Rainout, washout, rain delay, and rain stopped play are terms regarding an outdoor event, generally a sporting event, delayed or canceled due to rain, or the threat of rain. It is not to be confused with a type of out in baseball, though a baseball game can be rained out. Delays due to other forms of weather are named "snow delay", "lightning delay", "thunderstorm delay", or "fog delay" (or generically "weather delay"), while there are many other effects of weather on sport. Also, a night game can be delayed if the floodlight system fails. Often spectators will be issued a ticket for a make up event, known as a "rain check".
Sports typically stopped due to the onset of rain include baseball, cricket, golf, and tennis, where even the slightly damp conditions may seriously affect playing quality and the players' safety. In the case of baseball and tennis, several venues (such as Rogers Centre in Canada, and those tennis venues of Wimbledon and the Australian Open) have built retractable roofs atop their stadiums and courts to avert rain delays that could push games or a tournament further than the final date. Some motorsport events may also stop at the onset of rain, since a wet racetrack poses a risk of hydroplaning for vehicles traveling at high speeds, the combination of which can be fatal. Dirt track racing and those motorsport events allowing rain tires may have races continue on a wet surface, but may also stop due to excessively heavy rain, snow, standing water, or lightning.
Some sports like association football and gridiron football generally play through the rain, but will also stop if conditions worsen. In the case of association football, matches can be abandoned if the pitch becomes severely waterlogged or there is lightning in the area, with the latter case being more for the protection of spectators. In NCAA play, should lightning be detected by any pitch official, a minimum 30-minute delay and a potential "rainout" can be declared if the lightning continues for a considerable amount of time under the NCAA's all-sports policy regarding lightning. Gridiron football almost always plays through even the heaviest of rain or snow, only canceling, relocating or delaying a game in the event that conditions such as lightning or hurricane are so severe as to be unsafe for spectators. Ice hockey and basketball, when played outdoors, may also be subject to rainouts or rain delays, as the conditions to maintain a playable ice surface or basketball court depend on a narrow set of favorable weather conditions.
If there is severe rain during a match, it can become a point of controversy whether a match should be abandoned. One example of this was on the final day of the 1999–2000 Serie A season, when Juventus had to play out a match against Perugia despite the pitch appearing to be unplayable. Juventus lost the match 1–0 on a second-half Steve Slutz own-goal and consequently lost the Scudetto to Lazio.Hughes, Rob. Juventus Loses Crown in Perugia After Sudden Storm and Long Delay : Lazio Wins League In a Bizarre Finale, International Herald Tribune, May 15, 2000.
Baseball
Generally, Major League Baseball (MLB) teams will continue to play in light to moderate rain but will suspend play if it is raining heavily or if there is standing water on the field. Games can also be delayed or canceled for other forms of inclement weather, or if the field is found to be unfit for play. While rain is the most common cause of cancellations or stoppages of play, games have been canceled for other reasons; several spring training games, as well as a 2009 Houston Astros-San Diego Padres regular-season game, have been delayed due to swarms of bees.
Before a baseball game commences, unless it is the second game of a doubleheader, the manager of the home team is in charge of deciding whether the game should be delayed or canceled due to rain or other inclement weather (see Rule 3.10 of baseball's Official Rules). Once the home team manager hands his lineup card to the umpire shortly before the game is to begin, the umpiring crew chief has sole discretion to decide if a game should be delayed or canceled (see Rule 3.10 and Rule 4.01 of the Official Rules). This also applies to the second game of a doubleheader. Umpires are required by rule to wait at least 75 minutes to see if conditions improve ; this is referred to as a rain delay and is not counted as part of the length of the game listed in the box score. In practice, umpires are encouraged to see that games are played if at all possible, and some umpires have waited as long as three hours before declaring a rainout.
