Nationals blasted for near 3-hour rain delay with no rain
Maybe don't take weather forecasts from the Washington Nationals.
With a storm said to be approaching Nationals Park on Thursday at about the time the team was scheduled to take on the visiting Atlanta Braves, the hosts decided to play it safe by putting the game into a rain delay before it could get a chance to kick off.
That's all well and good, except for the fact that not a single drop of rain fell in over two hours of the "rain delay." Washington was put on blast on social media by those who couldn't understand the team's logic, including fans who left after refusing to wait any longer:
Batten down the hatches, this is getting torrential. Stay in your homes. #NationalsRainDelay approaching 1 hour. No rain yet. Not a drop. pic.twitter.com/vG9Ru0Ivul
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 6, 2017
And yet we are in a rain delay. It's dumb decisions like this is why the @nationals always fall short in October. pic.twitter.com/WYOepr0aiA
— Jeff Selingo (@jselingo) July 6, 2017
Hey #nationals, are you not playing because there’s too much sun? #playball pic.twitter.com/8oo0wKBZ4N
— Joshua Hatch (@hatchjt) July 7, 2017
To predict the weather, the Nationals use a state-of-the-art system involving a mood ring, raccoon tail and Lena Dunham's Instagram.
— Michael Jenkins (@JenksCSN) July 7, 2017
Blue sky "rain" delay! 😑😑😑 #nats @Nationals @capitalweather pic.twitter.com/Ix0uOG2VIV
— Gabrielle Levy (@gabbilevy) July 7, 2017
More competent: Nationals officials making the rainout determination or the Nationals bullpen?
— Jeremy Bowers (@jeremybowers) July 7, 2017
It took just over an hour and a half of the delay before the Nationals finally decided to roll out the tarp, despite there still being no rain yet at the stadium:
Disappointment at the @nationals game. Only rolling tarp out now. We could be through 3 innings by now. #NationalsRainDelay #braves pic.twitter.com/MD4TwL3jwk
— Parker Wishik (@LSUguy) July 7, 2017
While it did eventually trickle in Washington, D.C., some other teams and players took the opportunity to poke fun at the Nationals for their lunacy:
This No-Rain delay is something i've never seen before!!
— Ender Inciarte (@enderinciartem) July 7, 2017
Currently playing baseball. #TropLife pic.twitter.com/JcZ1ZFS2YQ
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 7, 2017
After thousands of fans had already left, the Nationals announced the game would finally get underway at 10:10 p.m. ET, three hours and five minutes later than its original start time.