Sewage Halts Dodgers' Game
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
It was the final game of a spring training Freeway series between the Dodgers and the Angels, both of Los Angeles, when a sewage emergency cut things short.
“Someone call a plumber,” NBC New York reported.
Sewage flooded the third baseline at Dodger Stadium in the bottom of the fifth inning on Tuesday, the report said.
“Once the grounds crew was on the scene, they attempted to sweep the liquid away and also attempted to prevent it from spreading further by applying a special drying agent typically used during rain delays. However, rain doesn't smell like sewage, so even getting the foul flood to dry up wasn't going to get rid of the stench. Then, after a 32-minute delay, the decision was made to halt the game altogether,” Thrillist reported.
Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten explained the infrastructure breakdown after the game, per CBS News.
"Apparently, there was a pipe backup on two different levels of the stadium," he said. "We don't know exactly where the backup was, or what caused it. It had something to do with a main pipe here, as well as main pipe outside the stadium."
Infrastructure challenges are not uncommon in older stadiums.
“Other aging stadiums have dealt with sewage spills in recent years. The problem has been chronic at Oakland Coliseum, which opened in 1966, four years after Dodger Stadium opened,” The Los Angeles Times reported.
The players weighed in on the unpleasant situation.
“I smelled it,” said Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles, per The Los Angeles Times. He was on second base when the pipe broke burst. “It was nasty. I’m not going to tell you what it really was. That’s kind of messed up. But, yeah, it was nasty, man. It was a tragic thing.”
"Crappy way to end the spring," Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling added. "Get it?"