CLEVELAND — The Guardians and Rays will try again Saturday night after a soaking Friday rain in Cleveland washed out ALCS Game 4 at Progressive Field, the first postseason rainout in nearly four years.
First pitch is now set for 8 p.m. ET Saturday. Game 5 moves into what had been a Sunday off day, with a 5 p.m. ET start, and the travel break disappears with it. If a Game 6 is needed, it would be played Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, and a seventh game would follow Tuesday, so a full-length series now means four games in four days.
Crews had the tarp down long before the planned first pitch and kept bailing water off the field, but the showers never let up. Around 9 p.m. ET the league called it. A handful of Tampa Bay pitchers briefly came out to throw before retreating to the clubhouse.
Cleveland holds a 2-1 edge in the series and can still clinch a pennant at home with two more wins. The survivor meets Milwaukee, which finished off a sweep of the two-time defending champion Dodgers on Thursday night.
Pitching plans for Saturday stay the same: Nick Martinez starts for the Rays, while Shawn Armstrong opens for the Guardians ahead of a bullpen game. The extra day leaves both relief corps rested, and both clubs gain options for Game 5, with Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta possibilities for Tampa Bay and Parker Messick and Gavin Williams in line for Cleveland.
Ticket holders for the rained-out Friday game can use them for Sunday, when gates open at 2:30 p.m. ET, and seats bought for the original Saturday game remain valid for the rescheduled Game 4. The last playoff rainout came on Halloween 2022, when Game 3 of the World Series between Houston and Philadelphia slid a day; the Phillies won it 7-0 on Nov. 1. Forecasts call for a dry but chilly Saturday night, with temperatures falling toward 40 degrees.
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