The weather looks chilly and iffy in Cleveland for Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, but at least it won't be as punishing as the last time the Indians hosted the Fall Classic.
Cleveland hosted Games 3-5 in the 1997 World Series against the Marlins, and the frigid conditions served as a metaphor of the traditional Cleveland sports experience: Brutal and nearly unbearable. Observe:
- Game 3: 47 degrees, with a 25 mph wind
- Game 4: 35 degrees, with a 15 mph wind and snow (coldest game in World Series history)
- Game 5: 46 degrees, with a 12 mph wind
Hardly welcoming for the Boys of Summer.
Game 4 was especially unpleasant, with the record-setting cold, wind and swirling snow creating a scene at then-Jacobs Field that brought chills to even the warmest of tuned-in living rooms across America.
Omar Vizquel warms up (yeah, right) before Game 4 of the 1997 World Series in Cleveland. (Getty Images)
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The Hoth-like conditions were especially brutal after having played in 70- and -80 degree weather for Games 1 and 2 in Miami. Despite being completely out of their element, though, the Marlins won Games 3 and 5 en route to a seven-game series win that made South Florida feel even warmer and gave Cleveland yet another cold slap of sports agony.
All things considered, the upper-40s temperatures expected at the start of Game 1 Tuesday night, and even the wet weather expected in Game 2, don't seem so bad.
