Major League Baseball has several goals when setting its television broadcast schedule for next season. One is to reschedule kickoff times so fans have the opportunity to see as many matches as possible. Another, obvious way would be to ensure the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Dodgers’ Shoehei Ohtani get primetime coverage. That means four of the five Guardians-Tigers AL Division Series games have scheduled start times between 1:08 p.m. and 4:38 p.m., while the Phillies-Mets NL Division Series games scheduled ​has a strong national audience with start times from 4:08 p.m. to 5:08 p.m. ET. And that has led to challenges for batsmen facing the darkness.

In the Mets’ 6-2 win on Saturday, there was one run and three hits in the first seven innings some of which came from a dominant performance by Zack Wheeler, a Phillies ace . The Mets exploded for six runs in the eighth and ninth innings, while the Phillies threatened in the eighth and scored another run late in the ninth. Many fans on social media complained about the afternoon kick-off time because their strongest team was on TV while they were at work. But another group that is less interested in playing games in the afternoon are the batsmen. Mets third baseman Mark Vientos missed three pitches to Wheeler in the first and third at-bats and singled in the second at-bat. He delivered a key double against saver Jeff Hoffman in the eighth inning.