How The Minnesota Twins Make The Call For Game Delays
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Thursday morning storms meant a game delay for the Minnesota Twins.
The good news? The team is prepared for days like this.
WCCO's Kate Raddatz shows us how they make the call to delay or reschedule and how crews keep the field in top shape.
"My feet are soaked, but hey, I can handle it," one avid Twins fan said.
It was only the die-hard Twins fans coming through the gates when they opened before Thursday's game. A massive downpour kept officials watching to make a call on game play.
"We actually employ a professional meteorologist at every game," explained Matt Hoy.
Senior Vice President of Operations Matt Hoy ultimately makes the call if a game will be delayed on account of weather.
Crews put a tarp on the field and pretreat it with a drying agent.
"I never knew I'd spend so much time in my life staring at a computer screen and learning so much about the weather," said Hoy.
Once the game is in play, any weather delay or cancellation is up to the umpires.
And all that rain? It gets put to good use.
"The drainage system goes into our cistern which is in the outfield," said Hoy. "It's a 12-foot culvert that runs from the right field corner out to centerfield and then over to left field."
That water goes through a filtration system to be used again. Target field has recycled 19 million gallons of water.
"We were worried that it was going to be canceled but we're happy that it cleared up so we can watch the game," another Twins fan said.
Thursday's game did go on and the stands filled. No ponchos were required.
"I would argue our ground crew deals with more severe conditions in shoulder months and course of the summer than any other crews in baseball," said Hoy. "We have a great team of people."
This was the second weather-related delay at Target Field for 2019.
The most? That was 2016 when there were 11 delays due to weather.
