Grounds crew members unroll the tarp to cover the baseball diamond from a heavy downpour delaying the baseball game during the sixth inning of a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles in Washington.

Balce Ceneta / AP Photo

It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, a typical pop-up August rainstorm delaying a Washington Nationals baseball game and forcing the grounds crew to roll out a tarp to protect the field.

Then, it went all wrong.

In the 6th inning of the Sunday afternoon game between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles, a quick storm popped up over Nats Park. The O’s were up 5-2 in the game during a shortened season where every game counts all the more.

With the rain heavy, the Nats’ ground crew sprang into action and began pushing a giant, rolled up tarp to protect the infield.

But something didn’t go right. It’s unclear what initially caused the tangling of the tarp, but it became clear that the more the grounds crew tried, the worse the situation got.

For 15 minutes, they pushed, struggled, and desperately tried to get the plastic over the infield dirt that was turning into a mud pit.

Some fans broke down the footage Zapruder film-style to figure out what really went wrong.

Orioles broadcaster Ben McDonald compared it to the tarp to “wasps’ nest.”

Others found the whole debacle joyous, something about rolled-up plastic besting humans (and the descriptions of) providing perfect fodder for a Sunday afternoon laugh.

https://twitter.com/Neil_Irwin/status/1292535599581270021

When they finally were able to get the tarp spread out and over the infield, it was a muddy mess with puddles of water making the field look more like a drenched neighborhood ball field than a Major League Baseball one.

As Nats broadcaster F. P. Santangelo simply but eloquently put it on the broadcast, “Cause it’s 2020.”

In the end, the damage was done. For more than two hours, the grounds crew attempted to amend their mistake by putting a drying agent on the dirt. It didn’t work and players and coaches grew impatient.

While MLB could’ve called the game and gave the Orioles the win, they instead finally suspended the game at 4:47 p.m. The game will resume Friday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

At the post-game press conference, the Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg (who made his 2020 debut) was asked by the media what he was doing during the delay.

Like the rest of his, he was just enjoying it.

“Just watching the show out there,” said the 2019 World Series Most Valuable Player. “I don’t know if you would call it a rain delay. More a tarp delay.”

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