7/12/22: SEA at WSH Open Game Thread (?)

Ain’t no sunshine when Julio’s gone

So, there may or may not be a game today. I’m betting on not:

If the storm dies out—and reports are it’s expected to weaken—they’ll probably play, but lightning and tornado-grade winds are nothing to mess around with. If the game is postponed, there are a couple of options: they could play a doubleheader tomorrow, starting very early, so the Mariners would get into Texas later that night. They could also reschedule the game for when Washington comes to Seattle (weird sentence to type) in August—the Nationals go to San Diego first for a four-game set August 18-21 and then are scheduled for an off-day on the 22nd before starting a two-game series in Seattle. The two teams could either play on the 22nd, when Seattle also has an off-day, or make up the doubleheader during the first game of the series on the 23rd. Personally I feel if your stadium doesn’t have a roof and weather inconveniences another team, that team should get to choose how the games are made up, but what do I know, if I was commissioner of baseball Ty France would be an All-Star.

Anyway, in case they do get the game in, here are the potential lineups:

Ain’t no sunshine when he’s gone, in which he is Julio, literally and figuratively, I guess. Depriving us of the chance to see Julio and Juan Soto breathe the same air has obviously ticked off the weather gods and we are now left to pay the price. I’m not sure what happens with Julio’s suspension if this game gets kicked; it probably just moves to tomorrow, depriving all of The Lesser Washington’s fans an opportunity to see Julio, which stinks. On the Nationals side, tear your eyes away from Nelson Cruz and Juan Soto long enough to check out Josh Bell and Yadiel Hernandez, who is a bit of a curious case as he’s still pre-arb but also 34 years old, who would be interesting trade acquisitions at the deadline for some team, even if not the Mariners.

Today’s game is scheduled to start at 4:05 PT, although it’s very likely that that’s when some of the most severe weather will be rolling through D.C., so expect the game to be delayed if not outright canceled. If today’s game is played, you can catch it as always on ROOT Sports NW on TV or 710 AM Seattle Sports on the radio.