Say it ain’t snow, Pete Alonso!
Ah, but it is for the New York Mets, who have played the fewest games of any Major League Baseball team so far this early season due to an array of postponements caused by bad weather and a COVID-19 outbreak that impacted one of their rivals.
On Friday, it happened again for the Amazin’s, as their game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field was snowed out. Winter’s grip on the Mile High City continued this weekend, with snow falling there all day Friday and chilly temperatures lingering into Saturday.
The flakes were everywhere at Denver International Airport early Friday morning when the Mets’ charter plane touched down. Mets outfielder Kevin Pillar captured the wintry scene on video — his teammates bundled up as they disembarked the aircraft in the middle of a “blizzard.” They resembled more of a team ready to play the Denver Broncos in early December than the Rockies in late April.
The Mets arrived in Colorado late last night:
"What are we, the Green Bay Packers?" 🥴❄️
(via IG/str0sh0w) pic.twitter.com/ZMs5oRjdH2
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2021
For those of you keeping score at home, this is now the seventh time the 2021 Mets have had their games postponed two weeks into the season. Here’s the unhappy recap:
- On April 1, the Mets wound up losing their Opening Day game to the Washington Nationals in the nation’s capitol after a COVID-19 outbreak struck their opponents. Testing protocols ultimately forced the Nationals to postpone the entire three-game set with the Mets, with the games to be made up with two split doubleheaders on June 19 and Sept. 4, and a lone game on a previously scheduled off-day, June 28. The Mets finally got their season underway on April 5 in Philadelphia against the Phillies.
- On April 11, the Mets’ home game against the Miami Marlins was washed out by rain. The game started in the middle of a storm and starting pitcher Marcus Stroman threw nine pitches before the umpires called the tarp onto the field, halting the day’s proceedings. The Mets and Marlins will make up that game as part of a split doubleheader on Aug. 31.
- The next night, April 12, ongoing rain in Flushing forced the Mets to postpone their game against the Phillies. They wound up making up that game in a twilight doubleheader the next day, which proved to be a boon for the Mets, as they swept the Phils in both games. Stroman won the second game, hurling six scoreless innings.
- Rain then claimed the Mets’ matinee game on April 15 against the Phillies, with the game rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on June 25. That postponement deprived fans of a daytime start by the team’s ace, Jacob deGrom — who, great as he is overall, is even better during day games. Between 2019-2020, deGrom pitched to a 6-1 record and a 1.69 ERA in 11 daytime starts, with 94 strikeouts in 64 innings thrown.
DeGrom had been initially scheduled to pitch Friday against the Rockies, but his start is now pushed back a day to Saturday. He’ll pitch half of the Mets and Rockies twinbill tomorrow, with the first game starting at 5:10 p.m. ET.
Somehow — amid all the postponements, hitting woes and the embarrassing lack of run support for deGrom — the Mets sat atop the National League Eastern Division standings entering Friday, with a 5-3 record, good for a .625 winning percentage and a one-game lead over the Atlanta Braves.
