Hurricane Hilary forces MLB to postpone three California games as Category 4 storm expects dangerous weather conditions
- All three games will now be played as double-header games on Saturday
- LA Galaxy and LAFC have also postponed their games in the run-up to the storm
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Major League Baseball has postponed three games this Sunday in California due to dangerous weather conditions forecast due to Hurricane Hilary.
MLB announced the change as the storm raged as a strong Category 4 storm off the Pacific coast of Mexico on Friday.
All of the games that the league changed, namely the Arizona Diamondbacks to the San Diego Padres, the Tampa Bay Rays to the Los Angeles Angels, and the Miami Marlins to the Los Angeles Dodgers, will now be played as doubleheaders on Saturday.
“I’m very grateful that they took the initiative,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“It’s certainly going to be an inconvenience for some people who had Sunday tickets, but it made sense to me to at least go a step further.” … That’s crazy. A hurricane in Southern California is clearly unprecedented. I just want to make sure we’re one step ahead of him, people are safe and he gets past us.”
MLB postponed three games this weekend in anticipation of Hurricane Hilary
The game between the San Diego Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks has been postponed by the MLB
The last of the three rescheduled games were the LA Angeles and the Tampa Bay Rays
The first game in San Diego begins at 12:10 p.m. local time, with the second scheduled for 5:40 p.m. The kick-off at Angel Stadium begins at 1:07 p.m. local time, with the nightcap scheduled for 6:07 p.m. Games at Dodger Stadium are scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and 6:10 p.m.
“I’ve lived here for 52 years, I’ve never heard anything like it,” said Angels manager Phil Nevin. “Part of me is like, ‘Wow.’ Part of you is excited to see what happens with these things, but I’ll be honest, the more I read and hear about it, the more nervous I’m getting a little too.”
LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Football Club have also postponed their games. The Galaxy was originally scheduled to host Real Salt Lake on Sunday, but the game has been postponed to October 14th.
LAFC’s game against Colorado has been moved from Sunday night to Wednesday night at BMO Stadium.
Hilary gained strength early Friday before losing some strength. In the evening, the maximum sustained wind reached 130 mph after dropping from 145 mph.
It was forecast to still be a hurricane as it approached Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula Saturday night and a tropical storm as it approached Southern California on Sunday.
LA Galaxy and LAFC have also postponed their games ahead of the expected storm
Hurricane Hilary reached Category 4 strength and may soon reach Southern California
According to the National Weather Service, no tropical storm has hit southern California since September 25, 1939.
“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know hurricanes were an option out here,” said Tampa Bay pitcher Zach Eflin. “I only found that out today.” I just pray it will be a tropical storm when it makes landfall here.”
The NFL has two friendlies scheduled for this weekend at SoFi Stadium in Southern California. The Los Angeles Rams host the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday night and the Los Angeles Chargers meet the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night.
There was no information from the league on the status of these two games.