Maybe the defining story of this young baseball season has been bad weather. Several dozen games have already been postponed, including a whole weekend’s worth of contests in the midwest. A month that’s supposed to feature sun and cheer has instead been packed with rain, snow, wind, cold, sleet, hail and ice.
At this point, every is tired of having games rained/snowed/iced out. So tired, in fact, that some teams have insisted on playing games that probably should have been canned. It happened Saturday in Chicago, when the Cubs and Braves muddled through a sloppy, wet afternoon that featured four errors and 24 runs. And it’s happening again Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, where the Rockies and Pirates are attempting to play through this:
"There are only two seasons, winter and Baseball." – Bill Veeck pic.twitter.com/3PTskiOq31
— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) April 17, 2018
That, for you warm-weather readers out there, is snow, and it is coming down hard at PNC Park. This shot of Pirates outfielder Starling Marte really conveys what the players are up against:
Pirates Starling Marte plays through a snow squall as the team takes on the Rockies Tuesday night at PNC Park. pic.twitter.com/bQ385MwR7u
— Matt Freed (@MattFreedPhoto) April 17, 2018
If video is your preferred medium:
Yup, that's snow! @Pirates Little bit different than last year's #RailsConf pic.twitter.com/4gfhqBaatZ
— Trey Caliva (@treycaliva) April 17, 2018
The Pirates’ official Twitter account summed up the whole thing nice, saying, “This is fun… in December. Enough with the snow already.”
This is fun!
…in December.Enough with the snow already. pic.twitter.com/ILKRsWtHRM
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 17, 2018
As you might imagine, there don’t seem to be many people at the game, but the brave souls in attendance have reportedly received vouchers for lower-level seats at any Monday-Thursday game at PNC Park this season. They deserve that and more.
There has been much talk in recent weeks about whether baseball season should start later to avoid such ugly weather, but when it’s still snowing on April 17 there’s not much you can do besides throw on a hat and wait out the weather.
Speaking of which, the forecast in Pittsburgh actually isn’t so bad the rest of the night, so it seems as if the game should proceed with minimal interference from Mother Nature once this storm clears. Until then… hang in there Pirates and Rockies.
