CLEVELAND — Game 3 of the American League Championship Series will be an afternoon game. Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Guardians announced Wednesday, Oct. 14, that Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field has been moved up to a 1 p.m. first pitch, five hours earlier than the original 6 p.m. start, because of inclement weather expected in Cleveland on Thursday night, Oct. 15.
Gates at Progressive Field will now open at 11 a.m., and fans can use the same tickets they already hold for the evening start. The team said tickets bought through secondary marketplaces will also be honored for the 1 p.m. game, so ticket holders do not need to exchange anything.
The series arrives in Cleveland tied at one game apiece. The Guardians took the opener in St. Petersburg on Monday, 7-3, before the Rays answered with a 3-1 win in Game 2 on Tuesday at Tropicana Field. A costly fourth-inning sequence in Game 2 — a ground ball that took a bad hop past third baseman José Ramírez, followed by a two-run single — accounted for all three Tampa Bay runs.
Games 3, 4 and 5 are scheduled at Progressive Field on consecutive days. Game 4 remains set for 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, and Game 5, if necessary, for Saturday, Oct. 17. If the series goes further, it returns to Florida for Games 6 and 7 after an off day on Sunday.
Manager Stephen Vogt said after Game 2 that his club was glad to be coming home even at 1-1, pointing to three games in front of Cleveland fans as a reason for confidence. The Guardians went 41-40 at home during the regular season, but a loud Progressive Field crowd helped carry them through a winner-take-all Game 5 against Chicago in the previous round.
Cleveland had not formally announced its Game 3 starting pitcher when the time change was made, although Gavin Williams, who was strong against Chicago in the Division Series, is a candidate to take the ball. Whoever starts will now work a day game on short notice for both clubs, with the earlier first pitch also compressing batting practice and pregame routines.
For fans, the practical effect is immediate: anyone planning an evening downtown now needs a daytime plan instead, and workers with tickets will have to decide quickly whether to rearrange Thursday. Thursday’s game will air on TBS, truTV and HBO Max. Forecasters also see a wetter outlook later in the week, so the league said moving Game 3 up proactively was meant to keep the series on schedule — and further changes for the weekend cannot be ruled out if the rain refuses to move on.