Do Baseball Players Play in the Rain?

Rule 7.01(c) says the umpire-in-chief or the Office of the Commissioner may postpone or call a game because of weather, field or ballpark conditions, malfunction of or unintentional operator error in employing equipment (such as a retractable roof or a tarpaulin), air quality, a curfew, loss of electricity or lighting, local or national emergencies or disasters, government restrictions, darkness, the health and safety of fans, players, team or stadium employees, or any extraordinary circumstances that prevent the game from being played or continued safely.

The rule gives no amount of rain at which play must stop. The decision is the umpire-in-chief's or the Commissioner's Office's.

Rule 7.01(d) says a called game is considered a regulation game if one of the following holds:

The score of a called regulation game is the score at the time the game is called.

There are exceptions. A called game that would otherwise qualify as a regulation game is treated as a suspended game under Rule 7.02 if it is called when the score is tied, or if it is called while an inning is in progress and before it is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to tie the game or take the lead and the home team has not retied the game or retaken the lead.

Rule 7.02(a) also covers a postponed game, or a game called before it becomes a regulation game. Such a game must be immediately scheduled to be resumed and played to a completed regulation game, as Rule 7.02(b) describes. The Office of the Commissioner may also decide that the circumstances of a called game are so unusual that fairness requires that it be treated as a suspended game or in a different manner.

A suspended game is not lost. Rule 7.02(b) says it must be scheduled to be resumed, and played to a completed regulation game, during a scheduled series between the two clubs, before the next scheduled game between them, preferably on the same grounds or on a mutual off-day.

If it cannot be scheduled in that way during the championship season, or the options would cause undue hardship to one or both teams, Rule 7.02(c) leaves the decision to the Office of the Commissioner, which considers all relevant factors, including whether failing to finish the game would materially affect the postseason. If a suspended game is never resumed and had progressed far enough to be a regulation game when it was called, the team ahead at that moment is declared the winner, and a game that was tied is declared a tie game.

The wording comes from Rules 7.01 and 7.02 of the Official Baseball Rules, 2026 edition. This page quotes the rulebook and does not describe how any particular game was handled.

The rules are reviewed each year. This page was checked against the 2026 edition. More baseball pages are collected on the MLB hub, and the page about halftime in baseball explains the innings.