Rain! Destroyer of cities! Ruiner of empires! Extinctor of species! Rain! The tears you made God drop on the world because you wouldn’t share with your sister … they’re about to completely mess up the American League Championship Series. And everyone’s totally freaked out.
That is: There’s supposed to be biblical-style rain tomorrow night. That’s the game everyone is worried about. And it’s potentially a lot more painful for the Yankees than it is the Angels.
The way the schedule works out now, with no rain, the Yankees can throw CC Sabathia three times and avoid the general unpleasantness of a Chad Gaudin start. (The Joba boat appears to have sailed.) But if there’s a rainout tomorrow night, the wacky schedule would require either Sabathia throwing twice on short rest — previously, he would have been on short rest for Game 4 and normal rest for a theoretical Game 7 — and A.J. Burnett throwing once on short rest … or it would require Chad Gaudin.
Another wrinkle, via Mark Feinsand: A rainout tomorrow night pushes Game 2 to Sunday, which, we’re told, is a day on which they often play football. Because baseball (along with Fox) is always eager to cower under the iron boot of the NFL, it’s likely that game would be a night game … the same time as Game 3 of the NLCS between the Phillies and the Dodgers.
Also: We likely won’t know if Game 1 is officially rained out until game time or afterward, so you have to head all the way up to the Bronx anyway and sit in the freezing rain until they tell you that you can go home so you don’t lose all the money you paid for the ticket. And more rain might come after that. This series could end up lasting two weeks.
Welcome to the worst part of baseball playoffs. Good thing half the teams left are in Southern California.