From Washington to New York to Denver, the results have been the same. The Mets suffered their seventh postponement of the season on Friday, when their game against the Rockies at Coors Field was called off due to freezing temperatures and snow. The Mets and Rockies will make it up with a single-admission doubleheader beginning at 5:10 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Jacob deGrom, who had originally been scheduled to pitch Thursday in New York, will slide back another day to start Saturday’s afternoon half of the doubleheader. Joey Lucchesi, who had been slated to start Saturday, will pitch the nightcap. Both games will be seven innings, with the second beginning no later than 45 minutes after the first.
So continues a disjointed season for the Mets, who had their Opening Series in Washington wiped out because of COVID-19 issues, before rain washed away games against the Marlins and Phillies. Another rainstorm forced the postponement of Thursday’s game.
The Mets have played just four games over the past eight days.
“It’s been kind of a weird, rocky start, not because of our play, but because of the inconsistency from outside factors that we can’t control,” first baseman Pete Alonso said this week. “So I think the more that we get blessings from the weather and are allowed to play on a consistent basis … the more consistent we’re going to be.”
The last time the Mets were snowed out was on April 2, 2018, against the Phillies at Citi Field. In Colorado, the Mets were last snowed out on April 15, 2013. The following day, then-general manager Sandy Alderson joined a crew of Rockies employees in shoveling snow off the field so the teams could play a doubleheader.
Had Thursday’s game against the Phillies not been postponed, the Mets may have had issues traveling into Denver, where snow fell throughout the night. As it was, the plane took off early from New York, landing amidst a snow squall. Players snapped photos and took videos from their cellphones as they deplaned.
Despite the novelty of it all, the snow became just the latest disruption in a season that has arrested the Mets’ momentum. Players have tried to find ways through it, with pitchers throwing unscheduled bullpen sessions to stay sharp and hitters using virtual reality machines in their hotel rooms to work on timing. But nothing can replace live game action, of which the Mets have had precious little. In winning three in a row this week, manager Luis Rojas talked about how important momentum was to that stretch.
The Mets hope they can gather some more of it in the coming days, if weather patterns allow. Saturday’s forecast in Denver isn’t ideal, with nighttime temperatures expected to dip once again into the lower 30s. But snow appears to be less of a factor, perhaps giving the Mets the opening they need to play some baseball once again.