As MLB postpones 6 of its early games on Sunday (and more could still be postponed), is this historic weather season already more than the league can handle?
The 2018 season saw MLB open with all teams scheduled to play on the same Opening Day for the first time in many years. Perhaps the fact that immediately on Opening Day, two games were postponed should have indicated the type of season we’d play this year.
The previous record for MLB games in an entire season that had an opening pitch temperature under 40 degrees Fahrenheit was 21 for an entire season. When the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs opened their game on Saturday, theirs became the 22nd such game in MLB in 2018 already.
No team in baseball has played more than 16 games coming into Sunday’s action. That means that every team in the league has played less than 10% of their games, yet we’ve already seen a record number of cold-weather games!
Of course, warmer temperatures will come to the game in May through August, though the threat of a postponement due to rain or lightning always remains even in warmer months. However, as we then head toward September, there is always the opportunity for cool early fall weather that can come in September, and currently, MLB has games scheduled right through September 30th for the regular season.
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A good example of just how out-of-normal this year’s level of weather-related issues has been is simply by looking at a park in a city that would typically have some more volatility due to weather, Minneapolis and the Minnesota Twins’ home park, Target Field.
In 2017, through the entire season, Target Field postponed just 4 games all season, none of them before April 15th, and 3 of the 4 coming in May or later. The Twins had other postponements on the road, but we’re looking just at home park.
Thus far already in 2018, 4 Target Field games have been postponed, including 3 games this weekend between the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox. That means before the first game of 2017 was postponed in date, the Twins have already postponed as many home games in 2018 as the entire 2017 season.
On a league wide basis, there’s this:
Yowza!
Next: A peak at old Rickey reports
Is it the early start to the season, unseasonably peculiar weather particular to MLB cities, or just random chance? Whatever the cause, it would behoove MLB to investigate to ensure a less interrupted beginning to the 2019 season!