ATLANTA — There's a Science Behind keeping the grass in pristine condition year-round at Truist Park for the Atlanta Braves. It's even more critical for Atlanta's first World Series appearance in more than 20 years.
The key ingredient to that science equation is water. Making sure it gets enough is one thing, but keeping it off the field, especially at game time is just as important. Ed Mangan, Senior Director of Field Operations with the Atlanta Braves, has long been an expert on keeping the field just right:
"This whole field is like a swimming pool. It's got a liner underneath it. So any water, rain-wise, irrigation-wise, that we put on the field or comes in naturally we can stop it. We can hold it."
It can hold a lot. That underground catching is 13 inches deep, and 2.5 acres in length. That can hold over 800,000 gallons of water. Just over the amount of water found in an Olympic size swimming pool.
That water can drain naturally or if it's too much, it can be drawn down and pumped into a tank where the water is recycled and used for irrigation.
So WHY is it so important to have this in place?
"To be able to play as soon as it stops raining. And we are pretty good, knock on wood, with rain delays and rainouts. If it stops raining we will play, because we are pulling the water through the profile and evacuating it off the field the entire time," Mangan said.
Those same pipes are also used to help keep this field pristine all year round, even in the winter months. The Brave added a new underground geothermal heating system, which pushes air through the pipes.
"With the compression of that air, we actually heat it. Push it out underneath the field, so even this winter when we had temps in the teens, we still able to keep the soil from freezing completely," he said.
The Grounds Crew at Truist Park will be critically paying attention to the weather forecast for Game 3 on Oct. 29 with showers possible during the game. Luckily, heavy rain is not in the forecast.