Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds game at Great American Ball Park is delayed due to severe thunderstorms on Monday night.
- A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect until midnight ET with up to half an inch of rain expected before the night ends.
- The teams hope to find a window to play nine innings late tonight rather than postpone and create a doubleheader later this week.
Few things are more Ohio than summer storms, so perhaps it's fitting that the opener of this week's intrastate rivalry series between the Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds is currently in a war with Mother Nature. Monday night's game at Great American Ball Park will begin in a delay as inclement weather moves through the area, and the rain might force a postponement if things don't break right.
The forecast in Cincy is ... grim, to say the least. The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch that will be in effect until midnight ET, with total rainfall of as much as a half an inch expected before the night is through. There's still a chance that the teams find a window to play nine innings, but it's far from guaranteed.
Guardians-Reds rain delay updates: No start time yet at Great American Ball Park
Monday's series opener was initially scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET, and so far the Reds haven't issued any sort of announcement regarding a new start time. It's not hard to see why, as a huge storm system bearing down from the north is slated to hit Cincinnati some time between 7:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET.
The fact that the game has only been delayed, rather than postponed outright, suggests that the teams think there might be a window once the storms have fully moved through the area. And to be sure, Cincy and Cleveland would rather start the game at 9 or 10 at night rather than have to play a doubleheader on Tuesday or Wednesday. But we could be waiting a while for clear skies to arrive if the forecast is any indication.
Great American Ball Park forecast: When will rain clear up in Cincy?
Per Accuweather, here's the hour-by-hour forecast for the rest of the night in Cincinnati. In addition to heavy rain, we could also see thunder, lightning and some gusts of wind.
Hour (ET) | Chance of precipitation |
|---|---|
7 p.m. | 51% |
8 p.m. | 51% |
9 p.m. | 55% |
10 p.m. | 49% |
11 p.m. | 33% |
As you can see, the majority of the rain is supposed to arrive between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., as the brunt of a giant storm system — which is also wreaking havoc on baseball elsewhere in the Midwest — moves straight through Southwest Ohio. The good news is that, once those storms do move through, we should be in business. Given the inconveniences involved in playing a doubleheader, and the difficulty of rescheduling interleague matchups for later in the year, it seems most likely that the teams will just wait out the weather and play late into the night.
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