Persistent rain in Cleveland forced Major League Baseball to postpone Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night, squeezing the final stretch of the Rays-Guardians series into a tighter window and leaving the Milwaukee Brewers waiting an extra day or two to learn who they will face in the World Series.
The decision came after MLB and both clubs delayed the scheduled first pitch at Progressive Field for hours, hoping for a break in the weather that never arrived. According to CBS Sports' gametracker, the postponement was announced once it became clear no safe window remained to complete nine innings.
"It never cleared out the way they were hoping. It started to get later in the hour, and MLB and I think both clubs did everything they could to try to get it in. Made the most sense, like, at this point and this hour, with no guarantee that there wasn't another band coming."
— Rays manager Kevin Cash
Yahoo Sports reported that Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said the club had been monitoring the forecast for days. "We knew how many days ago that today was going to be a challenge. Numerous weather calls, numerous back and forths, and ultimately MLB decided we needed to wait it out," Vogt said, adding that the league made the final call.
A Series Already Defined by the Weather
This is the second time MLB has had to adjust the ALCS schedule around rain in Cleveland. Game 3 was moved up five hours, to a 1 p.m. ET start on Thursday, after forecasters flagged a storm system expected that evening — a switch that Fox 13 Tampa Bay reported was made "proactively in order to remain on schedule." The Guardians won that rescheduled Game 3 anyway, 3-2, on the strength of a two-run homer from Petey Halpin that snapped a tie in the fifth inning, giving Cleveland a 2-1 series edge.
The series has swung back and forth from the start: the Guardians took Game 1 at Tropicana Field 7-3, the Rays answered in Game 2 with a 3-1 win behind six strong innings from Freddy Peralta, and Cleveland reclaimed the lead in Game 3. With Friday's game wiped out entirely, the revised schedule now has Game 4 on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Progressive Field, Game 5 on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET — a date that was originally a scheduled day off — and, if necessary, Game 6 on Monday night in St. Petersburg.
Both teams are keeping their original starting pitching plans in place for the makeup game. Cleveland is expected to again use Shawn Armstrong as an opener, a role in which he has allowed just one hit and one walk across 5.1 postseason innings this October. Tampa Bay will turn to Nick Martinez, an All-Star in the regular season who struggled somewhat in his lone 2026 playoff start against the Yankees, allowing five hits and two earned runs over 3.2 innings.
What's at Stake
Either club would be making a significant leap in franchise history by reaching the Fall Classic. The Guardians have not won a World Series since 1948 and have not appeared in one since 2016, when they lost to the Cubs in seven games. The Rays, who won 98 games and the AL East this season, are chasing their first pennant since 2020. Both would meet a Milwaukee team that is already resting after completing a four-game sweep of the Dodgers in the NLCS on Thursday — a result that sent the Brewers to their first World Series since 1982.
That wait is now a bit longer than the Brewers might have hoped for. With the ALCS compressed into three games over three days to close it out, whichever team survives will have little time to regroup before the World Series opens. MLB has not yet announced a start date for the Fall Classic, but it is expected to follow within days of the ALCS finishing, weather allowing. For now, attention in Cleveland turns to Saturday night, when the Guardians will try to move within one win of the pennant and the Rays will try to even the series at two games apiece.
