Major League Baseball is planning to play the finale of the Minnesota-Cleveland series in Puerto Rico as scheduled Wednesday night, despite an island-wide blackout.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said additional generators and resources were in place at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, and backup systems to operate the lights and scoreboards were tested and ready shortly after the blackout struck.
Plans were in place well ahead of time, at MLB’s request, Cruz said. “We are always aware that something like this can happen,” she said.
Lights at some San Juan hotels went out around 10 a.m., before generators kicked on and restored power. Roads were clogged all over San Juan because traffic lights were inoperative, and several businesses in busy downtown areas were closed.
There have been countless outages across Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria struck on Sept. 20 and damaged the island’s power grid, but none of the previous ones was as widespread as this one.
Cruz said she was told it could take 36 to 48 hours before power is fully restored.
“We don’t know what the cause was, yet,” Cruz said. “We just know it’s a general power outage in all of Puerto Rico.”
Additional police and security were being brought in, and more portable floodlights also were arriving at the ballpark to be used in parking lots and around the stadium’s exterior.
A crowd of about 19,000 is expected Wednesday night, though traffic difficulties around the island may impede many from getting to the game.
There are four Puerto Rican natives expected to be in the lineups for the finale of MLB’s first regular-season series on the island since 2010. Minnesota has outfielder Eddie Rosario and starting pitcher Jose Berrios, while Cleveland has Francisco Lindor — who hit a two-run home run in the Indians’ 6-1 series-opening win Tuesday night — and catcher Roberto Perez likely to start behind the plate.
