Goodbye, Margaritaville.
Hello, wind chill.
Seldom has a World Series gone from such a balmy climate in one game to tundra-like conditions the next, but that’s what the Florida Marlins and Cleveland Indians are expected to face Tuesday night in Game 3 at Jacobs Field.
The National Weather Service is predicting temperatures dropping into the mid- to lower 30s and a chance of rain or snow, a far cry from Sunday’s gametime temperature of 77 degrees.
The cold war may just be starting, but not everyone is concerned that change in latitudes will affect changes in attitudes heading into the key game.
“I’m more worried about the cold for my mom than I am the players,” Florida manager Jim Leyland said, referring to his 85-year-old mother, Veronica, who will attend the games. “But I’m not going to buy her a fur coat today, I can tell you that.”
Conventional wisdom says the Indians will adapt more readily to the 40-degree temperature plunge because they’re accustomed to playing with the wind coming off of Lake Erie. Then again, Jacobs Field isn’t right on the lake, like old Municipal Stadium, and neither team has played in this type of bitter cold since last spring.
“One thing I don’t understand is why everybody is really making a big deal about the weather, but only for the Florida Marlins,” Leyland said. “If it’s real cold, I don’t think Cleveland has been playing in cold weather all year long. They played in it early, and so did we. We played in, and I think they checked it, (what) was proven to be the coldest game in the history of Wrigley Field in the beginning of the season. And I can remember telling my team, `Hey, it’s going to be this cold in October.’ “
Leyland’s Marlins took on the Cubs on April 8 at Wrigley, when the temperature was 29 degrees and the wind chill was 1 above zero for the home opener. It didn’t stop the Marlins from dropping the Cubs to 0-7 with a 6-1 victory by Al Leiter, who gets the start Tuesday against the Indians.
After that victory, Leyland said he couldn’t sit on the bench during the game because “I froze my butt off.” The next game, in 37-degree weather, Alex Fernandez no-hit the Cubs for 8 1/3 innings in another Marlins win.
Of course, any resemblance between the Indians and the Cubs is purely coincidental.
Cleveland didn’t fare too well in April, the last time the team had to play in frosty temps. The Indians went 12-13 in the first month of the season and their pitchers had a 6.28 earned-run average.
Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel suggested the weather would give Cleveland the advantage, but manager Mike Hargrove believes it’s of no consequence.
“I’ve really found playing in cold weather that the players don’t think about it,” Hargrove said. “The good ones don’t allow the weather conditions to dictate how they play. I really don’t think the weather is going to be an advantage or disadvantage.”
Marlins catcher Charles Johnson, a Florida native who got his first dose of inclement Chicago weather in ’93 during his first spring with the Kane County Cougars, said all the talk about the weather is meaningless for one obvious reason.
“No one likes to play in cold weather,” Johnson said. “But it’s the World Series.”
Oh, yeah.
