Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday will not start as scheduled at 7:07 p.m. Eastern time because of rain and might even get postponed until Monday, Major League Baseball said. The league said “it remains possible” that the game is pushed back a day.
“We continue to evaluate the conditions and will provide another update at 7 p.m.,” the statement said.
After the labor dispute between M.L.B. and the players’ union over the winter delayed the start of the season, M.L.B. tweaked the postseason. As a result, the traditional travel days when a series switches venues are lost. So after a travel day on Friday in between Game 2 in Houston and Game 3 in the Bronx on Saturday, the teams were scheduled to play five games in five days. The series, if needed, would return to Houston on Tuesday for Game 6.
The Yankees already had two games in their previous round, a best-of-five A.L. division series against the Cleveland Guardians, postponed by rain. Last Monday, the Yankees and the Guardians were supposed to play the decisive final game of the series.
But after telling fans the game’s start would be delayed and then watching the weather patterns change, M.L.B. didn’t update fans until two and a half hours after the original start time, telling them the game had been postponed. This time, M.L.B. is being more transparent.