To the surprise of no one � least of all the teams � Wednesday's Game 4 of the American League Championship Series has been postponed.
Major League Baseball made the announcement late Wednesday morning.
The game between the Yankees and Astros will be played Thursday night at the Stadium at 8:08 p.m. Game 5, also at the Stadium, is scheduled for Friday at 7:08 p.m. and will be aired on Fox Sports 1.
Friday had been a scheduled travel day for the clubs to return to Houston for a Game 6 and Game 7, if necessary.
On one hand, the postponement is a potential benefit for the Yankees as it allows them to throw Masahiro Tanaka, who pitched brilliantly in their Game 1 victory in Houston, on regular rest. Aaron Boone announced Tanaka as the Game 4 starter on Wednesday, a day after he cstrongly indicated that would be the way the Yankees would go in the event of a rainout.
James Paxton "likely" would start Game 5 on Friday, Boone said.
The Yankees had planned to make Game 4, if played Wednesday, a bullpen game, likely using Chad Green as the "opener" _ a role the righthander, who has been terrific since returning from an April demotion to the minors, excelled in all year.
Still, there's no denying the impact Tanaka can have.
The righthander, who allowed one hit and struck out seven over six scoreless innings in Game 1, is 5-2 with a 1.32 ERA in seven career postseason starts.
But with that potential pro comes a possible con. If the series goes the full seven games, it would mean four straight games in which the Yankees' bullpen, already heavily relied on this October, could be called on for length.
"We play four games in a row all the time," Green said, referencing the regular season.
After the Yankees' 4-1 loss in Game 3, Aaron Judge didn't express concern one way or the other regarding a rainout.
"It doesn't matter if it's tomorrow (Wednesday) or it's Thursday, we're going to be ready," Judge said of Game 4. "Rain ain't going to stop us."
