World Series Game 3 postponed due to rain

PHILADELPHIA — Phillies fans will have to wait one more day to cheer their team — and boo the Astros — in the World Series. 

Game 3 of the Fall Classic was postponed by Major League Baseball on Monday due to rain and will instead be played Tuesday at 8:03 p.m. 

Each game in the World Series has been pushed back a day. Games 4 and 5 in Philadelphia will now be Wednesday and Thursday — the latter overlapping with the undefeated Eagles’ “Thursday Night Football” matchup in Houston against the Texans. Friday will be a travel day, and Games 6 and 7 in Houston are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. 

Noah Syndergaard (Phillies) and Lance McCullers (Astros) were set to start Monday. Both starters have experience taking the mound in the Fall Classic. McCullers was the winning pitcher of the Astros’ Game 7 win over the Dodgers in 2017, while Syndergaard won Game 3 of the 2015 World Series for the Mets against the Royals. 

Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said after the game was postponed that left-hander Ranger Suarez, his original Game 4 starter, would toe the slab for the Phillies in Game 3 on Tuesday. The plan is for ace Aaron Nola to start Wednesday on regular rest and either Syndergaard or Kyle Gibson to go in Game 5. 

While Thomson is switching around his plan, Houston manager Dusty Baker is sticking with his. McCullers will still start Game 3 and Cristian Javier will take the mound Wednesday. Baker had the option of starting ace Justin Verlander on regular rest in Game 4 but chose to stick with Javier, a 25-year-old Dominican who posted a 2.54 earned-run average in the regular season. 

“It affects both teams,” Baker said about the postponement. “You’ve got to turn it off and get a good night’s rest … and be ready to play tomorrow. It’s part of the game. You can’t control the weather, so we just deal with it.”

Dealing with rain is nothing new for the Phillies in the World Series. In each of the team’s previous three World Series appearances before this year — 1993, 2008 and 2009 — Game 3 in Philadelphia was delayed due to rain. 

The series most impacted by weather was the 2008 Fall Classic.  Game 3 of that series against the Tampa Bay Rays started two hours late and ended around 2 a.m. Then, Philadelphia’s series-clinching win in Game 5 was suspended and split into two days — beginning on a Monday and ending on a Wednesday — due to rain.

That contest was the first in World Series history to be suspended in the middle of the game. At the time, there was technically no defined rule on how to handle a suspended game in the postseason. That changed in the offseason, as then-Commissioner Bud Selig implemented a rule that declared playoff contests must be completed and do not follow the regular season standard that five inninconstitutetes an official game. 

First pitch Tuesday is 8:03 p.m.