Monday afternoon’s Game 4 of the American League Division Series between the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox has been postponed because of inclement weather. The two sides will instead meet on Tuesday, with the first pitch scheduled to take place at 2:07 p.m. ET. The White Sox are expected to start Carlos Rodón while the Astros counter with José Urquidy. Chicago manager Tony La Russa said the postponement would not impact his team’s starting pitching plans.
At minimum, the additional day off will cause more attention to be paid to comments made by White Sox reliever Ryan Tepera after Chicago’s Sunday night win. Tepera hinted at the possibility that the Astros might be stealing signs again, saying the following:
“They’ve had a reputation of doing some sketchy stuff over there. We can say it’s a little bit of a difference,” Tepera said, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. “I think you saw the swings and misses tonight compared to the first two games at Minute Maid.”
The Astros will take the field on Tuesday with a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-five series. An Astros win will send Houston to its fifth consecutive AL Championship Series. A White Sox victory, meanwhile, would force a decisive Game 5. Monday’s rainout will not impact Game 5 being played on Wednesday in Houston.
What Monday’s postponement could do is it could allow for the teams to learn who they would play in the AL Championship Series. The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will play Game 4 of their series on Monday night. The Red Sox lead the Rays 2-1 following Sunday’s marathon victory. Another Red Sox win would punch their ticket to the ALCS and would send the Rays, the league’s top seed, home for the winter.
