PHILADELPHIA — There have been plenty of nights when people wouldn’t have wanted to see the Mets play.
On Thursday, they nearly got their wish as the smoke from the Canadian wildfires forced MLB to move up the start of the game and it may have paid off.
“I didn’t think it was bad til the last couple innings,” Brett Baty said after the Mets beat the Phillies 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park.
“My eyes were burning and itching a little bit,’’ Baty said. “[Carson] Benge said it felt like you were sitting by a campfire. It was fun … but it didn’t feel great playing ball with it.”
Despite the adverse conditions, the game didn’t appear to be directly impacted.
Phillies manager Don Mattingly said, “It got almost, like, foggier. Guys didn’t seem to be having trouble.”
Home plate umpire and crew chief Dan Iassogna checked with players and the grounds crew throughout the game and play was never stopped.
Francisco Alvarez, who homered twice, said through an interpreter that “by the end of the game, it was a little more difficult to catch and see.”
That didn’t make it pleasant, as Christian Scott said it “got a little thick” on the field.
The smoke undoubtedly increased throughout the course of the game, but no one lost any fly balls.
As interim Mets manager Andy Green said when asked how the conditions may have affected the game, “I don’t think they really did. It felt like they could have at any moment, especially as visibility got tougher.”
