The Phillies and Mets are scheduled to face off Wednesday in the first Facebook-exclusive broadcast of the season, but so far Mother Nature has other plans. The game was scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m. EDT, but rain forced the game into a weather delay.
Still delayed at airport much like the Mets/Phillies on Facebook.
— keith Hernandez (@kher8286) April 4, 2018
Even without the precipitation-based issues, the Facebook live stream has shown to be a less-than-ideal viewing platform for some. As is the case with most social media outlets, the comments on the stream grew toxic, whether it was because folks were angry about the delay, the broadcast location, or former President Barack Obama.
*Tunes into Mets-Phillies game on Facebook to see what all the hype is about*
— Stephen JOSIAH (@StephenJosiah13) April 4, 2018
*logs off* pic.twitter.com/31voUk71XW
The Facebook live stream for the rain delayed Mets/Phillies game is the wildest place on the Internet right now pic.twitter.com/aeMC4bJ5LX
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund) April 4, 2018
Even before the game had started, there were already skeptics of the event poking fun, or just plain upset, at the whole thing.
Today's Mets-Phillies will be broadcasted live on Facebook. On a related news, there will be a new record of amount of angry reactions on a Facebook broadcast.
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) April 4, 2018
I’m not technologically challenged but this Facebook only broadcast of the Mets/Phillies game tomorrow is just ridiculous
— Gregg Giannotti (@GioWFAN) April 3, 2018
To the credit of the game's broadcast producers, they did take the time to break out of a weather-delay announcement screen to cut to the team of Scott Braun, Cliff Floyd and John Kruk for a game preview, and Alexa Datt for a weather update.
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As of 2 p.m., it appeared that the tarp was being removed from the diamond to start the game soon. Sporting News will update this article with more information as it becomes available. You can catch the game here.
All updates will be in Eastern Daylight Time.
5:52 p.m. The MLB got the stream back up and running. Lots of angry comments about the stream at the end of the game and the MLB Live account had to point out how to disable comments to viewers.
4:30 p.m. This doesn't seem ideal.
Lol and now the feed has died. pic.twitter.com/HKazPjjhH2
— Eli Blumenthal (@eliblumenthal) April 4, 2018
4:13 p.m. The good news is that it appears Facebook has cleared some of the clutter on the live stream.
at least they got rid of the blue space? pic.twitter.com/fLCOe5ieVx
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) April 4, 2018
4 p.m. The 80,000-viewer mark has been reached!
2:58 p.m. Viewership has hit the 60,000 mark.
2:57 p.m. Looks like the rain delay hasn't affected the game much.
The 97-minute rain delay definitely fazed Noah Syndergaard, who just buzzed through the first three Phillies batters on 13 pitches, 11 strikes. He hit 99 mph on the gun, striking out a pair. #Mets
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 4, 2018
2:50 p.m. The viewer total is close to 50,000, but earlier, when nothing but the delay screen was on, the numbers were still at five digits and hovering around 17,000.
2:47 p.m. Noah Syndergaard has taken the mound and, with the first out, we're underway!
2:09 p.m. A higher power has since apologized for the rain delay.
My children who are @Mets and @Phillies fans: I apologize for the rain delay. I'm just trying to buy some time while I figure out how the hell to log in and watch.
— MLB Jesus (@MLBJesus) April 4, 2018
2:05 p.m. The game will officially begin at 2:45 p.m. EDT.
Phillies-Mets game will start at 2:45 p.m.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) April 4, 2018