MLB News: How Baseball Is Observing The Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse will cover cities across the United States today, and two cities experiencing a total eclipse are hosting Major League Baseball games.

One of the two — Arlington, Texas — isn't scheduled to open its gates until long after the eclipse has passed. The Rangers will host the Houston Astros at 7 p.m. Central Time under the lights of Globe Life Field.

The other is Cleveland, Ohio, where the Guardians are opening gates to Progressive Field early so fans can experience the eclipse from their seat in the ballpark. Count starting pitcher Triston McKenzie among the excited eclipse viewers.

"I'm excited for it," McKenzie told the Guardians' website. "I think it's like one of the only times we're not allowed on the field from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m., or something like that. That's one of the weirdest reasons that I've ever gotten to not be on the field."

The Guardians handed out solar-filtered glasses to attendees even though the eclipse isn't visible from certain parts of the venue because of the architecture of the Progressive Field, according to The Athletic. That set the stage to leave fans jockeying for position in the pregame hours to catch something better than a batting practice home run — a glimpse of a once-in-a-lifetime celestial phenomenon.

"I think it's cool," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt told cleveland.com. "I can remember in elementary school in California, we had [an eclipse] that I remember the shop teacher bringing over the welding goggles and we all got to look at it. I don't remember what year that was or anything, but I have this vague memory of doing that. So it's, it's a cool event."

According to MLB.com, the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Toronto Blue Jays will all be hosting games in cities where at least a 90 percent eclipse will be visible Monday.

The threat of rain is omnipresent in cities with outdoor ballparks. Two MLB games were postponed on Opening Day alone. Many of the same midwestern cities that were blanketed with rain over the weekend will be blanketed with darkness at midday Monday. The same inclement conditions that will make the eclipse difficult to view in parts of the U.S. could disrupt outdoor baseball games, as well.

Where the weather is clear, baseball fans had a chance Monday to experience the cool convergence of a rare global phenomenon and a national pastime.