World Series Game 6 postponed until tonight by rainy forecast

Associated Press

St. Louis, Mo.

Game 6 of the World Series was postponed Wednesday because of a wet forecast, delaying the Texas Rangers’ bid to clinch their first championship.

Major League Baseball announced the decision about 41/2 hours before the Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals were set to play. At the time, no rain had fallen at Busch Stadium, but heavy precipitation was expected.

Texas leads the Series 3-2. Game 6 was rescheduled for Thursday night at 8:05 p.m. EDT. If Game 7 is necessary, it would be played Friday night.

“Because of the forecast, there was no reason to wait any longer,” said Joe Torre, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations.

Torre said he told managers Ron Washington of Texas and Tony La Russa of St. Louis on Tuesday that if the forecast didn’t change, baseball would postpone it early.

Rain was in “every forecast we had probably for the last three days,” Torre said at a news conference. “They were all consistent there was going to be rain during the game.”

Looking at Commissioner Bud Selig, Torre asked: “Do you want to play in rain?”

Colby Lewis had been set to start for Texas, with Jaime Garcia ready to go for the Cardinals.

If anything, the extra day may lead to more intrigue over who might pitch for St. Louis should the Series go to a Game 7 for the first time since 2002. Washington already has said Matt Harrison would start if the Series goes that far.

The forecast for Thursday was clear enough with a game-time temperature in the low 50s.

Rain has hovered over the majors all year with more than 50 washouts, the highest total since 1997.

This was the first Series rainout since 2008 at Philadelphia, where with Tampa Bay and the Phillies tied in the sixth, rain and snow turned the field into a quagmire. The game resumed two days later, with the Phillies taking the crown.

The debate about how to handle that situation led MLB to adopt a rule mandating that postseason games stopped in progress would resume at the point of suspension, rather than being postponed and starting over.

A few hundred fans already were milling outside Busch Stadium when the Rangers-Cardinals game was called. The tarp was on the field at the time. Later, about a dozen St. Louis players came out to toss around balls in right field.

Bad weather has lingered throughout the big leagues since opening day. The Milwaukee Brewers and Reds worked out in snow a day before their March 31 opener at Cincinnati.

Wicked weather intruded earlier in this postseason.

Game 4 between Detroit and the Cardinals at Busch Stadium was rained out and pushed back a day.

A game in the AL championship series between Detroit and Texas was postponed for a day because of a dicey forecast. The rain never came.

The opener of the AL playoffs between Detroit and New York was halted after 11/2 innings by showers that lasted all night. The game at Yankee Stadium was suspended and picked up the next day at the point when it was stopped.