Forecaster sees glass half full in Saturday weather scenario

So will the first pitch on Saturday night land in a splat on a splash in the catcher's glove? Fox 29's John Bolaris said a couple hours ago that computer models four days out indicate it might be the latter, but those won't be enough to postpone or delay what would be Game 3 of the World Series.

"It looks like there's a threat for rain Saturday," he said by phone, adding that all the information gathered from the models indicates that "rain comes in Saturday afternoon and around game time most models have the rain leaving or beginning to end. So an early rain, but not enough to cancel the game for sure, and if we get a little bit lucky the rain ends just in time for the game. It's going to be close. Right now, there's a threat of rain the first two, three innings, then after that the rain should leave."

Game time temperatures are expected to be 57, and the winds definitely could be a factor, blowing out of the east southeast at 10 to 20 mph and gusty.

After a windy start to the day Sunday, Bolaris expects them to subside by gametime and calls that the best day weatherwise of the three, with clear skies and temperatures around 55. Expect comfort conditions to worsen throughout Monday, with a wind gusting out of the northwest at 25 mph or more and a first-pitch temperature in the low to mid-40s.

This being Wednesday and everyone familiar with how much the forecast can change in four days, it's a forecast that no doubt will remain fluid. Asked about a worst-case scenario, Bolaris said the front would stall and allow a storm to deepen off the coast, producing showers of varying intensity throughout the game.

That would put the game at risk and create a real headache for ticketholders. A Major League Baseball official told a Daily News staffer earlier today that a ticket for Game 3 would be used for the third game of the series. Assuming the worst, Game 3 would be Sunday night, Game 4 on Monday night and Game 5 on Tuesday night. If that happened, it would run contrary to what happened two years ago in St. Louis, when Game 4 on a Wednesday night was rained out. Fans who held those tickets were allowed to use them for Friday's game. Game 5 tickets were accepted to the Thursday game, which officially was Game 4.

But nothing official has been announced. Let me repeat. Nothing official has been announced, and likely won't be until Friday at the earliest while the weather forecast is monitored by Major League Baseball, which ultimately would make the final decision on whether that game would be played and how the tickets would change if it's postponed.

One thing Bolaris knows: A Tuesday night game would be quite uncomfortable, with temperatures in the high 30s and the first official wind chill of the season. Oh, and with flurries forecast north and west of the city. 
  
"You move it to Tuesday night you got daytime temperatures in the 40s and it's very conceivable that they could be in the 30s if they play Tuesday night in Citizens Bank Park. So you don't want that," he said, then concluding, "but I think they are going to get them all in."