CLEVELAND (AP) — The game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guardians scheduled for Friday night has been postponed due to air quality concerns because of wildfire smoke from Canada and northern Minnesota.
Heavy, pungent wildfire smoke darkened skies in the U.S. from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, reducing visibility and prompting warnings that breathing the air outside could be dangerous.
Officials in many cities urged residents to stay inside or wear masks outside as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, meaning it’s unhealthy for anyone, regardless of health conditions. The National Weather Service said a lingering high pressure system has trapped the smoke close to the ground.
The air quality index was 203 when the game was postponed at 4:45 p.m. EDT, which is deemed to be very unhealthy and hazardous.
Northeast Ohio has been experiencing smoky and hazy skies for the past two days.
“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. It’s just not safe to be out in that environment if it’s not playable,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said before the postponement was announced. “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.”
A split doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, with the start times being 1:10 p.m. EDT and 7:10 p.m. EDT.
New York City was also experiencing hazy skies and poor air quality levels. The Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to begin a three-game series Friday night.
“Obviously they’re monitoring it to see if it gets any worse,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll be communicating with our guys a lot. We’re able to test oxygen levels and things like that if guys are having trouble. So, we’re paying attention to it, and we’ll take the guidance from the league and the weather and the smoke people.”
Thursday night's game in Philadelphia between the Mets and Phillies was moved to 6:10 p.m. EDT from 7:10 p.m. It was the only game on the big league schedule coming out of this week’s All-Star break.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
The Associated Press
