Pitchers have the winds on their sides Friday in the Phillies’ rain-delayed opening day
Strong winds will be blowing toward the hitters Friday, not that Wheeler and Strider need the help.
A signature moment in Rhys Hoskins’ Phillies career was his dramatic postseason home run deep into the left-field seats off the Atlanta Braves’ Spencer Strider, punctuated with an epic bat spike.
If Bryce Harper or the Braves’ Ronald Acuna or anyone else manages to hit one out to left or left-center when the Phils on Friday play their rain-postponed home opener — even if it didn’t rain much Thursday — consider it a monumental feat.
Friday is forecast to be sunny and dry with highs in the mid-50s, said Joe DeSilva, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Mount Holly. “It should be a nice day overall. ... Except for the winds.”
Sustained winds 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph, are expected throughout the game. That does not bode well for the power hitters.
For starters, it’s not as though Strider and the Phillies Zack Wheeler, two of the best pitchers in baseball, need much help. But the winds will be blowing in from left-center toward the hitters.
The forecast wind direction isn’t far off the path of Hoskins’ homer on Oct. 14, 2022 — in reverse.
What difference might that make?
Alan Nathan, an emeritus physics professor at the University of Illinois and expert in the science of baseball, calculated that a fly ball that would travel 407 feet when winds were calm, would land only 312 feet from home against winds similar to what’s forecast Friday.
» READ MORE: Hoskins' homer marked a sea-change in the series
Winds were blowing in from left when Hoskins hit his game- and series-changing homer in the third inning in 2022 in a game 3 that gave he Phils a 2-1 edge in the best-of-five series. They would go on take the series on their way to the World Series.
Could the Phils have played Thursday and avoided the winds?
This marked the second straight year that the Phillies postponed the home opener because of a wet forecast.
And for the second straight year, not much in the way of rain was falling during the originally scheduled game time.
In a statement Wednesday announcing the postponement, Phillies executive vice president David Buck cited “the anticipated rain on Thursday.” He added that the team had consulted with Major League Baseball and “various weather services.”
Late Wednesday afternoon just about every major weather service had it raining throughout the game.
The circumstances were quite different from last year’s, which drew the ire of fans. Spring-type showery rains were in the forecast but didn’t materialize.
» READ MORE: Why did the Phils postpone last year's home opener?
With an off day, the Phillies were more or less left to choose their poison — a rain threat or Wrigley Field-type winds.
Sometimes the weather has something in common with preseason baseball predictions.