Rays vs. Guardians weather news: Game 4 of ALCS postponed by heavy rain in Cleveland

Game 4 of the 2026 ALCS between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians has officially been postponed due to inclement weather at Progressive Field.With rain pouring down in Cleveland on Friday, MLB announced that the game would be moved to Sunday due to inclement weather. The teams will now play Game 4 on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Game 5 on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET."I think the rain just didn't change. It never really cleared out the way they were hoping," Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the game was postponed. "It started to get later in the hour, and MLB and both clubs did everything they could to try to get it in. "It made the most sense, like at this point in this hour, with no guarantee that there wasn't another band coming."Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Basketball league for the 2026-27 NBA seasonTonight's game has been postponed.#GuardsBall | #StandGuard pic.twitter.com/KCM1Zg5H5o— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 17, 2026 The development means the ALCS will conclude with four games in four days in the event of a Game 7, without the traditional off day when the teams would travel from Cleveland back to Tampa.MLB clearly wanted to avoid that scenario, as the league waited until less than an hour before first pitch to even confirm that first pitch would be indefinitely delayed. The tarp came off the infield at one point, but it was soon put back on.This development increases the possibility that the NL champion Milwaukee Brewers face an exhausted team, no matter who wins the ALCS, with Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for next Friday, three days after a possible ALCS Game 7 on Tuesday.Nick Martinez and Shawn Armstrong were set to start Game 4 for the Rays and Guardians, respectively, with Armstrong serving as an opener for Cleveland. Both teams' managers confirmed shortly after the postponement that they would roll with the same starters for Saturday's Game 4."We knew however many days ago that today was going to be a challenge, and numerous weather calls, numerous back and forths, and ultimately MLB decided that we needed to wait it out," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "Obviously, it's an important game, and we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to play the games when they're scheduled."It was obviously a long day to wait to not have a game. But this is what happens. This is baseball. This is Cleveland. We're more than used to these kinds of days. … We play four in a row all the time."The Guardians took a 2-1 series lead with a 3-2 win over the Rays in Game 3 on Thursday. A two-run homer from Petey Halpin off Griffin Jax put Cleveland on top.