CLEVELAND — Game 4 of the American League Championship Series was postponed late Friday night due to rain, creating an unusual set of circumstances for the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays as the Milwaukee Brewers await in the World Series.
Friday’s game was rescheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday. Game 5 was pushed to 5 p.m. ET Sunday, which was originally a scheduled off-day.
Game 4’s pitching matchup will remain the same. All-Star hurler Nick Martinez will start for the Rays, and reliever Shawn Armstrong will open a bullpen game for the Guardians.
“It never cleared out the way they were hoping it would,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It started to get later in the hour, and MLB and I think both clubs did everything they could to try to get it in. Made the most sense at this point and this hour, with no guarantee that there wasn’t another band coming.”
The Guardians hold a 2-1 series lead after winning 3-2 in Game 3 on Thursday. The first pitch for Game 3 was moved up from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET to avoid inclement weather in the forecast.
The teams would play Game 6 on Monday and Game 7 on Tuesday at Tropicana Field, if necessary. If the series goes seven games, the clubs would play four games over four consecutive days in two cities.
The winner of the series will face the Brewers, who will have a week off after advancing to the World Series on Thursday. Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for Oct. 23 in Milwaukee.
“This is what we do,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We play every day. Our guys get psyched or get cranked up an hour before game time. That never happened today. So it was a pretty calm day overall.
“These are professional baseball players. They know how to get ready. They know how to get going. I’m sure the Rays are in the same boat. Tomorrow is game day. Hopefully, there’s no weather. I know it’s going to be cold, but we’ll be ready to play tomorrow night at 8:08.”