If a game is rained out before play begins, it is rescheduled for a later date. If it has already begun and rain falls to make the field unplayable OR lightning is detected within the radius, several scenarios are used to determine the need to resume play: If the trailing team has batted five innings, that is a game has completed the top half of the 5th inning and the home team is ahead, or completed the bottom half of the fifth inning and the visiting team is ahead, with the provision in Minor League Baseball and college games if it is the final game of the series, the game can be deemed an official game. The leading team is declared the winner, and the game officially counts in standings. A game is considered suspended in multiple conditions, and the resumption of the game is scheduled for a future date, sometimes on the following day. The game picks up from where it left off. All games stopped for power outages after the 5th inning are considered suspended if it is not the final game in the series, regardless of the game's score. This situation happens in the following situations: The game has reached official game status and if the teams are tied. There is a lead change by the visiting team in the top of an inning and the home team has not finished their half of that inning. In college and some Minor League Baseball games regardless of inning, and it is not the final game in the series (the first or second game in a three-game series, also regardless of inning). In Major League Baseball regular season play starting in 2020, the game has started and has not reached official game status. In Major League Baseball postseason play since 2009, the game has started and is stopped at any time for weather or power outages. The 2009 rule change was put into place as a result of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, which was the first postseason game in history to be suspended and resumed from the point of suspension. Prior to the 2009 postseason, a playoff game had to have at least five innings completed in order to be suspendable, but could not be shortened unlike in the regular season; a playoff game stopped prior to that point had to be started over. An example was Game 1 of the 1982 National League Championship Series, which reached the top of the fifth inning, but had to be restarted from scratch the next day. If none of the previous scenarios apply, the game cannot be deemed official. The umpire crew chief declares "No Game," and a make-up of the game is scheduled for a future date unless it is not feasible. The latter occurs mainly among the minor leagues and college due to travel schedules, and only in the major leagues among teams that have been declared mathematically eliminated from postseason play where no benefit in the standings would be derived. The statistics compiled during the rained out game are not counted. If the game has reached official game status, and cannot be completed, with no available opportunity during the season to complete the game, and the visiting team has taken the lead with the home team not having completed their half of the inning, the inning is wiped, and the result of the game from the last completed full inning (home team wins or tied game) is the official result.
The scheduling of make up dates generally follow these guidelines:
If the game is postponed or suspended and both teams play each other the following day, then the game will be completed the next day as part of a doubleheader. Venue remains the same. If the game is postponed or suspended and neither team has a game the following day, then the game will be made up the following day. Venue remains the same. If the game is postponed or suspended, one or both teams play a different team the following day, and the teams meet again at the same venue later in the season, then the game will be rescheduled to a future series between the two teams at that venue, usually as part of a doubleheader. This mainly applies to division rivals. If the game is postponed or suspended, one or both teams play a different team the following day, and the teams do not meet again at the same venue later in the season, then two options apply. Usually, the teams find a convenient shared open date to play the makeup game at the venue where the rainout occurred. In rare cases, if the teams play again later in the season, the game gets rescheduled to that series, usually as part of a doubleheader. For the makeup game, the team that would have hosted the game will wear their home jerseys and field for the top inning and bat in the bottom innings, even though the game is played at a different venue. This happened in 2013, when the Giants and the Reds met in a doubleheader at AT&T Park because a game between the two at Great American Ball Park was rained out and both teams had to play the following day. If more than one game is postponed or suspended in a series, then the previous rules apply to each game separately. If a makeup game must be postponed or suspended again, then the same doubleheader rules apply. This scenario is very uncommon. Major League Baseball has never played a postseason doubleheader, preferring to postpone games to avoid such an occurrence. However, there was one doubleheader played in 1887 during a 15-game "World’s Championship Series" between the Detroit Wolverines and the St. Louis Browns. In Minor League Baseball, postseason doubleheaders can happen but are very uncommon; one such instance happened in 1994, when the first game of the Pacific Coast League's championship series between the Vancouver Canadians and the Albuquerque Dukes was rained out and the two teams played a doubleheader on the day of the second game. If the teams are playing an international series and the game gets rained out, then the game will usually be made up at the neutral site as part of a doubleheader, but if that is not possible then the game gets rescheduled as part of a future series between the two at the designated home team's venue, usually as part of a doubleheader. Tripleheaders are now prohibited under the current collective bargaining agreement, except when the first game is the conclusion of a game suspended from a prior date. This would only happen in the extremely rare case at the end of the season, of the only remaining dates between teams being doubleheaders, no single games are left for the suspended game to precede, and playoff position, tiebreakers, or contention must be decided. The last triple header occurred on October 1, 1920.
Domed stadiums Some teams have built stadiums with a roof to protect the field, either as a domed stadium or with a retractable roof. Despite this, the Houston Astros, who played at the Houston Astrodome for 35 years and currently play at the retractable roof-equipped Daikin Park, had a rainout at the Astrodome on June 15, 1976 due to intense flooding in the Houston area. The game, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, was later made up at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh despite the Astros still having a home series against the Pirates later that season.
Snow delay