Major League Baseball still had one weather-related decision hanging over the American League Championship Series on Thursday night: whether Game 4 should be played Friday at all.
The league already made one proactive move, shifting Game 3 into a 1:10 p.m. start to dodge the rain and land in ideal conditions at first pitch - 62 degrees and blue skies. The next call is tougher. Friday’s forecast calls for rain all day and into the night, wind gusts reaching 40 mph, and temperatures in the mid-40s, leaving MLB to weigh whether to push ahead with the scheduled 6 p.m. start or postpone before the weather takes over.
“We’re just going to take it as we go,” he said. “Not much you can control about that, just be ready to go.”
Kevin Cash didn’t sound especially optimistic about the outlook.
“They’re guessing it’s going to be a pretty rain-filled day,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said Thursday morning. “They’re hoping that maybe it will open up towards the end of the day.”
Stephen Vogt, meanwhile, said the Guardians have heard the same discouraging forecast.
“All he’s been told was that “it does not look good for (Friday).””
If MLB does postpone Game 4, the usual fix would be to play it Saturday and Game 5 on Sunday in Cleveland. That would wipe out Sunday’s planned off/travel day before a possible Game 6 at Tropicana Field on Monday, with Game 7 then shifting to Tuesday if necessary. That would leave the clubs playing four straight days and could force relievers into heavier usage while also affecting how the starters are lined up.
There is another path, though it comes with its own complications: Games 4 and 5 could be pushed to Saturday and Sunday, followed by an off day Monday and Games 6 and 7 on Tuesday and Wednesday. That would create different travel problems for the team advancing to the World Series, which begins Oct. 23 in the NL city.
For now, the Rays are set to send veteran Nick Martinez to the mound Friday, while the Guardians, with only three starters available for the series - Foster Griffin, Parker Messick and Gavin Williams - are likely headed toward a bullpen game.
Thursday’s Game 3 ended in a 3-2 loss for the Rays, and Griffin Jax was at the center of it. He said his first couple innings were rocky, especially when it came to landing first-pitch strikes, and he was particularly unhappy with the sinker Petey Halpin turned into the two-run, game-deciding homer in the fifth.
“The first couple innings, I just felt myself working through some things, not in the zone as much as I’d like, and just put me a little bit of a disadvantage,” he said. “I felt that after the third or so, obviously, when we put up those two runs (in the fourth), that really helped me just get a little bit more confidence, just to challenge these guys a little bit more.”
Cash saw plenty to like, too.
“I thought Jax threw the ball incredibly well,” Cash said. “He settled in after the first inning, second inning, he was kind of 50/50 strike throwing, then he got into a good rhythm.”
The Rays had grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth before Jax surrendered it right back in the next inning. Patrick Bailey started the fifth with a bouncer that went over the mound, and Jax charged after it to try to make a play. Taylor Walls was trailing behind him and appeared to have the better angle, but Jax explained why he took the shot.
“If I don’t go for it, no one’s going to make that play,” Jax said. “I felt like it was in the sun. Kind of just lost it at last second, but I think even with a clean pick and turn to first, it’s just going to be bang bang.”
There were also some notable marks in the game and series. Yandy Diaz played in his 31st Rays postseason game, moving past Evan Longoria for the franchise record.
In seven-game series tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to take the series 71 times in 102 tries, including 13 of 18 in the ALCS. Chandler Simpson’s triple was the Rays’ first postseason triple since Yandy Diaz in Game 5 of the 2020 World Series.
Liam Hicks became the first Rays catcher to throw out two runners trying to steal in a postseason game, and the first to do it in the first five innings of a postseason game since 2001, when Houston’s Brad Ausmus caught Atlanta’s Julio Franco and Chipper Jones. And Thursday’s early start was the earliest League Championship Series game in Eastern Time Zone history since Game 5 of the 1988 NLCS, when the Dodgers and Mets started at 12:20 p.m.
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