Canadian Wildfire Smoke Postpones MLB Game, Forces Schedule Changes Across the League This Week

Wildfire smoke drifting down from Canada and northern Minnesota has been rewriting Major League Baseball's schedule this week, culminating in Friday's postponement of the Pirates-Guardians series opener in Cleveland.

The Guardians announced the postponement about two and a half hours before first pitch, according to MLB.com. The Air Quality Index in Cleveland hit 211 at 5 p.m. ET, according to CBS Sports, citing the Associated Press. Anything over 200 is classified as "very unhealthy."

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt didn't dress it up. "We want to be safe for our players. We want to make sure that it's not too smoky and obviously for the fans as well," Vogt said, according to CBS Sports. "It's just not safe to be out in that environment if it's not playable. We can't control the weather. We can't control mother nature. So we got to do what's best and what's smart for both teams and for the fans."

The Makeup Plan

The postponed game will be made up as part of a split doubleheader Saturday at Progressive Field, according to MLB.com. Game 1 starts at 1:10 p.m. ET, and the originally scheduled Saturday game moves from 4:10 p.m. to 7:10 p.m.

Gavin Williams, Friday's scratched Guardians starter, will now start Game 1 Saturday. Logan Allen is expected to get called up from Triple-A Columbus to start the nightcap as Cleveland's 27th man. Jared Jones takes the ball for Pittsburgh in Game 1, with Paul Skenes still lined up to start Sunday.

Fans holding tickets to Friday's postponed game can use them Saturday, but the Guardians confirmed the "Sugardale Dollar Dog Night" promotion will not carry over, according to MLB.com. Anyone who can't make the makeup date can exchange tickets.

Philadelphia Played Through It

A night earlier, the Mets-Phillies game in Philadelphia wasn't postponed, just moved up an hour, from 7:10 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. EDT, according to the Associated Press as reported by WRAL. The Mets won 4-1.

Players noticed. "It's definitely different," Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said during the ESPN broadcast, according to WRAL. "Not the greatest idea, I guess, to come out here and play in this type of weather, but we're doing it."

Mets interim manager Andy Green said visibility, more than air quality itself, became the bigger concern in-game. "I don't think they really did" affect the game much, Green said, per WRAL, though he added it "felt like they could have at any moment, especially as visibility got tougher." Phillies manager Don Mattingly echoed that, saying the problem late in the game "seemed to be a little bit like foggy conditions more than the air quality."

Roofs Closed in Toronto and Milwaukee

Two ballparks with retractable roofs used them Friday. The Blue Jays closed the Rogers Centre roof shortly after 1 p.m. ET, according to Fox News. Toronto's own air quality had improved to "low health risk" levels by Friday afternoon after hitting hazardous levels Thursday night, though nearby Ontario cities remained at high risk.

In Milwaukee, the AQI spiked to 287, "very unhealthy," at 1:10 p.m. ET before dropping to 133 by the 5 p.m. hour, Fox News reported. The Brewers played American Family Field as scheduled under its retractable roof but let fans exchange tickets for another date if they preferred not to attend.

Both stadiums have rules limiting roof changes to once per game, with exceptions written in for player and fan comfort if conditions shift mid-game, according to Fox News.

Beyond Baseball

The smoke has hit other sports too. An MLS game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Chicago Fire at Soldier Field was postponed Thursday, along with a scheduled postgame concert expected to draw 40,000 fans; it's been rescheduled for Oct. 6, according to the Associated Press via WRAL. The Canadian Premier League postponed a Thursday match between Forge FC and Pacific FC in Hamilton, Ontario, citing conditions that "deteriorated in the final hours leading up to kickoff."

NWSL player Trinity Rodman also described difficult conditions during Wednesday night's Washington Spirit-Gotham FC game at Citi Field in New York, according to WRAL.

The National Weather Service says a stalled high-pressure system is trapping the smoke close to the ground across the Great Lakes and into the Northeast, according to the Associated Press reporting picked up by WRAL. Fox News noted air quality alerts have covered 15 states and more than 100 million Americans this week, with health officials warning of risks to asthma sufferers, people with heart conditions, and potential longer-term cancer risk from fine particulate exposure.

This isn't the first time smoke has hit the Philadelphia ballpark. A Tigers-Phillies game was postponed in June 2023 for the same reason, according to WRAL. Whether Friday's Yankees game and the rest of the weekend slate proceed as scheduled will depend on how quickly that high-pressure system breaks down, something the National Weather Service has not put a firm timeline on.