CLEVELAND – In the end, the weather defeated MLB's television partner as Game 4 of the American League Championship Series was postponed Friday night due to inclement weather.
Since the beginning of the week, the forecast had called for rain all day and all night on Friday. So Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays knew well in advance that the chances of playing Game 4 on schedule were slim.
A source with direct knowledge of the conversations told FanSided that MLB had wanted to call off the game on Friday morning. The league did not want fans to come to Progressive Field, wait around and then have the game postponed. Yet the stadium gates opened at 6:30 p.m. ET for the scheduled 8 p.m. ET start, and MLB did not decide on the postponement until 9:02 p.m. ET.
ALCS schedule: No more days off after Game 4 rainout
The postponement means that Game 4 will be played on Saturday night, while Game 5 gets pushed back to Sunday — which had been previously scheduled as a travel day. Instead, the series will run for four days in a row, all the way through Tuesday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg if it goes the full seven games.
Skydance Corporation wanted to play the game on Friday night to avoid airing a game Sunday opposite the NFL. Skydance owns TBS, which is broadcasting the series.
“We knew how many days ago that today was going to be a challenge,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Numerous weather calls, numerous back-and-forth, and ultimately MLB decided we needed to wait it out. Obviously, it's an important game, and we need to do everything we can to play when it's scheduled. But MLB ultimately decided to wait this one out.”
MLB has botched things since the series shifted to Cleveland on Thursday after the teams split the first two games in St. Petersburg.
Rob Manfred moved the start time of Game 3 on Thursday to 1 p.m. ET from 6 p.m. ET because of the threat of rain. The Guardians won 3-2, but the game could have been played in the evening as no rain fell at Progressive Field until Friday morning. The switch inconvenienced many fans who either had to call off work, skip school or absorb the cost of unused tickets.
Rays downplay frustration with MLB decision
The Rays were reportedly upset by the postponement, feeling the unscheduled day off would favor the Guardians given their lack of starting pitching depth behind Parker Messick (who pitched in Game 2) and Gavin Williams (who started Game 3). Manager Kevin Cash played it cool, though, when he met with reporters about 15 minutes after the game was called.
“No, I'm not frustrated at all. I have no reason to be frustrated,” Cash said. “I think we did everything accordingly, just like we would do during the regular season. There are a lot of games where you come in, see, and hear the forecast. It felt like everything operated very similarly, and that's really all you can ask for.”
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