Rain Delay Digest
Guardians players tossing the pigskin with Yankees fans was the only good part of Monday’s rain delay ... and then the fun police shut it down
On Monday, the MLB and their house brew, the New York Yankees, botched it. At 5 p.m., gates in the Bronx opened for the win-or-go-home ALDS Game 5 between the Yankees and Guardians. At 6:20 p.m., it was announced that the 7 p.m. game would start in a rain delay. Then communications from the league and club ceased ... for over three hours. Fans sat in their seats, waiting, wondering. Finally, at 9:35 p.m., the announcement came in. The game was postponed until Tuesday, a work day, at 4:07 p.m. Tickets were non-refundable.
But amidst the doom and literal gloom, there was a faint glimmer of a silver lining when Guardians players picked up the ol’ pigskin and started slinging it with the Yankees fans in the stands to pass the time. With a mere “play ball!”, they would be mortal enemies once again, but for one brief, shining moment everybody was riding it out together like Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
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But the sudden swelling of optimism for humanity’s future proved to be short lived. After a couple of innocent tosses, Yankees security descended on the situation to snuff out the last remaining flicker of fun within 20 blocks.
Not to make this a Yankees thing, but it’s absolute classic Yankees. No hair over your ears, no beards, no playing catch while sitting in the rain waiting for a single burp from the club you just paid hundreds of dollars to support. You’re to be seen and not heard. You’re to sit there on your hands in the 55-degree drizzle for hours on end and say “please sir, may I have some more?” Your money is no object, because money is no object to THE YANKEES!
But we digress. It was a lousy evening for everyone involved that could have been a lot less lousy with a little transparency and a bit of fun. If the Yankees go out and win on Tuesday, no one will care. If not, well, there’s always next October. The weather should clear up by then.