Diamondbacks game at Chase Field canceled in franchise's first rainout

The Diamondbacks’ penultimate spring training game, against the Cleveland Guardians at Chase Field, was called due to rain after six innings. The game was the first of two exhibitions at Chase Field before Thursday’s Opening Day.

The ballpark has a retractable roof, but the roof cannot be opened and closed with fans in attendance due to issues with the cables. Since the start of the 2022 season, the club has had to determine before gates open whether the roof will be open or closed on a given night. This is the first time that the issue has led to a rain delay or cancellation.

There had been one previous weather-related incident at Chase Field: In 2006, a women's basketball game between Arizona State and Texas Tech was called due to rain late in the second half. On that occasion, the roof wasn’t able to be closed quickly enough before the court became dangerously wet.

Baseball games, though, had always been in the clear. And with comfortable weather forecast for downtown Phoenix, the roof was announced as open for Monday night’s game — the first at Chase Field after a month of spring training games at Salt River Fields. But in the bottom of the sixth inning, a brief spell of heavy rain passed over the ballpark. Fans were sent scurrying into the concourses for cover, while officials hurried to find a solution.

“We got together with the umpires,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said, “and I just said, ‘We don't know how to play on this surface that's wet, we never have, nor will we ever.’ I didn't want to put any athletes in harm's way.”

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Because the ballpark has a retractable roof, it is not equipped with a tarp to cover the infield, as is the case at outdoor stadiums. The grounds crew was able to cover the pitchers’ mound and batters’ circle with tarps, but the infield quickly became waterlogged. It is not clear what drainage systems are in place to deal with water on the playing surface, which was changed from natural grass to synthetic turf after the 2018 season.

At 8:32 p.m., after just a delay that lasted just seven minutes, the stadium public address announcer said that the game had been canceled, drawing heavy boos from the fans in attendance.

“I know we're gonna be the idiots on just about every show and every podcast, or wherever this is going right now, that we got rained out … and we're in a dome,” Lovullo said.

Lovullo said that the outcome Monday night might have been different had it been a regular season game. But given that it was an exhibition, both managers and the umpiring crew agreed to not wait out the inclement weather.  

“To be honest with you,” Lovullo said, “no, I have never thought about what happened today.”

Last week, Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall said that the organization had found a solution that would enable it to address the cable issue without redoing the entire roof. However, because of time constraints, that fix will not come until the off-season, meaning that the Diamondbacks will have to play one more season with a roof that cannot be opened and closed with fans in attendance.

On Monday night, that led to a wet evening of baseball in downtown Phoenix.