Game 2 of Dodgers-Nationals NLDS postponed by rain

It is official. Game 2 of the National League Division Series will not start on time on Saturday, and in fact won’t be played today at all. The game has been officially postponed by rain, and will now be played on Sunday at 10:08 a.m. PT.

“It appears the rain we’re seeing right now will persist until at least 8 o’clock,” baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said. “As a result, we have decided to postpone tonight’s game until Sunday.”

Manfred said even if the game started by 5 p.m. PT on Saturday, the field likely wouldn’t be playable by that time.

The schedule for the remainder of the series, including an afternoon game Monday in Los Angeles for Game 3, remains unchanged, Manfred said.

The delay, especially with advance notice, isn’t expected to affect Rich Hill, who was scratched from a start in Colorado on Aug. 31 on after warming up for 40 pitches the night before then getting rained out, affecting the blisters on his left hand.

“With the Commissioner, they do a good job, the umpires, giving us a heads up on the game time with respect to the weather,” manager Dave Roberts said in his press conference earlier on Saturday. “At that point in time, we'll know, and Rich will know, when to start getting hot. And I don't think anybody wants a delay, as far as a stop after a start.

“So once we have a game time, you know, we're going to do everything we can, I know they are, to have continual play. And so Rich won't get started and stop, so they are kind of good about that.”

Roberts mentioned earlier that the rain was expected to stop roughly between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. PT, giving them a possible window to get a game in after maybe an hour delay.

But that start time turned out to be way too optimistic given the forecast in the area.

The last Dodgers game postponed by rain was Game 3 of the 1988 NLCS against the Mets in New York.