hiatus, at least until the real action starts in late March. Blessings to you all.  I’ll still annoy many with my comments on other Mack’s writers’ articles in the interim, just as an advance warning.