PHILADELPHIA — Game 3 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros was postponed by rain Monday night with the matchup tied 1-1, pushing the entire Fall Classic schedule back one day.
The rainout moved Game 3 to Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, when the weather was supposed to be all clear. There was a smattering of boos at the ballpark when the washout was announced an hour before the scheduled first pitch on Halloween night.
Game 4 will now be played Wednesday and Game 5 is set for the scheduled travel day on Thursday night – Game 5 will now compete with the NFL game that has, of all teams, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles in Houston against the Texans.
There will be a travel day on Friday, if necessary. That had been the original date of Game 6.
Game 6 has been rescheduled for Saturday and Game 7 would be Sunday. All games will start at 5:03 p.m. PT.
Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. is set to pitch against Phillies lefty Ranger Suárez in Game 3. Noah Syndergaard had been scheduled to start for Philadelphia before the rainout.
“It affects both teams. You just have to turn it off, get a good night’s rest and be ready to play tomorrow,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “It’s part of the game. You can’t control the weather, so you just deal with it.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson was fine with the decision by Major League Baseball to postpone the game.
“Everybody would rather play in dry conditions. It’s going to be fair for everybody,” he said.
For fans, tickets that were good for Monday night now become valid for Tuesday’s game, when the calendar rolls over to November.
Game 1 starter Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies in Game 4 against Cristian Javier. Either Syndergaard or Kyle Gibson will start Game 5 for the Phils.
The Astros and Phillies both worked out on the field Monday before the tarp was put down around 5 p.m. ET It started to rain about an hour later.
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“I’m glad we took some batting practice and played some balls off the wall. That’s their real home-field advantage,” Baker said.
And once again, rain intruded on the World Series in Philly.
In 2008, the clinching Game 5 actually took three days to play. The Phillies and Tampa Bay were tied when the game was suspended and, after steady rain the next day, Philadelphia won the World Series a day after that.
The start of World Series games in Philadelphia in 1993, at Veterans Stadium, and 2009, at Citizens Bank Park, were delayed by rain.
The Phillies clinched the National League Championship Series with a win against San Diego on a rainy, gusty Sunday. The Phillies famously won the 2008 World Series with a Game 5 victory that took three days to complete because of heavy rain.