The Mets and Braves had to wait an extra two hours to begin Tuesday’s series opener due to a rain delay, only the rain never seemed to arrive.
It in fact never rained a drop, and skies were only partly cloudy around the time that first pitch would have happened, but the delay was announced due to “rain in the area.”
Sal says the exhaustion of analytics in baseball has now bled over to weather monitoring.
“Nice job by the Braves and Major League Baseball for putting up a two hour freaking rain delay where it does not rain,” Sal said. “Much like the pitchers in today’s game, where these managers go to the data and get these guys out before they actually get knocked out, they’re going to the data before it actually rains!
“It used to be ‘Uh oh it’s raining, break the tarp out.’ Imagine that! They’re using all this data and analytics now the way that they do with these pitchers…they preemptive strike.”
League officials could have been concerned about lightning in the area, but regardless it was a delay of multiple hours and it never rained, as there was even still some sun peeking through in Atlanta during a time where the game could have been being played, but instead, first pitch didn’t come until about 9:00 p.m.
“Even though it’s not raining, let’s hold the game off for a little while, go to a rain delay, and bring out the tarp,” Sal said. “To a point where these knuckleheads had to water the field before they got back on after a two-hour rain delay in which it did not rain.
“A rain delay should happen - this is very easy, guys - when it rains!”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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