Baseball, a game that is often all about cold beer and hot dogs on a warm day, didn’t feel quite so seasonal in New York on Monday as the Yankees spring opener was postponed ... due to snow.
New York has been hit by a series of snowstorms in the last month and the latest came on 2 April with the city waking up to several inches of snow on Monday morning. By mid-morning the snow had tailed off but Yankee Stadium, the world’s most baseball field, was still blanketed in white and the game against the Tampa Bay Rays – due to start at 1pm – was called off. The Rays may have wished they were playing at home – the temperature in Tampa on Monday was due to hit 82F (28C).
The Yankees’ cross-city rivals, the New York Mets, had hoped to salvage their evening game against the Phillies but it too was postponed.
Yankee Stadium is looking snowy! They're supposed to play their home opener against Tampa Bay - it may be a snowy game. pic.twitter.com/zc1zJaMmVS
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 2, 2018
The Yankees are supposed to play their home opener today, but ... pic.twitter.com/n2P6vfId5T
— CBS Sports MLB (@CBSSportsMLB) April 2, 2018
Postponements due to snow are not unheard of in baseball. An April snowstorm in 1982 meant the Yankees were unable to play for five days, while the team’s opener in Cleveland in 1996 was also called off due to snowfall. The weather was cold enough that they played through snow at Yankee Stadium the following week. The Yankees went on to win the World Series that year.
Monday’s game will now be played on Tuesday, which had been scheduled as a rest day.
