MLB in Washington, D.C.

My quest to visit every major league baseball park continued on Saturday, September 9th, when Karen and I traveled to see my LA Dodgers play the Washington Nationals. We left Sandy Cove at noon and drove to Washington, D.C. down the eastern side of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay and past Annapolis to the Branch Avenue Metro Station just outside the District of Columbia. This is where the Metro green line started; a great place to park the truck for free and take the subway into DC to the Navy Yard/Ballpark station for only $2 each ride. The subway station was a short walk to the ballpark.

The starting time for the game was originally 4:05 PM but we arrived during a light rain, so there was a weather delay. We bought two $32 tickets along the third base line at the second deck looking into shallow left field. Little did we know the weather was deteriorating and a major thunderstorm front was headed our direction. We decided to wait and see how long this delay would be.

We wandered the ballpark, ate some ballpark food, tried to stay dry and waited. This was our first experience with a baseball game delayed by weather so we had no idea what to expect. By 7 PM we were just about ready to give up and leave. Karen was incredibly patient with her crazy husband. I know she wanted the team management to cancel the game, but that would have meant a Sunday double-header and neither of us wanted to drive all the way back the next day. I didn't want to waste the money we spent on the tickets and diesel fuel, so I was being just a little stubborn but hopeful.

Fortunately, the public address announcer came on to tell us the game would go on, but wouldn't start until after the grounds crew finished prepping the field....one hour and fifteen minutes later. Long story short, we waited 4 hours and 10 minutes! Yep, the game finally started at 8:15 PM.

That was the bad news, but the good news and major benefit was we got to sit just about anywhere we wanted in the nearly empty stadium. We ended up picking seats at field level, just 30 rows behind the Dodger dugout!

The game started and we didn't get wet. Unfortunately for us the game became tied in the ninth inning and we needed to leave to start the trip back. We eventually left at 11 PM and later found out the Dodger's lost the game in the 11th inning. We returned to our truck on the subway and drove back to Sandy Cove driving around the District of Columbia and through Baltimore on Interstate 95.

We got to bed at 2 AM on Sunday morning. It was an exhausting day but another great baseball adventure even with the rain delay. And I now know that I'm a fair weather baseball fan!