The Phillies gambled on the weather and beat the Rockies — and the storms
The Phillies decided on Sunday to go ahead with the home opener. They won the bet, and the game.
Sal DeAngelis admitted he was sweating bullets on Monday.
The Phillies, expecting about 44,000 paying guests, along with an assortment of people involved in the pregame festivities, had decided to go ahead with their home opener against the Colorado Rockies.
Not that DeAngelis, the team’s vice president of security and operations, was all that concerned about the ominous weather forecasts.
“I sweat bullets — because I was in a suit today,” he said. During the game, the temperature shot up to 81 in Philly, the highest reading of the year.
The forecasts were calling for strong to severe storms arriving late in the day or in the evening. The National Weather Service has been warning for days about potential atmospheric mayhem, and on Monday afternoon it was posting a 50% chance of a thunderstorm in South Philly by 5 p.m., with the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. window for strong storms.
The Phillies, who consult a couple of different forecast services, began strategizing about Monday’s weather several days ago, DeAngelis said, discussions that “ramped up during the weekend.”
In a Zoom meeting, meteorologist Bobby Martrich, with EPA Consulting, told the team, “There’s nothing stopping us from getting this game starting on time and getting a full game in.” Martrich confirmed that conversation. The storms didn’t arrive in the Philly region until around 8 p.m.
Last year, the Phillies postponed the home opener 24 hours in advance because of threatened thunderstorms, and the only storms they weathered on that day came in the form of complaints from disappointed fans.
“We definitely referenced that,” DeAngelis said. In the end, they again made a decision 24 hours in advance — this time to play the game.
Asked if the team considered moving up the starting time just to be on the safe side, DeAngelis said, “We could have.”
But, “There’s more variables than just the game,” he said. “There’s 44,000 people coming to this expecting the game to start at 3:05,” not to mention all the planning for pregame ceremonies.
“Once you make a decision, you have to stick by it,” he said.
“It was a great day.”