Washington Nationals Maintain Need For Rain Delay Through Two Hours With No Rain [UPDATED]

The Nationals and Braves were scheduled to begin play in D.C. tonight at 7:05 p.m. ET. It was not raining. But there was rain in the forecast, so they went ahead and called a rain delay anyway—just in case, right? They didn’t need to put a tarp on the field, since, you know, it wasn’t actually raining, but there was still most definitely a need for a rain delay.

An hour later, it still was not raining. The Nationals decided to roll out the tarp at this point, as noted by Atlanta Journal-Constitution beat writer David O’Brien:

The tarp did not manage to silently will any rain to fall, nor did it manage to make the delay seem more any credible. Atlanta outfielder Ender Inciarte said as much when a fan asked him if the team could pass time by using the field as a slip ‘n’ slide setting:

Finally, more than two hours after the game was scheduled to begin, the delay found its reason for being: a light rain began to fall. After two hours of sitting under a dry sky—what could have been, oh, six innings of baseball—they finally got their rain.

But don’t worry! They’re still trying to play tonight. Yeah, the Nationals definitely want to play tonight, sure:

Update (9:44 p.m. ET): We’ve passed the two-and-a-half hour mark, but the starting pitchers are now stretching in the outfield.

Update (10:15 p.m. ET): Now, more than three hours after the game was scheduled to begin, they’re finally getting things underway. Some delightful tidbits: