Giants’ game in Seattle moved because of smoke
Wildfires have made the air quality levels unheathy in Pacific Northwest
With time running out for teams to complete a full 60-game season, Major League Baseball had appeared reluctant to postpone or reschedule games for any reason other than for positive coronavirus tests.
That changed Tuesday when the Giants’ two-game series in Seattle was called off and moved to San Francisco about five hours before the first pitch at T-Mobile Park.
Less than 24 hours earlier, the A’s had played a doubleheader in Seattle amid heavy smoke caused by the wildfires raging along the coast in Washington, Oregon and California. Online trackers suggested the air quality index
throughout both games was consistently above 200, but A’s manager Bob Melvin said there was no communication about the issue once the first game began,
“I got an update about an hour and 15 (minutes) before the game that it was still over 200, but they expected it to get to below 200, and then I didn’t hear anything after that, so I assumed it was (under 200),” Melvin said Tuesday from Denver, where the A’s were to open a two-game series against the Colorado Rockies.
The AQI scale measures air pollution levels from 0-500 with 101-150 being considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” 151-200 being “unhealthy,” 201-300 being “very unhealthy” and 300+ being “hazardous.”
To be in bad air is not merely a respiratory issue, said Dr. Tina Sindher, an immunologist for Stanford Health Care. According to Sindher, recent studies have found that wildfire smoke can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, probably due to toxins entering the blood stream.
“It’s not just a lung issue,” Sindher said. “People may assume, ‘I’m young and healthy and I don’t have asthma, so I’m OK.’”
Major League Baseball does not have an AQI threshold at which games are postponed. Instead, teams are advised to speak with local health departments for guidance on how to proceed. The Seattle Times reported that the Mariners used an AQI monitor near the ballpark Monday to gauge conditions and the monitor never climbed above 230 during the first game of the doubleheader.
A’s rookie left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who started Game 1 of the doubleheader, said he believed he was pitching in conditions that were close to “hazardous” on the AQI scale.
“When I came out, I think it was at 284,” Luzardo said. “I’m a healthy 22-year-old. I shouldn’t be gasping for air.”
A’s reliever Jake Diekman tweeted after Monday’s games that the best AQI “was after the game at 221. High of 283.”
The source of those readings is not known. None of the A’s players was made available to the media before Tuesday’s game in Colorado, not an uncommon occurrence in this time of closed clubhouses and conference calls arranged by the team.
But Melvin had spoken to a number of his charges about having played amid the heavy smoke Monday night.
“When you went home, you felt it, for sure, and some guys more than others,” he said. “My situation is very minimal. I’m sitting on the bench. The guys are out there playing in it, having to run in it and so forth. Much more concerned about them than me.”
As for the decision to postpone the Giants-Mariners series, he said: “If it’s similar to what it was (Monday), that’s probably the proper thing to do ... that was pretty extreme.”
Tuesday, about eight hours before game time, the AQI near T-Mobile Park was 235. The forecast from Accuweather.com was for it to remain above 200 through at least this noon. An Air Quality Alert is in place for Seattle until Thursday at noon.
In conjuction with the postponement Tuesday, the Giants were instructed to return to San Francisco where they will host the Mariners in makeup games today and Thursday. The AQI at Oracle Park on Tuesday was 112, but it is forecast to be 45-50 the next two days.
The Giants have played only one game in the last five days. Their games Friday and Saturday in San Diego were postponed due to a positive COVID-19 result. They had an open date on the schedule Monday and Thursday
With Tuesday’s developments, the Giants will play 13 games in the next 12 days — and they happen to be the last 12 days of the regular season for a team trying to hang on to the final playoff spot.