Wind Steals Homers from Happ, Alvarez

It's March 27, I'm Cory with the story, and this is MLB News Today Baseball News powered

by AI.

Opening day brought some heartbreaking near misses for two big leaks luggers.

Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Hap crushed a ball that looked like a sure home run in the

ninth inning against the Washington Nationals, but brutal wind, turned it into an easy catch.

Over in Houston, Astral Star Yordan Alvarez smashed one that hit the rafters at Diken

Park and bounced foul.

Neither got credit for a homer, and both teams lost their games.

Haps drive traveled just 322 feet before Nationals left Fielder, James Woods snagged his

short of the warning track.

Weather data shows it would have gone 435 feet on a calm day, easily clearing the walls

at Rigglyfield.

Winds were blowing in from left at 22 miles per hour, gusting up to 30, robbing it of the

most distance ever recorded in the past three seasons.

Broadcasters could not believe their eyes as Woods shifted from watching a deep fly

to drifting in for the out.

His awkward route showed how the gusts twisted the ball's path in unexpected ways.

Fans that Riggly know this all too well, with the parts reputation for wild winds making

outfield defense a real challenge.

Even non-homer hits felt the impact that day.

Nationals in Fielder, Louis Garcia, Jr. lost 111 feet on a fly ball that dropped a short

stop instead of caring further.

Major ranks Riggly as the second toughest outfield to defend.

Right behind San Francisco, thanks to these gusts that can add or subtract over 1, 100 feet

based on speed and direction.

Wind at the windy city's famous ballpark proved as unforgiving as indoor rafters elsewhere,

denying Hap his first homer of the year and setting a dubious record until the next breezy