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Hey, Batter Batter! Baseball Is Back!

November 3, 2020
By WeatherBug's Rebecca Huff
Calling all hot dog, Cracker Jack and home run lovers! Baseball is back and Thursday will feature all but two teams on this year's Opening Day.

For many, Opening Day is the true start of spring and is even considered a holiday in Cincinnati.  But with the season opener comes the finicky spring weather. Not only can rain and thunderstorms be an issue but snow is also possible. It is late-March, after all. With that, the game with the Washington Nationals versus the Cincinnati Reds has already been postponed due to impending soggy weather.

In past season openers, teams have had many different issues with the weather not cooperating. In 1946, the then Boston Braves maintenance crew had just put a fresh coat of red paint on the outfield stands just in time for Opening Day. Unfortunately, Boston was experiencing high humidity preventing the paint from drying and fans sat down to a wet surprise. The incident forced the team to pay the cleaning bills and to write a public apology in the newspaper.

There are some days where Mother Nature likes to cooperate, including the first ever Opening Day on April 22, 1876. Just 100 years after the Unites States was born, the Boston Red Stockings and the Philadelphia Athletics played the first National League baseball game in favorable weather. Around 3,000 fans were in attendance to witness the very first professional game in the National League.

This year, the cities that will need to keep an eye out for rainy weather on Opening Day will be Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, Canada, Baltimore and Detroit. Although clouds are on the menu for New York City, Kansas City, Mo., and Arlington, Texas, Opening Day should be dry. Fans heading out to Miami, Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif., Tampa, Fla., and Phoenix will have sunny baseball weather to look forward to.

Wondering if the dome will be open at the Miami Marlins or Arizona Diamondbacks games? With sunny skies and moderate humidity predicted in Miami, the dome is likely to be open for the lunch-time game. In Phoenix, temperatures will be falling into the mid-to-upper 70s by the time of first pitch. The dome is likely to be open thanks to the clear skies.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s schedule.

- Chicago Cubs at Miami Marlins --- 12:40 p.m. EDT
- Pittsburgh Pirates at Detroit Tigers ---  postponed
- St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets --- 1:10 p.m. EDT
- Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles --- 3:05 p.m. EDT
- Houston Astros at Texas Rangers --- 3:35 p.m. EDT
- New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays --- 3:37 p.m. EDT
- Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics --- 4:05 p.m. EDT
- Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres --- 4:10 p.m. EDT
- Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays --- 4:10 p.m. EDT
- Philadelphia Philies at Atlanta Braves --- 4:10 p.m. EDT
- Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals --- 4:15 p.m. EDT
- San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers --- 7:10 p.m. EDT
- Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks --- 10:10 p.m. EDT
- Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners --- 10:10 p.m. EDT

Find all the latest baseball weather news on the WeatherBug application which includes Spark, the lighting notification tool that will alert you when lightning is nearby.

Information sources:
History.com – Baseball Opening Day Fun Facts
Society for American Baseball Research – April 22, 1876: A new age begins with inaugural National League game

Image: Opening Game of the 2017 World Series. Photo by Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Dwayne Snader in the United States Navy with the ID 051022-N-1592S-001. (Wikimedia Commons)