Some Detroit Tigers fans frustrated by rainout after 5-hour delay in seemingly playable conditions

DETROIT – Some Detroit Tigers fans were frustrated Sunday when the team’s game against the San Francisco Giants was canceled after a five-hour delay in seemingly playable weather.

The Tigers and Giants were scheduled to play at 1:10 p.m. Sunday, April 16, in what was the final game of a three-day series. Detroit had taken the first two games, both in extra innings, and fans heading to Comerica Park were hoping to see the team’s first sweep of 2023.

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But rain and storms were in the forecast, so the Tigers announced about a half hour before first pitch that the game would be delayed. About an hour later, the team said the game would not start before 3 p.m. Then, they said there would be an update at 5:15 p.m.

At around 6:15 p.m. -- more than five hours after the originally scheduled first pitch -- the game was officially postponed.

“We thank fans for their patience,” the Tigers tweeted. “In the next few days, we’ll be reaching out to everyone who was in attendance at Comerica Park during our delay to offer complimentary tickets to a future game.”

The two teams are scheduled to play a make-up game on July 24.

It’s understandable that many fans who waited at Comerica Park were frustrated that it took so long to make a decision, especially since they ultimately didn’t get to see a game at all. What made matters worse is that despite the constant threat of severe weather, the conditions throughout most of the delay probably could have been played through.

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But a lot more goes into these decisions than just, “Is it raining?” Obviously, the Tigers and Giants wanted to get the game in, because they weren’t scheduled to meet again this season, and it’s not very convenient to bring a National League team from San Francisco back to Detroit on an off-day in the middle of a grueling season.

The decision to delay the game was probably made to try to protect starting pitchers Matthew Boyd and Logan Webb, more than anything. If they went through their normal pregame routines and then had to wait several hours, they might have been limited, or even scratched from their starts.

The optics, unfortunately, led to widespread criticism on social media. It was a frustrating situation for fans who spent their entire Sunday at the park, waiting for baseball.

Detroit is scheduled to return to play at 6:40 p.m. Monday against the Cleveland Guardians. The forecast still doesn’t look great, though, so we’ll see if a decision is made a bit earlier to avoid similar shenanigans.