​CHICAGO — It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday, and the summer sun is shining as the masses pour out of Wrigley Field.Some skipped school, some called in sick, some are on vacation. But all — at least, all of those pulling for the home team — are in good spirits. The Cubs won. Flags were waved. The song was sung. When it all goes well, that’s how it goes in the Baseball Day Game Capital of the World.That optimistic buzz bounces out onto the streets of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood as the El rattles past the Addison red line station. Beneath the tracks, folks duck into local spots for another pint or a bite. Those with obligations scatter away, to prepare dinner or pick up the kids — or whatever they want to do, really. It’s still sunny out. There’s still day and night to enjoy.And fans aren’t the only ones delighted by the clock’s welcoming hands.The Cubs, showering and dressing in the subterranean home clubhouse, are similarly gleeful, eager to get gone, to get outside. They’ve played, they’ve won, and now they’ve got other things to do. A handful have dinner reservations, some with one another. Many will zip home to their children or wives or partners. Others will loaf and scroll. But by the time the rest of the Friday MLB slate gets underway, the Cubbies will be off the clock.This is because the Chicago Cubs are the only team that always plays Friday home games in the afternoon. Saturdays and Sundays, too, are usually day games. From that singular schedule comes a better quality of life for all Cubs employees and an enviable work-life balance that is exceedingly rare in the demanding world of pro sports.That’s even more true for the players.”I think it’s in the recruiting video,” Ian Happ, a lifelong Cub, recently told Yahoo Sports about weekends at Wrigley. “Like, hey, this place in the summer, Friday at 1:20, 40,000 people. You can’t beat it. And you’re gonna get to see your family. There’s no other place where you get that.”“It’s something we definitely talk about in our sales pitch for players,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell explained. “For the rest of the league, day games are an inconvenience, but when you play for the Cubs and you play so many more of them, they become routine. It’s something that you learn to love.”Friday afternoons at Wrigley Field: A Chicago tradition and a work perk for Cubs players.Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo SportsFor decades, the Cubs played exclusively day games. Wrigley Field didn’t install lights until August 1988. When the park finally did, the city instituted restrictions about how many times per season the team could play at night in an attempt to keep noise and traffic in the neighborhood to a minimum. Another reason, hilariously enough, was a fear that evening games would hurt local businesses because citizens would be at Wrigley instead of dining out.Over time, that ordinance has become pointless — the Cubs play night games during every home series, and area re