CLEVELAND — Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays was postponed by rain on Friday night, Oct. 16, after fans at Progressive Field waited for hours for a decision that many believed should have come much earlier in the day.
The game had originally been scheduled for 6:10 p.m., but first pitch was pushed to 8:08 p.m. after Milwaukee completed a four-game sweep of Los Angeles in the National League Championship Series. Rain then pounded Northeast Ohio for most of the day, flooding the warning track and turning the infield tarp into a pond.
Major League Baseball did not announce that the game would not start on time until 7:19 p.m., and the postponement itself was not announced until shortly after 9 p.m. Gates had opened at 5:30 p.m., and many fans who had paid hundreds of dollars for tickets, parking and concessions left the ballpark wet and frustrated, with some then caught in a traffic jam in the parking garage next to the stadium.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said the club had known for days that Friday’s weather would be a problem. “We knew how many days ago that today was going to be a challenge,” Vogt said after the postponement was announced. “Numerous weather calls, numerous back and forths, and ultimately MLB decided we needed to wait it out. Obviously, it’s an important game, and we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to play the games when they’re scheduled. But MLB ultimately decided to wait this one out.”
Vogt and Rays manager Kevin Cash said they had a phone call scheduled with the league about the game’s status at 6 p.m., but no further information was provided to teams or fans for more than three hours after the delayed-start announcement. The delay stood in contrast to Game 3, which was moved from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, because of the forecast — a call the league made around noon on Wednesday, Oct. 14, giving fans a full day’s notice.
The postponement reshuffles the rest of the series. Game 4 will now be played at 8:08 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at Progressive Field, and Game 5 is set for 5:08 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, also in Cleveland. The Guardians lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, and the schedule change eliminates Sunday as a travel day for both clubs.
If the Rays win one of the next two games to make a Game 6 necessary, that game would be played at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. For ticket holders, fans with tickets for Friday’s postponed game may use those same tickets for Game 5 on Sunday. Fans with tickets for the game originally scheduled for Saturday do not need to take any action — they still have tickets for the same day, but they will now see Game 4 instead of Game 5.