WASHINGTON _ Without a viable alternative for a makeup date, the Orioles and host Washington Nationals intended to do everything they could to play on a wet evening at Nationals Park on Thursday. But the game was postponed by rain.
A makeup date has not yet been announced.
About an hour before the game, the Nationals Park grounds crew hadn't taken the tarp off the field, but peeled it back enough to line the third base foul line and put drying agents on the base path before putting the tarp back on. The crew then moved to the first base side and did it there as well.
But a steady, if light, rain continued all day Thursday in the nation's capital.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Thursday that he had spoken in the late afternoon to his counterpart, Dusty Baker, and they agreed that it "looks like we might have a shot" to get the game in. But it didn't work out.
The problem now is there's no good options for both teams to play a makeup game.
Despite being close in proximity on the map, the two teams don't share much in terms of mutual days off. Both clubs are off Monday, though the Orioles would have to travel back from Kansas City that day and fly straight to Detroit for a three-game series there.
The other is on June 8, but that would give Washington 20 straight days with games and would come on the heels of a nine-game West Coast swing for the Nationals. The Orioles would be home that day anyway before embarking on a seven-game trip to New York and Chicago.
"One is not bad for us and it's terrible for them," Showalter said. "One is not bad from them and terrible for us."
