ANAHEIM, Calif. — If it were up to many Los Angeles Angels players, they’d enjoy a late afternoon plane ride after Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, landing in Minnesota at a reasonable hour.

They’d get dinner, a restful night’s sleep, and all the time needed to prepare for Friday’s game against the Twins.

That’s what would have happened had the Angels followed a standard set across the league and played an early afternoon getaway day game against the Pirates. It’s a common practice that’s followed almost universally across the sport.

Instead, the Angels scheduled Thursday’s game for 6:29 p.m. — nine minutes earlier than their typical evening start time of 6:38 p.m. It’s the latest possible minute allowed for first pitch, according to the sport’s collective bargaining agreement. They’ll watch the sun rise over the Land of 10,000 Lakes and attempt to win on very little sleep.

“It’s not ideal for sure,” said Angels superstar Mike Trout. “I don’t know when we’re supposed to land, but it’s going to be early. And we’ve got to play that night. And the worst part about it is, the next day is a day game.”

This is not a mere accident of the schedule, however; this was a conscious decision made by Angels management, one that frustrated players and people throughout the organization, according to multiple interviews. Many view it as an exhausting and unneeded hurdle, and actively works against their own chances to win.

“I don’t think it’s healthy for anybody,” said Angels closer and four-time MLB All-Star Kenley Jansen. “To finish playing a night game like that, get in at six in the morning. Then you’ve got a 7 o’clock game, and the next couple days you have 1 o’clock games. It’s definitely not fair.”

Nor is this a league-wide issue; the Angels have earned a reputation for playing the most late getaway days, and scheduling some in particularly difficult travel situations where other teams would avoid them. In 2019 for example, the Angels played 11 of their 13 weekday getaway games at night. The year before that, there were nine-of-12 such games. And while they have played more getaway games earlier in the day in subsequent years, it remains an issue.

“I don’t think it should be allowed, to be honest,” said Angels outfielder Taylor Ward. “I think there definitely should be rules in place to prevent that. Because it’s kind of crazy.”

It is allowed, technically. To understand why, flip to page 426 of the CBA, the final page of a document that governs the entire sport. There is a chart of agreed-upon calculated flight times between every MLB city.

For the Angels and Twins, the league and union agreed that a flight should take 3 hours and 1 minute. And the CBA states: “The latest possible start time for getaway games … shall be determined by taking the portion of the in-flight time that exceeds 2 1/2 hours, and subtracting that amount of time from 7 P.M.”

Hence, 6:29 p.m.

“The process of selecting game times begins months in advance of an upcoming season and during those discussions, our club makes the convenience of our fans a top priority,” said a team spokesperson.

Angels president John Carpino and owner Arte Moreno declined to answer several questions related to the decision.

Among them was, Why the 6:29 start time? And was it financially motivated?

As a rule of thumb, the later the start time on weekdays, the higher attendance, and more revenue generated. Carpino confirmed as much in 2019, when he told the Los Angeles Times that “it’s a pretty big difference.”

“We’re trying to balance player health and well-being,” he added, “with fans being able to see high-profile teams.”

In this case, a high-profile player could have also played a role, in Pirates starter Paul Skenes, one of the sport’s top pitchers and an Orange County native. While game times are determined months in advance, it was universally expected that Skenes would be the Opening Day starter. From there, it was a pretty easy calculation to determine that Thursday would have been Skenes’ sixth start, had they followed a normal rotation.

Instead, Skenes will now start Friday in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. Carmen Mlodzinski will pitch Thursday. Carpino and Moreno did not answer whether Skenes was a factor.

Angels manager Ron Washington said he didn’t know the reason for the start time, and didn’t want to speculate.

“My thoughts don’t matter,” he said. “It’s on the schedule. And just following the schedule. Hopefully, we make it through that day and become winners.

“I don’t have one say-so about the schedule. … I think you need to talk to the people that make the game times, because I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes.”

It might not be Washington’s decision. But it’s certainly his situation to deal with. While the Angels typically fly out of Long Beach Airport (LGB) or John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, they’ll likely have to fly from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after the game, due to 10 p.m. curfew rules at their preferred points of departure.

That adds at least an additional 30 minutes to their trip. The team also found out earlier this week that the Twins moved their Friday game from 7:10 p.m. to 6:40 p.m., making it an even quicker turnaround. The change was put in place to mitigate downtown traffic caused by the Timberwolves-Lakers NBA playoff game being played across the street.

Which again begs the question. Why aren’t the Angels playing a day game on Thursday?

“I think it also gives other teams an advantage,” said Ward of the Angels’ late start time.

For most other teams, this is not an issue. While nighttime getaway days are common — the Astros play quite a few getaway games at night — virtually all teams avoid scheduling them when their team, or their opponents, have to travel at least two time zones east.

That is, except for the Angels, who have two such games this season. On Thursday, and on July 10, when they host a night game against the Rangers, who play the following evening in Houston on Central time.

Of the nine West Coast teams, the only other team to host a similar game is the A’s. Though that game, also on July 10, starts at 6 p.m. And the A’s notably play the vast majority of their summer home games at night, as a way to negate the excessive heat expected in their inaugural season in Sacramento.

The travel situations also cause problems for opponents, who frequently end up with difficult travel schedules as a result of Angels’ start times.

“If you could get them to change how they operate, that’d be great,” said one rival AL executive, whose team plays three time zones east. The exec noted the Astros and Orioles are also known as teams that create difficult travel situations for opponents.

Logan O’Hoppe, the Angels’ players’ union representative, declined to provide his thoughts on the matter, noting that “all the stuff we talk about with the (Players Association) is internal with us.”

Several of his teammates have said they would like the union to push for rule changes on this front. Ultimately, the union would need to decide how much of a priority it is to make a substantive change. Given that it is largely not an issue for most big-league clubs, it might not be a priority in negotiations.

“The MLBPA is constantly evaluating our collective bargaining agreement and soliciting feedback from Players across the league to ensure that their working conditions allow them to maximize their potential on the field,” a union spokesperson said when asked if they’d look for changes to this policy during negotiations.

A league spokesperson declined to comment when asked if they’d be open to mandating earlier start times on getaway days, to avoid this specific scenario.

A year ago this week, the Angels hosted the Orioles in a weekday series. The first two games, night games, averaged 24,442 fans. The final game, a day game, drew 19,557.

Those roughly 5,000 extra fans, and the money they’ll spend, are likely why the Angels will have their longest night of the season this week. And it’s the players who will bear the brunt of that decision.

“I think if the league is smart enough,” Jansen said, “I don’t know whose hand should be involved in this — if it should be the commissioner or not. But they should look into it.

“… The only way we can fix it is through our next CBA.”