Game 2 postponed until today

WASHINGTON—Long after the concourses emptied, the sky cleared up as the tarp still covered the field. Game 2 of the NL Division Series between the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers still had to wait.

Major League Baseball postponed the Dodgers-Nationals game until Sunday at 12:08 p.m. CDT because it expected the rain that fell throughout the morning and afternoon to continue well into the night.

The teams were scheduled for a 3:08 p.m. first pitch Saturday. But rain that intensified as Hurricane Matthew moved up the coast and a forecast of “100 percent certainty” for precipitation until at least 7 p.m. forced the decision, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said.

“We hate to cancel,” said Manfred, who arrived Saturday afternoon after a flight from New York. “We hate to make travel worse on the players than it was originally intended to be. But it just doesn’t look like we’re going to have a situation that would be safe for the players to play.”

Rain stopped falling at Nationals Park around 3 p.m., about an hour after the decision was made to postpone the game. Rain was scheduled to resume in the early evening.

Los Angeles leads the best-of-five series 1-0 after a 4-3 victory Friday.

Lefthander Rich Hill (12-5, 2.12 ERA) will start for the Dodgers against righthander Tanner Roark (16-10, 2.83). Manfred said the rest of the series will proceed as scheduled with Game 3 on Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy said players came in prepared to play but was glad the decision was made quickly.

“Hats off to Major League Baseball for canceling this early,” Murphy said.

The postponement means the teams will have to play and fly Sunday.