The Cincinnati Reds were scheduled to take on the Detroit Tigers on Saturday evening, but with rain in the forecast, they moved the game to earlier in the afternoon to try and get it in. Then, just minutes before the first pitch, the game was delayed due to rain, and then later postponed.
Players weren’t happy, as they went through full warmups — with pitchers getting their arms loose — before the rain started at 1 p.m., and the tarp rolled out just ten minutes before the scheduled 1:10 first pitch. Rain came down violently for the next hour, and at 2:05 p.m. the game was postponed.
Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer was especially livid, and took to Twitter to express his anger, tagging MLB in the second tweet:
Postpone the game before starters start throwing or play through it. You can’t postpone a game 8 minutes before it’s supposed to start. Just because it’s a shortened season doesn’t mean you can change all the rules all of a sudden. Figure it the f*** out. First you move the damn
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) August 1, 2020
Game up 5 hours the day before. Then you let starters get hot for the game and then delay it 8 minutes before game time. Never in my ten year career have I seen something so amateur. Not in the minor leagues. Not in the big leagues. Never saw it even in college. @MLB
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) August 1, 2020
MLB has already dealt with a rash of postponements due to positive COVID-19 tests for teams, and with no fans in attendance, clearly doing all they can to try and get these games in — thus moving the first pitch of this game up five hours to try and beat the rain, then not rolling out the tarp until ten minutes before the rescheduled start of the game.
It’s understandable what they’re doing, but that doesn’t help the teams’ pitchers who now arguably have to rest their arms a few days of an already shortened season.
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