Mets-Cardinals start time: Rain delay and what postponement would mean

The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals defied the forecast by getting the second game of their three-game series in without interruption, but Mother Nature isn't as forgiving for the series finale. The game has officially been postponed, and it's anyone's best guess as to whether this game will be played.

Ordinarily, when a game is delayed, it isn't the end of the world for the teams as they can either play the game the next day or the next time they meet up in said city. Unfortunately, the Mets are not scheduled to make another trip to Busch Stadium this season, and that could make a postponement bad news.

What time will Mets-Cardinals start? Rain delay puts series finale in jeopardy

Somewhat surprisingly, the start time for Mets-Cardinals is scheduled for 2:15 ET/1:15 CT. That's despite the fact that the hardest of the rain appears to be happening right now, and that storms and more rain are in the forecast until about 3 p.m. CT. But with New York traveling to San Francisco for a new series on Thursday, both teams clearly want to get this game in.

Once the 3:00 hour hits, the forecast calls for cloudy but dry weather. This means that assuming the field isn't completely ravaged by the current storms and can be playable today, it likely will be fairly soon after the rain stops, or at least slows down.

Why a Mets-Cardinals postponement is the worst-case scenario

As mentioned above, this is the final game of the three-game series between these two NL foes, and the Mets are not scheduled to go back to St. Louis this season. This means that if they cannot get the game in today, the Mets will almost certainly have to go back to St. Louis at a later date, which is something they and the Cardinals would like to avoid. The Mets would have to travel even more than they already do, and the Cardinals would have to lose an already existing off-day.

Part of the challenge that comes with a postponement is finding a mutually existing off-day that could allow these teams to play. Fortunately, there is one in April that could work. That day is Thursday, April 16.

That day takes place in the middle of a Mets road trip. They face the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games from Monday, April 13, through Wednesday, April 15, before heading to Wrigley Field for a series against the Chicago Cubs scheduled to begin on Friday, April 17. A quick pitstop in St. Louis wouldn't be ideal, obviously, but would be possible.

As for the Cardinals, April 16 comes right after a three-game series at home against the Cleveland Guardians and a day before they're set to face the Houston Astros on the road. Ideally, that Thursday would be an off-day for them to get ready for a six-game road trip, but again, playing a game that day against the Mets would be possible.

As annoying as this would be for both teams, there's recent precident to suggest it could work.

Mets and Cardinals have had to do schedule gymnastics before

In the final game of a series between these two teams at Busch Stadium in 2024, rain forced a poorly timed postponement. The initial game was supposed to take place on May 8, and the make-up wound up being scheduled for August 5.

Now, this wasn't the end of the world for the Cardinals. They had to go from Wrigley Field back home and play on a previously scheduled day off, but since they were scheduled to play at home the following day anyway, it's not as if there was much added travel. For the Mets, though, this was nightmarish.

This game was plugged into an already existing nine-game West Coast trip. The Mets had to do an immense amount of travel just to squeeze this one game in.

• Friday, August 2 - Sunday, August 4, at Angels
• Monday, August 5, at Cardinals
• Tuesday, August 6 - Thursday, August 8, at Rockies
• Friday, August 9 - Sunday, August 11, at Mariners

Now, the Mets won their make-up game in St. Louis and even won the following series as well, but were swept and looked awfully lethargic by the end of their road trip, and understandably so. Any team that has to travel to three different time zones in a week would be exhausted.

With that being said, the Mets' make-up win in St. Louis wound up being crucial, as they only made the postseason that year by virtue of a tiebreaker. As inconvenient as the extra travel was, this year's team would surely take it on if today's game had to be postponed, if it meant a postseason berth would be guaranteed.

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