Washington baseball fans have a chance to see their team make history — but they can never leave the ballpark

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

(Image credit: Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

published 12 October 2017

Hotel California and Nationals Park have a lot more in common than you might think. Fans attending Game 5 of the National League Division Series in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night will be able to check into their seats at the stadium for the first pitch at 8:08 p.m. ET, but there's a good chance they'll end up trapped there (forever?) when Washington, D.C., shuts down the Metrorail beginning around 11:02 p.m. ET:

The Nationals face the Chicago Cubs in Thursday's Game 5; if the D.C. team emerges victorious, it will mark their first playoff series win in franchise history. Unfortunately, anyone potentially witnessing the historic moment must plan to travel to the game by bicycle or boat, fans vented:

Playoff games famously take forever, with it no longer uncommon for nine innings to last more than four hours (the average postseason game takes three and a half hours, The New York Times reports). What's more, tickets to the Nationals game start around $83 — a steep price to pay to watch seven innings before needing to catch the baseball boat back home.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.