NEW YORK — Heavy rain and thunderstorms have caused the Chicago Cubs’ series opener on Monday against the Mets at Citi Field to be postponed.
The game will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on Wednesday, scheduled to start at 12:10 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. CT.
Steady rain throughout the afternoon and into the evening created uncertainty whether the game could be played. The forecast showed a potential window between 6-8 p.m. CT, but more thunderstorms were on track to arrive at night with rain through Tuesday morning.
The Cubs, coming off Sunday’s rainout at home versus the Toronto Blue Jays, hoped to play Monday to avoid playing a doubleheader this week.
“The forecast is kind of dicey tonight, so we’ll just see what happens,” manager Craig Counsell said Monday afternoon. “Because we (Sunday’s) rainout didn’t put a doubleheader on the schedule, today’s rainout puts a doubleheader on the schedule, I think that’s what’s pretty different about it just from our perspective, and doubleheaders create pitching challenges, so we hope we can play. If the weather says no, then we’ll figure it out.”
Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, who was supposed to start tonight, will be pushed back to Wednesday and will now start one of the doubleheader games along with Javier Assad, with an order yet to be determined.
Edward Cabrera will get the start for the Cubs on Tuesday, the day he was originally slated to start against the Mets.
Seiya Suzuki had been in the lineup again at the designated hitter spot. The Cubs had been eying getting him back in right field after dealing with knee soreness since June 13 in San Francisco. Instead, Counsell opted for Suzuki as the DH and Matt Shaw in right field.
“Matt was going to play today, so I just thought, let’s give Seiya another day at DH,” Counsell said. “We’ll see tomorrow. It’s been a little slower than I would have liked. Obviously, he’s been in there every day, so he’s feeling good enough to do that, but he’s been a little slower being confident, running around and sliding in the outfield than initially expected.”
