On Thursday, the sky over Philadelphia looked nothing like a typical July evening. Instead of a bright summer sunset, a thick blanket of wildfire smoke hung over Citizens Bank Park as the New York Mets returned for their first game after the All-Star break. While MLB moved the first pitch up by an hour in anticipation of worsening air quality, several Mets players still walked away describing an uncomfortable night on the field.

“Not gonna lie, towards the end of it, it was a little thick. I felt like I was breathing some metal in there,” Mets starter Christian Scott said, per SNY.

Canada, particularly western Ontario, experienced a major wildfire outbreak on July 13. While smaller, isolated blazes had been popping up since the beginning of the month, at least eight large wildfires spread rapidly across Ontario between July 13 and 14. Some reports indicate that the fires had burned more than 350,000 hectares as of Friday. The total number of active blazes also climbed to 130.

This led to darkened skies across the U.S., from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast. Reduced visibility and deteriorating air quality prompted health advisories across several cities, with officials urging residents to stay indoors and limit outdoor activity as conditions reached unhealthy levels.

The Philadelphia region also experienced smoky, hazy skies. Poor air quality caused by wildfire smoke forced the Major League Soccer match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field in Chicago, along with a scheduled postgame concert, to be postponed.

Meanwhile, MLB was in its All-Star break, and Thursday marked the Mets’ first game of the second half of the regular season. However, the league was already aware of the deteriorating air quality, which was expected to worsen. That’s why MLB moved the start time of the Mets-Phillies game up by an hour.

“I didn’t think it was bad until the last couple of innings. Eyes itching, burning a little bit,” Brett Baty said in the postgame media appearance. “[Carson] Benge said it felt like you were sitting at a campfire, just close to a campfire, which was pretty good. It’s fun, but it didn’t feel great playing ball with it, though.”

Several players admitted that they were struggling to see. Mets interim manager Andy Green acknowledged that he couldn’t even track some of the pop-ups from the dugout. “It felt like it could have affected the game at any moment, especially as visibility got tougher,” Green said, although he added that he didn’t believe it ultimately changed the outcome.

“At the end of the game, it was a little bit more difficult, especially catching,” Francisco Alvarez said via an interpreter. “It became more difficult to see at the end.”

Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh echoed those concerns after the game, saying tracking balls through the smoke became difficult late in the contest. “That was pretty tough to see for a little bit,” Marsh said.

According to CBS News, Philadelphia’s Air Quality Index entered the red category, which is considered unhealthy for everyone. As temperatures cooled into the evening, smoke settled closer to the ground, contributing to the worsening conditions during the latter stages of the game.

Concerns remained despite MLB moving the schedule

The original time for the first pitch was 7:10 p.m. in Philadelphia. The league consulted the forecasts and pushed it to 6:10 p.m. to avoid the worsening air quality. Both teams reduced their outdoor pregame work, while the umpiring crew also checked in with players multiple times throughout the game to ensure they were comfortable continuing. However, as the game went on and the difficulties increased for the players, questions arose.

“They don’t really move games too much,” Bryce Harper mentioned. “But not the greatest idea, I guess, to come out here and play in this type of weather, but you know, we’re doing it.”

Even Phillies manager Don Mattingly agreed that visibility was the biggest issue. 

Notably, there was a very similar incident in June 2023. Another wildfire in Canada disrupted sports for multiple days. Philadelphia experienced worse conditions, and the Detroit Tigers game was postponed. MLB did the same thing in New York and Washington. 

However, Thursday’s incident wasn’t without precedent, which has led to questions about whether moving the first pitch up by an hour was enough. But Andy Green noted that they “have to roll with it.”

Scott, meanwhile, took the conditions in stride despite his discomfort. “At the end of the day, a little spoonful of adversity never hurt anybody,” he said after tossing 5.2 scoreless innings.

Luckily, the New York Mets will enjoy the off day after a 4-1 win, while the Phillies will try to recover before they host the Mets again on Saturday. The forecast also suggests air quality should improve over the weekend, although weather could remain a factor with thunderstorms expected in the area.