mets

Was the Mets’ Early Postponement of Last Night’s Game a Strategic Decision?

Photo: Al Bello/2010 Getty Images
The Mets’ grounds crew, last year. Photo: Al Bello/2010 Getty Images

Having trekked to a baseball stadium just a few weeks ago only to hang around for an hour and leave when the game was called due to rain, we appreciate when a team cancels a contest early when it’s clear the weather will be miserable. The Mets, for example, did that last night, or so they thought: Forecasts called for a 90 percent chance of rain. Except, of course, that the weather pretty much held up.

Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez explained the situation nicely:

“[Monday] it was raining and we played,” manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “[Tuesday] it’s not raining and we’re not going to play.”


And here’s Terry Collins, upon hearing the news from Sandy Alderson while the while the sun shined on the field:

“[Monday] it was raining and we played,” manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “[Tuesday] it’s not raining and we’re not going to play.”


So, bad job by whoever’s in charge of forecasting the weather at Citi Field, right? Or did the Mets maybe know what they were doing?

Here’s SI’s Jon Heyman, on Twitter: “Congrats to the mets on strategy. Canceling game (w/ wright/davis out) very smart. I did see 5 raindrops last nite.” Perhaps Heyman isn’t being entirely serious here, but suggesting that the Mets took the opportunity to call the game because a couple of players are hurt borders on conspiracy theory. (Also, it would be an especially dangerous strategy for the Mets, since there’s no telling how many of their players will be on the disabled list when the game is made up on July 18.)

Still, USA Today points out that “preemptive postponement” is on the rise in baseball, and suggests that perhaps teams are too reliant on technology. (Something similar happened on Tuesday in Washington: The Nats’ afternoon game against Pittsburgh was postponed in the morning, but the weather turned out to be nice.) There have been 30 rainouts in the majors this year, by the way — the most ever through May 17.

So if you’ve got tickets to tonight’s game, consult the online forecast at your own risk.

Was the Mets’ Early Postponement of Last Night’s Game a Strategic Decision?