Why Mets and Phillies Are the Only MLB Teams Playing on Thursday

The 2026 MLB All-Star Break is coming to an end, and the Mets are set to get back to work on Thursday night. While most teams are set to begin the second half on Friday, the Mets have a game one night earlier as they kick off a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

This is the second time this season the Mets and Phillies have had a game moved off of a Friday, with a series in June impacted by the FIFA World Cup at Lincoln Financial Field. Like that series, the Mets are slated to play on Thursday and have an off day on Friday before resuming their series on Saturday.

Francisco Alvarez (4) reacts during an at bat against the Philadelphia Phillies — The FIFA World Cup isn't the reason why Thursday's Mets-Phillies contest is the only MLB game on the docket. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The World Cup is not to blame here, however, as Lincoln Financial Field's World Cup slate concluded on July 4 with a Round of 16 matchup between France and Paraguay. The culprits here, however, come from MLB's national TV partners.

Explaining why Mets-Phillies is a standalone game on Thursday

Prior to this season, Major League Baseball renegotiated its national television partnerships, notably adding NBC back into the mix to take over as the home of "Sunday Night Baseball." That package had previously belonged to ESPN, which negotiated a new agreement with the league for the right to distribute MLB.TV and a package of nationally televised games on select weeknights throughout the season.

One of those windows comes with an exclusive game to open the second half of the season, and ESPN tabbed Mets-Phillies for that spot in the preseason. ESPN announced that it will have Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez and former Met Adam Ottavino in the booth for that game with Buster Olney on the field as a dugout reporter.

It makes sense that ESPN wanted this game to start the season, given the intense rivalry between these two teams in the NL East and the star power of Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber to spotlight. There is no way that ESPN could have anticipated the disaster the Mets' season has become, with ex-manager Carlos Mendoza getting fired in June and the team careening towards a massive sale at the trade deadline.

The extra off day on Friday this generates could make for some interesting rotation planning for the Mets, who will also be off the following Thursday following a series in Milwaukee. The Mets will likely plan their rotation to maximize the number of starts Freddy Peralta has before the trade deadline so they can showcase him for a potential deal, although the Mets hadn't decided on their rotation plans to start the second half as of Monday afternoon.

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