Flood of mistakes by MLB in handling Mets-Atlanta scheduling as Hurricane Helene wreaks havoc
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks to reporters following an owners' meeting at MLB headquarters in Manhattan on June 16, 2022. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
ATLANTA — You can’t predict baseball — sure, you’ve got your good guesses and your good players, but the 162-game season is built on the back of the unexpected. Thanks to millennia of meteorological science, though, you can sort of predict the weather.
Oh, it’s not perfect or anything. But, generally, when there’s a hurricane bearing down on a state, and it’s been raining for hours on end, and all the weather models say that things are going to get progressively worse, there’s a good chance a day trip to the beach is out of the question. Or baseball in a domeless stadium, for that matter.
The groundskeepers at Truist Park know this, which is why, after Atlanta defeated the Mets Tuesday night, they rolled out the tarp before a single raindrop hit grass. Major League Baseball — you know, that multibillion-dollar institution that employs some of the best minds in the world — apparently has a problem with the concept.
That’s the only acceptable explanation for the egregious decision to wait as long as they did to postpone Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games — games with significant playoff implications — despite Hurricane Helene expected to make landfall here in the coming days. It was raining by noon Wednesday, and the fine citizens of Georgia had already been subject to a state of emergency, the threat of 55-mph gusts, a flood watch, and, in some counties, a tornado warning. So far, no word on whether locusts were planning to descend, but there’s still time.
And until about 5 p.m., MLB’s response was to whistle past the graveyard of their credibility.
According to league sources, the league was in heavy talks about the weather situation both Tuesday and Wednesday, speaking to members of both franchises. And somehow, they got here: Wait until two-and-a-half hours before first pitch to postpone the game and then play a doubleheader on Monday, with the wild-card round starting on Tuesday.
And, as incompetent as that sounds, it actually gets worse.
All this happened with the Mets entering the day in the second wild-card spot, a half-game ahead of the spiraling Diamondbacks and a game over Atlanta. So Monday could be big. Or it could mean nothing. The Diamondbacks, who went into Wednesday having lost three in a row, could choke themselves out of contention. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker wasn’t even sure how the Royals were going to fly here for their three-game set this weekend. Oh, and the Mets, diluvian flood waters willing, are planning to fly out Thursday morning to get to what was to be their regular-season three-game finale against the Brewers.
Keep track of all that? The Mets are going to fly out in a hurricane, hopefully land in Milwaukee instead of say, the Magical Land of Oz, not play until Friday, and then potentially play eight games in three cities in seven days.
Do the Mets and Atlanta still come back here Monday and play if the games don’t matter for anything more than seeding? Great question! No one seems to know. A spokesman for the Mets said that playing on Monday will be at the discretion of the Commissioner’s Office. Given recent decisions, though, it’s hard to put any confidence in MLB making a choice that’s best for baseball.
That’s such a shame. Whoever you root for, you have to admit that having a team’s playoff hopes possibly be determined by logistical shenanigans is a lousy way to end a season.
And look, are there benefits to a little extra rest this late in the season? Sure, especially when the Mets are hoping for Francisco Lindor’s back to get better (there was some improvement there Wednesday, and Lindor, after missing eight games, was slated to bat leadoff and play shortstop). Relievers, especially, are dog-tired this time of year, and a reset isn’t the worst thing. But it also means that this marathon will end in a convulsive sprint — game after game, and a brutal travel schedule that could take the Mets as far as San Diego, depending on seeding.
Both Carlos Mendoza and Snitker also have to decide what to do with their rotations. Atlanta ace Chris Sale was supposed to pitch Wednesday. Does he go Friday or do they save him for the Mets? Sean Manaea, the Mets’ presumptive ace, was scheduled for Thursday. If they don’t pitch him Friday, they might not have him for the start of the wild-card round.
“If we play in a playoff game, that’s a good thing,” Mendoza said. “I’m not going to get too far ahead. Right now, I’m just trying to concentrate on the next series. We didn’t play today. We’re not going to play tomorrow. We’ve got to take care of business over the weekend.”
The theatrics could have been avoided, too. Wednesday’s game could have been moved to an earlier hour. Meteorologists have been reporting about this weather system for days, there was a mutual off day on Monday, and the two teams could have played then. They could have even moved one or both games to a neutral site. At the very least, MLB should have made the call earlier Wednesday, so the Mets could have gotten on a flight without the threat of — again — trying to leave Atlanta in a hurricane.
“We’ve been through a lot this year and this is nothing new for us,” Mendoza said.
“This is kind of new,” a Newsday reporter replied.
“Yeah,” Mendoza, a baseball lifer, said, chuckling. “That’s a good point.”
See? You can’t predict baseball. But with the rain battering down outside Truist Park Wednesday afternoon, you’d think you could have predicted this one just a little. Too bad MLB didn’t get the memo.
Now, it’s unfortunately time for true chaos to reign (and rain). Buckle up, and bring a life vest.
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Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.