It’s here!
Opening Day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season finally arrived July 23, and as the Nationals and Yankees took centerstage on national TV and in a fan-less Nationals Park, I was at my desk, eyes focused – brain attempting to do the same – on my laptop.
The game wasn’t streaming there. Nope! It was being played out on the big TV a few feet to my left, where I could occasionally glance at what was happening… or not happening in the case of the Nationals’ bats. One hit, guys! Really?
It would have been much easier for my noodle to focus on the game action. It’s way more familiar than the challenging, yet exhilarating, presentation unfolding on my laptop screen.
That night, the Society for American Baseball Research – it’s more commonly known as SABR, ya know – was hosting another of its excellent virtual events. Of course, all the presentations were terrific, but when I first read about the topic for the final talk of the evening, I knew I had to Zoom in.
At 8:30, just as the Nats and Yanks entered into the middle innings, if I recall correctly, Christina Knoedler, as retired condensed matter physicist, began her SABR virtual presentation on weather’s effect on pitched baseballs, “Delving Deeper with Physics,” the titled teased. (You can watch the entire presentation on YouTube.)
Now, you know if you’re reading this website, I have great interest in weather’s effects on baseball games, mostly from a narrative and aesthetic standpoint. Meteorology and the physics and science of baseball intrigue me, but my formal science education pretty much ended with the C+ I earned — to use a term generously — in Mr. Farris’ 11th grade physics course.
That whole last paragraph is really just a space-eating, almost unnecessary way for me to say: I really didn’t fully comprehend a lot of the complex things Christina was saying. Sure, I got the basic concept of her talk, but take a look at this:
Having said that, Christina did a wonderful job of explaining her research, and I, a self-described rain-delay enthusiast and science-person wannabe, thoroughly enjoyed the talk, despite my limitations.
Christina took a few questions on the Zoom chat near the end, and just as I was searching my brain for a somewhat intelligent query to type into the box, I looked up and saw water gushing down stairs between the empty seats at Nationals Park.
Yep, it was raining – pouring – on Opening Day.
As the Yankees were batting in the top of the 6th and leading 4-1, a strong storm moved over the ballpark. The clouds opened, thunder roared and lightning streaked across the Washington, D.C., skyline.
While rain peppered the park, Max Scherzer walked off the mound, and a masked-up field crew leaped fences and raced to pull the Skittles tarp into place. Watching on TV, the rain drops appeared enormous, and even though the broadcasters were saying they hoped the storm would just be “a passing thing,” I had a strong sense that baseball was done for the night in D.C.
And, so it was, after an hour and 58-minute delay, the game was called just before 11 p.m. D.C. time, and the Yankees escaped the opener, and a flooded dugout, with the first win of this usual 2020 season.
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The day before the opener, the Yankees were beginning workouts at Nationals Park when a strong storm forced the team back into the clubhouse. NJ.com has a brief video on YouTube showing dark skies and the howling wind ripping through the ballpark. Was it really wind, or the haunting ghostly sounds of Bryce Harper home runs past?
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The D.C. delay is the longest so far in 2020. Yep, it’s early. The only other in-game delays so far were at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Rain showers delayed the July 27 Brewers and Pirates for 42 minutes between the first and second innings. Three days later, on July 30, the Yankees held a 5-4 lead over the Orioles when it began raining in Baltimore in the middle of the sixth. The delay stopped play for an hour and 34 minutes. So far, a week into the season, the Yankees have suffered through 3 hours 32 minutes of weather delays.
And, for what it’s worth here, rain delayed the start of the Cubs – Reds for an hour, 47 minutes at Great American Ball Park on July 27. The two ball clubs also were rained out on July 30 in Cincinnati after a 55-minute delay.
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The Rainout Blog 