Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR 550) - Despite a successful opening weekend of baseball for the Buffalo Bisons in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a week ago, the opening of the home schedule for the Herd has been anything but.
Due to wet and unplayable field conditions for most of the week beginning Tuesday, the Bisons were forced to postpone their first three home games of the 2023 season at Sahlen Field.
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However, the team has finally gotten some good fortune, and they will get a chance to kickoff the home portion of their schedule Friday afternoon with a doubleheader against the Worcester Red Sox.
"Obviously not great for the first couple of days, but we had a pretty dry day on Thursday, and we're very optimistic that we can get the home season started at Sahlen Field with a 'Friday Night Bash!' doubleheader," said Bisons assistant general manager Brad Bisbing. "5:05 p.m. is the new updated time for the game on Friday, and Saturday we'll play a single game at 4:05 p.m., then Sunday, a doubleheader at 12:05 p.m."
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As a way of expressing their gratitude to the loyal baseball fans in Buffalo, the Bisons have done some extra work to include some additional promotions for opening weekend of Minor League Baseball in Western New York.
"Definitely get to Bisons.com, because we added a lot of promotions and fun things for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday games," Bisbing said. "First-and-foremost, all game tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday will also be valid for a bonus game in 2023. Not only will you be able to use them, whether it's for the Honda Friday Night Bash on Friday, the single game on Saturday, or the doubleheader on Sunday, save that ticket stub, because then later in the year you can take it to the Sahlen Field box office and get a bonus game as well. We have $10 kids tickets all weekend long, $2 hotdogs during the games, we've added a foam finger giveaway on Saturday and Sunday, and extended our Resurgence Brewing Happy Hour on Friday throughout both games.
"It's a long season, we've got a lot of fun planned for Bisons fans in Downtown Buffalo, and we're looking forward to getting started."
So what went wrong ahead of Buffalo's home opener on Tuesday afternoon at Sahlen Field? Bisbing says it was a series of unforeseen and unfortunate events.
"That kind of started the wheels in motion a few days before with our main field tarp getting destroyed with the high winds. We tried to find some replacements, and it just didn't quite work," Bisbing explained. "Then with the severe weather that we had Wednesday night, going into Thursday, the heavy rains kind of set us back on Thursday. But thankfully the rest of the day Thursday, very dry and even some winds that helped dry the field out. It has us in a good position to get the season going on Friday night."
Although their replacement options for the main tarp failed, Bisbing says the help for their issues came with some help from Mother Nature.
"The solution was some drier and some windier weather, and a little bit of sun on Thursday. And it's a much better forecast Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There's no rain in the forecast," he said. "A lot of hard work by everybody in the Buffalo Bisons staff, all chipping in. Whether it was the graphic designer to the sales team to the operations team, everybody chipped in and worked really hard. Hopefully all that hard work is gonna pay off Friday night when we get to start the season."
Bisbing says a new main tarp is on its way to Buffalo, and it all should be a solution to avoid this problem from happening again in the future.
"It's Buffalo, it's April, and the weather is always a factor. It got us this week, but we're looking forward to spring and summer in Downtown Buffalo, and the amazing days and nights that come with it. Plenty of baseball at Sahlen Field," Bisbing said.
Friday's first pitch is slated for 5:05 p.m. ET and can be heard over on our sister station, The Bet 1520 with Pat Malacaro and Duke McGuire on the play-by-play action.
Also, former WGR morning show host Howard Simon is slated to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.
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