Friday night's game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field was postponed due to dangerous air quality caused by wildfire smoke blowing south from Canada and northern Minnesota, the Guardians announced.
According to CBS Sports, the air quality index in Cleveland had reached 203 at the time of the postponement. Anything above 200 is classified as very unhealthy. The game was the only one postponed across the major leagues Friday night, despite large portions of the upper Midwest and areas to the east feeling the effects of the smoke.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt spoke before the postponement was made official. "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," Vogt said, via the Associated Press. "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."
The situation was not isolated to Cleveland. Thursday night's game between the Phillies and Mets in Philadelphia, the first MLB game after the All-Star break, was moved up an hour to account for the smoke in that city.
The Pittsburgh-Cleveland series will attempt to make up the lost game with a split doubleheader on Saturday. The first game is scheduled to begin at 1:10 p.m. ET and the second at 7:10 p.m. ET at Progressive Field.
The postponement comes at a significant moment in the standings for both clubs. Cleveland entered the second half of the season on a four-game winning streak and tied for first place in the AL Central with the Chicago White Sox. The Guardians are 51-46 and the White Sox stand at 50-45. Pittsburgh sits at 50-47, two games behind the third wild card spot in the National League.
The wildfires driving the smoke across the region are burning across parts of Canada and northern Minnesota.
