Rain causes Cubs-Pirates game to end in MLB's first tie since 2005

Rain storms have been wreaking havoc on baseball games this week, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs are the weather’s latest victim. On Thursday night, they played a game that actually resulted in a tie. Not a suspended game or one that has to be made up. An honest to goodness tie.

At PNC Park, each team had scored a run on sacrifice flies, and the game was 1-1 when torrential rain suspended play after the top of the sixth inning. Everyone stayed where they were (except for the most dedicated fans) for over an hour, hoping that the rain would let up enough for the game to resume.

A baseball fan takes a selfie in the right field grandstand as a rain delay is called during the sixth inning of a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
These slicker-clad fans are dedicated, and they got to witness a little bit of baseball weirdness: a tie. (AP Photo)

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. It didn’t look like the rain was going to stop, so the umpires called the game after five-and-a-half innings.

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It feels weird that this game isn’t going to be made up, but there are good reasons for it. First, Thursday night’s game was the series finale. The Cubs are headed to Cincinnati to take on the Reds to finish out the season, and the Pirates are traveling to St. Louis to face the St. Louis Cardinals. And with just three games left in the season, there’s no time for either team to travel back to make up (or finish) the game at a later time. And it doesn’t really make any sense for them to do either of those things, since the game has zero playoff implications. The Pirates have already been eliminated, and Cubs have already made the playoffs and locked up home field advantage.

Ties were plentiful in the days before games could be played at night, but they’re rare in modern baseball. In fact, the last MLB tie was back on June 30, 2005. After seven innings, a 2-2 game between the Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds was called due to bad weather.

It’s been 23 years since the Cubs’ last tie — it happened on May 28, 1993 against the Montreal Expos. The Pirates’ Twitter account helpfully provided information about the last time they played in a tie.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher