Game 4 of Sunday’s American League Championship Series did not start as scheduled at 7:07 p.m. ET due to rain, but Major League Baseball announced at 7:29 a.m. that it is targeting an 8:30 a.m. start time.
“We are working with clubs to ensure their pitchers have a reasonable chance to warm up to achieve this goal,” it said the latest statement.
After the industrial dispute between MLB and the players’ union delayed the start of the season over the winter, MLB screwed on the postseason. As a result, some of the traditional travel days are lost when a series changes venues. After a day of travel on Friday between Game 2 in Houston on Thursday and Game 3 in the Bronx on Saturday, teams should play five games in five days if needed. The series could return to Houston for Game 6 on Tuesday if the Yankees can win two games.
The Yankees already had two games postponed by rain in their previous round, a best-of-five AL division series against the Cleveland Guardians. Last Monday, the Yankees and Guardians were scheduled to play the series final.
But after telling fans the game’s start would be delayed and then observing the changing weather patterns, MLB didn’t notify fans until two and a half hours after the original start time and told them the game had been postponed. This time MLB is more transparent.