Guardians-Yankees rained out, Game 5 on Tuesday

NEW YORK – The decisive Game 5 of the AL Division Series between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians was postponed by rain and rescheduled for Tuesday at 4:07 p.m.

Both teams took batting practice Monday ahead of the scheduled 7:07 p.m. start. Major League Baseball announced a delay at 6:20 p.m., rain started falling at 7:30 p.m. and the postponement was announced at 9:38 p.m.

“If weather is an issue, I don’t want to be powering through that necessarily,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said around 4 p.m.

Cleveland outfielder Myles Straw, who got into an angry confrontation with Yankees fans in April, exchanged football tosses with fans in the first and second decks during the delay, as did backup outfielder Will Brennan.

The center field video board showed split screen coverage of New York City’s 3-0 win over Miami in the Major League Soccer playoffs, the New York Rangers’ NHL game against the Anaheim Ducks and the Denver Broncos’ NFL matchup vs. the San Diego Chargers.

This was the second postponement of the series following Game 2 at Yankee Stadium being pushed back a day until Friday.

Cleveland or New York will start the AL Championship Series at Houston on Wednesday night.

Aaron Civale had been scheduled to start Monday for the Guardians and Jameson Taillon for the Yankees. The postponement allows the possibility for Cleveland ace Shane Bieber and New York All-Star Nestor Cortes to start on three days’ rest.

After losing last week’s opener, Cleveland won Games 2 and 3, overcoming a two-run deficit in the ninth inning to win Game 3 by 6-5. The Yankees won 4-2 on Sunday night.