COMMERCE CITY — The Rapids made a superfluous trip to Kansas City last week and won’t get to make up for it until autumn.
Their game scheduled at Sporting KC Saturday night was delayed and then postponed because of lightning storms in the area. MLS announced Tuesday that the game will be made up Oct. 21.
Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni was disappointed the game wasn’t made up the next day.
“Everyone else (with a postponed game) has always played the following day,” Mastroeni said. “I (wasn’t) even thinking that it’s an option not to play the following day.”
The last Rapids game postponed due to weather before Saturday was the team’s home opener in 2013, which could not be played because of a snowstorm. That game was played the next day.
The trip got off to an inauspicious start on Friday when the team’s propeller-driven flight was diverted to Springfield, Mo., while on its final approach to Kansas City. The team had a lengthy delay on the tarmac at Springfield before the flight was cleared to leave for Kansas City.
The team arrived at Sporting Park around 6 p.m. Saturday for the game scheduled to begin 90 minutes later.
“We knew there was some inclement weather possible,” Mastroeni said. “When we got to the stadium it was drizzling, but it wasn’t anything bad. We were literally on our way to the field, walking through the tunnel, when we were held back and told there was lightning in the area.”
About 9 p.m., officials made the decision not to play the game that night. The Rapids learned about 90 minutes later that they would not be playing the game on Sunday.
“For me it was almost surreal, walking in and out of rooms, you were just unsettled trying to figure out exactly what was going on,” Mastroeni said. “For us the disappointing part was not being able to play the game on Sunday, more than the game being cancelled on Saturday.”
The Rapids host the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday.
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or
