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Giants vs. Mariners Postponed Because of Poor Air Quality in Seattle
September 15, 2020
Tuesday's game between the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants has been postponed as a result of poor air quality in Seattle, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal.
The game was expected to be the start of a two-game series at T-Mobile Park, but the teams will fly to San Francisco in an effort to play the games at Oracle Park, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports wrote that he assumes the teams will either play two games on Wednesday or one on Wednesday and one on Thursday, which was a scheduled off day for both teams. The Mariners had also completed a doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics on Monday.
The air quality has been rated "unhealthy" to "very unhealthy" in Washington this week as a result of the wildfires stemming from California, per Nick Allard of KIRO 7 News.
After initially causing problems in the Bay Area, the smoke has become a bigger issue in the Pacific Northwest.
Athletics manager Bob Melvin noted the poor air quality Monday and expressed concern about games being played in Seattle, per Alex Coffey of The Athletic.
"I've never seen it this bad before," Melvin added, per Nick Groke of The Athletic.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler also noted the air has been a concern for over a week:
"We're always monitoring air quality. It was certainly a strange look when we woke up and saw the orange hue to the sky. Walking on to the field was different, in the middle of the afternoon and having the sky be dark. We’ll keep tabs on it and if anything changes we’ll make the best decision for the health and well being of our players."
Jeff Passan of ESPN noted the air quality issues could cause problems for the playoffs, which are currently scheduled to have neutral-site games in California. The Phoenix area has been discussed as a backup plan in case MLB is forced to move games.