CLEVELAND (AP) — The regular season finale between the Guardians and Houston Astros was canceled Sunday after a lengthy delay, preventing Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez from a shot at hitting his 40th home run and joining the exclusive 40-40 club.
With Houston set to open its AL wild-card series at home on Tuesday, and with a forecast of steady rain expected for several more hours, the game never started and was called following a 3-hour, 5-minute delay.
The Guardians finish at 92-69 and the AL Central champions will host an ALDS game on Oct. 5. They’ll play either the AL West champion Astros (88-73) or Detroit Tigers, who clinched a wild-card berth.
Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt and Houston manager Joe Espada met on the tarped field with the umpiring crew, head groundskeeper and Guardians’ front office members for 15 minutes at about 2:20 — 55 minutes before the scheduled first pitch.
The hearty fans who stayed inside Progressive Field during the long delay watched the Browns-Las Vegas Raiders game on Progressive Field’s giant scoreboard.
Ramírez finished with 39 homers, leaving him short of becoming the seventh player in MLB history to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same season. The six-time All-Star also ended with 39 doubles, one shy of a rare 40-40-40 season, which has only been accomplished by Alfonso Soriano in 2006.
Cleveland’s jump in the standings after winning 76 games in 2023 also led to a bump in attendance as the Guardians drew more than 2 million fans at home for the first time since 2017.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: LF Yordan Alvarez (knee sprain) was scheduled to do more baseball activities in Houston, and as long as he continues to make progress, it’s likely he’ll be on the wild card roster. The swelling in Alvarez’s knee has gone down and Espada was cautiously optimistic about the slugger’s availability this week.
Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (middle finger blister) had his usual velocity during a 35-pitch simulated game. He’ll throw another on Thursday and Vogt said the team is moving forward with plans to have him pitch in the postseason. Cobb has been sidelined since Sept. 1, and made just three starts since being acquired in a trade on July 30.
UP NEXT
Astros: Host the No. 5 seed in the wild card on Tuesday.
Guardians: Will rest and await wild-card winner in ALDS, starting Oct. 5.
SUNDAY