Guardians vs. Rays ALCS Game 4 rain delay: Updated start time and weather forecast

Game 3 of the ALCS between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays was moved up from 6:00 p.m. ET to 1:00 p.m. ET due to the threat of rain, and that shift certainly favored the home team, with the Guardians earning a crucial 3-2 victory to move ahead two games to one in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 of the series was pushed back from 6:00 p.m. ET to 8:00 p.m. ET thanks to the Brewers eliminating the Dodgers in the NLCS, but now, that contest has been delayed due to rain, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

This was a predictable outcome, as hours before the scheduled first pitch, Guardians manager Steven Vogt revealed that the teams were going to talk at 6:00 p.m. ET with the league about the weather. The Guardians have the momentum, but will this delay impact that? Only time will tell. What we can say for sure, is that we miss the domed Tropicana Field. At least a little bit.

UPDATE: Friday’s game has been postponed due to rain. The game will be moved to Sunday.

When will the Guardians-Rays ALCS Game 4 start on Friday?

Below is a look at the weather in Cleveland right now. Things are not pretty. It’s raining hard with a good amount of wind, and based on AccuWeather’s forecast, there’s a chance the rain won’t let up at all on Friday, which, obviously, is not what anyone wants to see. As of now, there’s no start time for this game. All we know is it won’t be at the initially scheduled 8:00 p.m. ET

Given the conditions, it isn’t surprising that a delay is in place, the only question is how long it will persist. We hope not too long, but the league is in a tricky spot. This game should be played today. Not playing today would make it so that the rest of the series would be played without an off-day – even if they have to go back to Tampa Bay for Games 6 and 7. However, the league also doesn’t want to force the issue, only to go into another delay. That’s how pitching plans get ruined.

For now, we can only wait and hope that this game can start sooner rather than later, and run through without an interruption.

Progressive Field forecast: How much more rain is expected?

As you can see, the rain isn’t really expected to let up on Friday. The chance of precipitation does dip a bit as the night progresses, but still hovers around 50-to-60 percent, per AccuWeather’s hourly forecast. Now, it’s worth noting that this is for the entire city of Cleveland, not just Progressive Field, so it’s possible that rain will hit in areas that aren’t the ballpark, but this forecast certainly isn’t ideal.

Ultimately, the odds of the rain stopping on Friday are slim. The question is whether the rain will be too hard to play through or just a slight drizzle. Baseball games can be played in rough weather, even if there’s rain, but there comes a point where games, especially ones that mean as much as this one, just can’t happen. The hope is that once the game resumes (based on the expected precipitation, likely around 10:00 p.m. ET), there won’t be another stoppage.

What to know about Game 4 of the ALCS

It goes without saying that this game is crucial for both teams, but especially the Rays, who want to do their best to avoid a 3-1 series deficit. They’ll turn to Nick Martinez, a surprise All-Star who dominated the Guardians in the regular season, not allowing a single run in 13 innings pitched against Cleveland in the regular season. He threw seven shutout innings at Progressive Field in a 1-0 Rays win in late April, and then threw six more scoreless innings against the Guardians in Tampa Bay in a 3-0 Rays win in late July.

On the other side, the Guardians will be rolling with a bullpen game. Shawn Armstrong will get the ball to start, and there’s a pretty decent chance that either Joey Cantillo or Tanner Bibee will be asked to pitch in bulk relief. It’s likely that anyone not named Gavin Williams, Parker Messick or Foster Griffin will be available in some capacity in this game for Cleveland.

There’s a good chance that the team’s third basemen will be the deciding factor in this game. For Cleveland, Jose Ramirez has been doing Jose Ramirez things, going 6-for-12 this series with a walk. On the flip side, Junior Caminero is just 2-for-11 with seven strikeouts in the ALCS. If Caminero can’t get going, it’ll be tough to trust the Rays’ offense.