In baseball, two games played on the same day, usually between the same two teams. A doubleheader is most true fans' dream -- two games for the price of one. Players, of course, don't like them much -- it roughly doubles the length of their work day. In major league baseball, both games are the standard nine-inning (or more) length; in the minors, each game is seven innings long.
Some common variants of the DH are:
- twi-night doubleheader - the games are played successively, but the first one starts in late afternoon ("twilight" plus "night").
- day-night doubleheader - the first game is played in early afternoon, the second one is started at a normal night game start time. If worked right, this can allow the owners to charge admission twice in the same day; players detest these, though, so they don't happen very often.
The two-stadium doubleheader made its first appearance since 1903 on 8 July 2000, when the New York Mets and New York Yankees made up an earlier rain out by playing a day-nighter with the first game at Shea Stadium, then riding buses across town to Yankee Stadium for the nightcap.
The two-team doubleheader is another oddball that occurs, if at all, late in the season when rain outs must be made up; it is played as a day-nighter, with the opposition for the day game packing up and leaving after their game, clearing the way for the night's opponent.