SF Giants and Seattle Mariners Game Postponed For Unsafe Air

The SF Giants matchup on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners has been postponed due to hazardous air quality caused by wildfires throughout the West Coast.

With the air quality index (AQI) easily above 200 (considered the threshold for unsafe air) in Seattle, the Seattle Mariners and SF Giants matchup on Tuesday has been postponed. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports first reported the Giants were preparing to return to San Francisco without playing a game and Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal later confirmed the game’s postponement.

As wildfires ravage the West Coast, it was only a matter of time before MLB was forced to cancel games. Yesterday, the Mariners notably played a double-header against the Oakland Athletics despite an unsafe AQI. Many players and coaches openly criticized the league for refusing to postpone those contests. It seems that the league succumbed to the criticism.

The entire region is reckoning with the consequences of decades of fire suppression and global climate change. While rural communities have been under the most direct danger, the entire region has been impacted by massive smoke plumes. With fires laced across Oregon, Washington, and California any slight change in wind patterns can be the difference between uncomfortable, unsafe, and hazardous air quality conditions.

The teams plan to start their series in San Francisco tomorrow. While at Oracle Park, the Mariners will still act as the home team. Both teams have a scheduled off day on Thursday so they could simply move their two-game series back a day or play a doubleheader tomorrow.