The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Tigers, Indians postponed; makeup Oct. 3, if needed
DETROIT » For a moment, it appeared there might be baseball at Comerica Park — when the tarp came off, and both managers walked around the field with umpires.
Turned out the situation was a lot less promising than it seemed.
“When we walked the field, it was so soft that we knew if it took any more water, it was going to be unplayable,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “So we were already iffy at that point, and then we got all the rest of the rain.”
The Sept. 29 game between the Indians and Tigers was eventually postponed because of bad weather, a move that could force the teams to squeeze in a makeup game Oct. 3 if it needs to be played because of postseason implications. With the regular season scheduled to end Oct. 2 — and little room for extra games before the postseason — the Tigers and Indians waited through a delay of 4 hours, 13 minutes before the game was finally called.
The wild card-contending Tigers and AL Central champion Indians played a rain-shortened game Sept. 28, which Detroit won 6-3 in five innings. The series finale Sept. 29 never began, and if it has to be played Oct. 3, that could cause some wacky travel scenarios. The postseason is supposed to begin Oct. 4 with the AL wild-card game.
The teams kept waiting Sept. 29 even as rain fell and the field took on more water. The Tigers said over 6 inches of rain fell at Comerica.
“We know what is at stake, especially with the bad weather forecasts for the East Coast,” Francona said. “If we were 20 games out, it would have been different, but we understood why they wanted to try to avoid everything getting backed up, and they did a great job of communicating with us.”
The Tigers begin a threegame series at Atlanta on Sept. 30, and Cleveland starts a three-game set at Kansas City. The Tigers and Indians would need to play a makeup game Oct. 3 if it could affect who makes the postseason or how teams are seeded.
The weather cleared up enough at one point Sept. 29 to allow the grounds crew to remove the tarp and work on the infield, but after Francona and Detroit manager Brad Ausmus walked around the field with umpires, the tarp went back on. The delay continued for about 2 ½ more hours.
The rainout allows Detroit to push starter Daniel Norris (3-2) to the Sept. 30 game against the Braves, and Jordan Zimmermann will start Oct. 1. The Tigers were initially set to choose between Matt Boyd and Buck Farmer for Oct. 1, but now they can avoid that issue.
Justin Verlander slated to pitch Oct. 2.
Cleveland will push its Sept. 29 starter back a day, too. Ryan Merritt (0-0) will pitch Sept. 30.
The Indians clinched the division with a Sept. 26 win at Detroit, then their top players hardly took the field after that. Cleveland lost 12-0 with a lineup full of backups Sept. 27, and after the Sept. 28 game was shortened, the Sept. 30 game didn’t happen at all.
The Indians entered Sept. 30 2 ½ games behind AL West champion Texas and one behind AL East champion Boston, so if home-field advantage is still at stake Oct. 3, Cleveland will be back in Detroit to play its 162nd game of the season. The Indians aren’t supposed to start the AL Division Series until Oct. 6, so there will be time off even if they have to play Oct. 3.
“We’d still get two days,” Francona said. “Besides, I don’t know, it might be fun to play in a game like that, with something at stake.” is