Baseball Opening Day Weather: Rain Risk For Some in the Midwest, East

Jon Erdman
Published: March 31,2017

Major League Baseball opens another season with a trio of games Sunday, followed by a full slate on Monday. Unfortunately, there are a few games where weather may mess with Opening Day.
Overall, there will be a pair of storm systems in the U.S. on Monday.

Overall Setup For Opening Day Monday

The system in the East is the one that could throw a meteorological monkey wrench in several Opening Day games.
Here's the forecast for each game. Of course, games in St. Petersburg, Florida, Phoenix and Milwaukee will be played in climate-controlled stadiums with no weather worries.
Check back with us at weather.com as these forecasts may change before Opening Day.

Rain Risk

There are five games with at least a chance of rain. It's not clear, yet, whether rain will last long enough or be steady enough in any of these cities to lead to rain delays or a postponement.
Rain is most likely in Cincinnati. Uncertainties exist on whether rain moves into St. Louis during the game Sunday night, into Chicago Monday, and if it reaches the East Coast in time to dampen games in Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

• Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals (Sunday, 7:35 p.m. CDT)
• Miami Marlins at Washington Nationals (Monday, 1:05 p.m. EDT)
• Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles (Monday, 3:05 p.m. EDT)
• Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds (Monday, 4:10 p.m. EDT)
• Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox (Monday, 3:10 p.m. CDT)

Opening Day Forecast: East/Midwest

No Weather Worries

Enjoy these outdoor games without any concern for the weather. This also includes some northern locations that can have notoriously foul early April weather.

• Atlanta Braves at New York Mets (Monday, 1:10 p.m. EDT)
• Pittsburgh Pirates at Boston Red Sox (Monday, 2:05 p.m. EDT)
• Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins (Monday, 3:10 p.m. CDT)
• San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers (Monday, 1:10 p.m. PDT)
• Cleveland Indians at Texas Rangers (Monday, 6:05 p.m. CDT)
• Seattle Mariners at Houston Astros (Monday, 7:10 p.m. CDT)
• L.A./Anaheim Angels at Oakland A's (Monday, 7:05 p.m. PDT)

Raindrops coat a pane of glass above a tarp-covered infield during a rain delay in an opening day baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Minnesota Twins in Baltimore, Monday, April 4, 2016.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

A threat of light rain may dampen the tailgate outside Milwaukee's Miller Park, though a closed roof at least ensures the game will be played.
The roof will also likely be open for a fabulous Opening Day Sunday in Phoenix.
The Atlanta Braves should feel thankful they're opening on the road this year. If they were scheduled to open their new ballpark – SunTrust Park – on Monday, it may have been a rainout.
Last year, rain postponed a pair of games in Cleveland and the Bronx. Another game in Baltimore was delayed twice by rain, for a total of 2 hours and 51 minutes.
Before that, the last Opening Day games postponed by weather were in 2009 and 2008.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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