CLEVELAND -- The game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guardians scheduled for Friday night has been postponed due to air quality concerns because of wildfire smoke from Canada and northern Minnesota.
Heavy, pungent wildfire smoke darkened skies in the U.S. from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, reducing visibility and prompting warnings that breathing the air outside could be dangerous.
Northeast Ohio has been experiencing smoky and hazy skies for the past two days.
A split doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, with the start times being 1:10 p.m. and 7:10 p.m. ET.
"We want to be safe for our players. We want to make sure that it's not too smoky and obviously for the fans as well. It's just not safe to be out in that environment if it's not playable," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said before the postponement was announced. "We can't control the weather. We can't control mother nature. So we got to do what's best and what's smart for both teams and for the fans."
Thursday night's 4-1 Mets win over the Phillies in Philadelphia was moved to 6:10 p.m. ET from 7:10 p.m. It was the only game on the big league schedule coming out of this week's All-Star break.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
