Change in game time and other notes

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

September 11, 2013, 8:56am

Comments

Major League Baseball has changed the starting time of the Sept. 21 game between the Orioles and Rays at Tropicana Field from 7:10 p.m. to 1:05 p.m. to... wait for it... accommodate a FOX national television broadcast. The game, the second of four between the two clubs to close the road portion of the Orioles' regular season schedule, will no longer air on MASN2. Also, a reminder that Saturday's game in Toronto will start at 4:07 p.m. and air on MASN2. It originally was slated for 1:07 p.m. And finally, the Orioles announced that attendance at Camden Yards has increased more than 15 percent from last season, television ratings are up 50 percent and merchandise sales have increased 89 percent. The increase in merchandise sales is the largest in Major League Baseball, and the Orioles have registered the second-largest ratings percentage increase among U.S.-based clubs. The Orioles are on pace for the best network season ratings on record since 2001 and their highest attendance (approximately 2.4 million) since 2005. Orioles games on MASN beat all local Baltimore broadcast station prime averages across all key demographics.