ATLANTA — It’s about to be a wet week across the southeast, just in time for the Giants’ arrival to play six games against the Braves and Marlins.
The forecast dries up by the time they make it to Miami, where the stadium has a roof, anyway. But no such luck in Atlanta, where open-air Truist Park is at the mercy of the conditions.
Typically that just means muggier than the steamiest San Francisco bath house.
But this week it could put the start of the Giants’ road trip in jeopardy as the first possible tropical storm of the season begins to brew in the Gulf of America.
Rain is in the forecast for all three of the Giants’ games against the Braves, with the heaviest stuff projected to fall Thursday, an offshoot of a group of storms currently centered over Corpus Christi, Texas, that the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday gave a 70% chance of growing into the first named storm of the year.
Potentially complicating matters (and possibly making for a late night), Thursday’s series finale isn’t scheduled to start until 7:10 p.m. local time, foregoing the typical getaway day matinee.
If that game is delayed, it could mean a very late arrival in the wee hours of Friday morning into Miami where they open their series against the Marlins later that night.
It could be a challenge to play at all, if the forecast proves to be correct.
According to the National Weather Service, thunderstorms are projected to begin around 11 a.m. and continue throughout the day on Thursday with an 80% chance of precipitation.
From Tuesday afternoon until early Friday evening, basically spanning the Giants’ stay in The A, the city is projected to see about 4 inches of rainfall, per the NHC.
That throws a wrench in what looked like somewhat of a respite from a frenzied first-half travel schedule. After three 10-day, three-city road trips in the season’s first 65 games, six games with a short flight in between was a welcome sight on the Giants’ calendar.
When the Giants boarded their charter flight Sunday night, the biggest challenge they faced was three games in front of them against the team off to the best start in the National League.
Now, they may need to manage rain delays, doubleheaders and the travel complications that accompany them on what had looked to be a relatively straightforward trip.
If the teams can’t play Thursday, it wouldn’t be hard to make it up if the Braves were willing to cede home field. They meet again in San Francisco next weekend, June 26-28.
Making up a game in Atlanta would seem to be a tougher task.
One result of the Giants’ frontloaded travel schedule is that they won’t be back in the Eastern Time Zone much for the remainder of the season, and when they are, the Braves will be out of town.
The teams share two off days that each have their own inconveniences.
On Aug. 13, the Giants could interrupt their home stand to fly to Atlanta, where the Braves have an off day in the middle of a home stand.
Or, on Sept. 17, the Giants could make a pitstop in Atlanta on their way to Los Angeles from St. Louis. But the Braves would be coming off a night game at Wrigley Field and would also have to sacrifice their scheduled travel day to Houston.
