Forewarned and Forearmed

Blood-pressure-300x300“Red Letter Day” comes to us from the Medieval Age with multiple meanings – some good, some bad. That’s why today, Wednesday, April 23 qualifies as one.

The day includes one of six weekday daytime games that will take place at Safeco Field during the 2014 Major League Baseball season.

For some, it will be a fun day off from work to enjoy a baseball game. For others, it may prove to be one of those days when their blood pressure rises along with SODO traffic congestion.

Other daytime weekday games this season will include:

Wednesday, May 14; Tuesday, June 17; Wednesday, July 23; Wednesday, August 6, and Wednesday, August 27. The games start at 12:40 and usually let out about between 3:30 and 4 p.m.

Weekday games can be pleasant reminders of baseball’s more pastoral past, but they result from modern factors that include player collective bargaining agreements, team travel requirements and broadcast times.

It is not guaranteed that daytime weekday games will result in gridlock, but they are the days when the odds run in that direction.

If you read this far into this story, you should also note Friday, August 15, and Friday, August 22.

Those dates were announced yesterday for Seattle Seahawks exhibition games in SODO. They will both start at 7 p.m., but night time football games usually result in major weekday congestion.

The regular season schedule for the Seahawks will be posted soon and it will no doubt include Thursday and Monday night home games.

Soccer games during the week are normally played in the evening with four weeknight games in 2014: May 7, August 20, September 12 and October 10. Soccer fans start arriving in the area around 5:00 p.m., give or take.

Forewarned is forearmed.