Game 4 of the American League Championship Series was postponed late Friday night because of rain, and the Rays Guardians schedule immediately shifted with it. The game was reset for 8 p.m. ET Saturday, with Game 5 moved to 5 p.m. ET Sunday.
The change came after the Guardians took a 2-1 series lead with a 3-2 win in Game 3 on Thursday, so the postponement landed at a moment when the series was already leaning one way. Nick Martinez had been set to start for the Rays, while Shawn Armstrong was scheduled to open a bullpen game for the Guardians, and Stephen Vogt said his players usually get cranked up an hour before first pitch, something that never happened Friday because the game was called off.
MLB and both clubs tried to get Game 4 played, but the weather never cleared out the way they had hoped. Kevin Cash said it made the most sense to stop at that point in the night because there was no guarantee another rain band would not arrive, and the schedule now asks both teams to absorb a shorter runway between games than they had planned.
That matters because if the series goes the distance, the final stretch gets crowded fast. Game 6 would be played Monday at Tropicana Field if necessary, and Game 7 would follow there on Tuesday if needed, which would mean four games over four consecutive days. The winner will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series, with Game 1 scheduled for Oct. 23 in Milwaukee, so every lost hour in this series now squeezes the path to that next round.
The weather has already altered this series once, since Game 3 was moved up from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET to avoid what was in the forecast. Friday night showed that even after all the effort to keep the ALCS on schedule, one more rain band can still rewrite the rest of the week.
