Weather suspends ALDS opener between New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers – MLB Update
Game one of the American League Divisional Series between Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees started impressively on Friday, September 30 but was then postponed till Saturday, October 1 due to heavy showers at Yankee Stadium in New York.
The postponement effectively ruled out the ace of each team for a few more days as Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia are scheduled to start at least before Game three of the ALDS. Verlander might start for the Tigers on Monday, October 3 but Yankees’ manager
Joe Girardi was unsure as to when he will start his ace.
Girardi announced that rookie pitcher Ivan Nova will perform throwing duties when the game resumes on Saturday. Nova was scheduled to start the second game which will now be held on Sunday, October 2.
The match-up between Verlander and Sabathia was highly anticipated, but rain denied baseball’s top two pitchers a chance to fight it out for supremacy.
Expressing his disappointment after the postponement, Sabathia stated that he was looking forward to this encounter and this definitely is not a good omen for the die-hard baseball fans. The left-handed starter articulated that he desired to start on Sunday
but Girardi refuted the idea.
Verlander also expressed discontentment over the rain-delay and said, "Just had a nice bullpen in front of half of America today. It was a little disappointing. Now I've got a start Monday to look forward to, start getting prepared for that."
Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland, however, remained calm on the issue and stated that there is no point in getting excited. However, he pointed out his concern over the selection issues that affix to the team for Saturday’s game. Leyland had loaded his line-up
with right-handers to counter Sabathia, but with Nova set to start as his replacement, things might get tough for the visitors.
Leyland said, "I'm going to keep my line-up in there and see how the game plays out. Obviously, I'm not going to start pulling guys out."
Delmon Young homered for the Tigers in the first inning to mark Sabathia’s seventh straight post-season start in which he has allowed a home-run. Alex Rodriguez was quick to make his presence felt in the game, driving in a run for Derek Jeter to level things
in the first inning.
The game will resume from this point on Saturday.
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