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Tonight's Nationals-Dodgers game at Nationals Park has been postponed, concluding a confusing afternoon of back-and-forth announcements about whether the game would be played. The teams will make up the game in a single-admission doubleheader starting at 1:05 p.m. tomorrow.
The teams had initially decided to cancel the game this afternoon, but had not obtained Major League Baseball approval. So when the Dodgers announced at 1:30 p.m. that tonight's game had been called, it set off a confusing afternoon: Nationals players were first told not to show up, and were then told they needed to fight through traffic to get to the park. About half of the Nationals' active roster had arrived at the park by the time the game was called, including Stephen Strasburg, Danny Espinosa, Chris Marrero, Chien-Ming Wang, Ross Detwiler, John Lannan, Stephen Lombardozzi and Sean Burnett.
Several players who arrived at the stadium were exasperated with the situation, saying it took them more than an hour to sift through flooded streets and clogged traffic to get to the park.
Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda arrived at the park to throw a bullpen session, but the rest of the team never came to the park, and the visitors' clubhouse remained closed. Finally, MLB consented to the doubleheader, and the Nationals announced it at 5:54 p.m., citing unsafe and unplayable field conditions.
"It was kind of a no-brainer, as far as the Nationals were concerned," manager Davey Johnson said. "We didn't want to be on an unsafe field, and you couldn't get here to begin with. ... In talking to (Dodgers manager Don) Mattingly, their players were hither and yon, as was everybody. But MLB tried to just hold on to see if it would clear."
The Nationals will start Chien-Ming Wang in the first game of the doubleheader, and use Ross Detwiler in the second game. Tickets for today's game can be exchanged for tickets of equal or lesser value for the doubleheader or any remaining game this season.
Because of the doubleheader, "The Mid-Atlantic Sports Report" will not air tomorrow on MASN.
However, the "Nats Xtra" pregame show will begin at 12:30 p.m. on MASN/MASN HD, while the "Nats Xtra" postgame show will air at the conclusion of the nightcap. Between the games, an abbreviated version of "Nats Xtra" will be broadcast.
