The Cleveland weather forecast has not been kind to the Cleveland Guardians this week.
Hosting three games at home in the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Guardians have been forced to be meteorologists to figure out what’s going on in the sky with lots of rain falling.
They already had to move Game 3 up to 1 p.m. from 6 p.m. on Thursday, and the Guardians pulled out a win there to go ahead 2-1 in the series.
Both Games 4 and 5 are scheduled for 8 p.m. starts on Friday and Saturday, respectively. But will the games actually be played as scheduled?
Are Guardians Playing Tonight?
As of 5 p.m. ET, the Guardians are still scheduled to play.
The forecast is clearest in Cleveland from about 8 p.m. to about 11 p.m.
That could obviously still change, though.
When is MLB Making Final Decision?
The next decision in the process is slated for 6 p.m. ET.
That’s when the teams are having a call with the league office to discuss their choice for the night — according to Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who told reporters about that around an hour before the call.
Stephen Vogt just told us there’s a 6 pm call/meeting with MLB about the weather and playing Game 4 tonight #Guardians #Rays
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) October 16, 2026
The gates to the ballpark opened at 5:30 p.m., so that timing might not be ideal for fans.
The league would likely want to avoid a game that gets delayed in the middle, so they’ll be trying to decide whether they can fit a whole game in before the weather gets too bad to continue.
Other Options
The main other option is to push games back a day.
This series currently has an off day scheduled for Sunday before potential Games 6 and 7 back at Tropicana Field on Monday and Tuesday.
MLB could choose to use that off day for a game instead.
If they did that, Game 4 would become Saturday night, and Game 5 would become whatever time the league picks on Sunday.
MLB probably doesn’t want to take away the off day, though, particularly if the weather is iffy for Saturday night, too.
If they can play Friday night, they will.
There will be further stories to update this at Heavy’s Guardians page throughout the night.
Are Guardians Playing Tonight? Time Set for MLB to Make Schedule Decision