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The time-honored tradition of weather impacting playoff baseball games in Cleveland is back with rainy forecasts on Saturday forcing MLB to move up the start time for Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Guardians and Detroit Tigers.
MLB and the Guardians announced first pitch will be at 1:08 p.m. ET instead of the originally scheduled 8:08 p.m. ET start time.
Per Weather.com, there is an 80 percent chance of rain with total accumulations of around half an inch in Cleveland on Saturday night.
The daytime forecast is a little better with a 40 percent chance of “off and on rain showers during the afternoon hours” and a possibility of thunderstorms.
One thing that doesn’t seem like it will be a factor this time, compared to Game 1 last Saturday which also started a 1 p.m. ET, is the sun and shadows. It’s expected to be cloudy in the city all day until the expected rain begins.
The Guardians forced a winner-take-all game at Progressive Field with a dramatic 5-4 win over the Tigers in Game 4 on Thursday night. David Fry played the hero role with a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh and a safety squeeze in the ninth that gave Cleveland a two-run lead.
The safety squeeze in the top of the ninth turned out to be critical because Detroit was able to get a run off Emmanuel Clase in the bottom half of the frame that cut the deficit to one run, but the Guardians’ All-Star closer struck out Matt Vierling to end the game.
Despite not being able to close out the series at home, the Tigers should feel very confident going into Game 5 with Tarik Skubal getting the start on full rest. The AL Cy Young favorite has thrown 24 scoreless innings dating back to the regular season, including 13 innings across two playoff starts.
Skubal allowed three hits and struck out eight in seven innings against the Guardians in Game 2.
Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt has not yet announced its starter for the game.
Lefty starter Matthew Boyd, who threw 4.2 shutout innings against Skubal in Game 2, would be able to go on full rest. Right-hander Gavin Williams could get the nod given the hamstring injury that has put the availability of Kerry Carpenter—who owns a .994 OPS vs. right-handed pitching this season; .408 vs. lefties—into question.
The winner of Saturday’s game will take on the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday at 7:37 p.m. ET.
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