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Should rain force the cancellation of Wednesday night's Game 4 of the ALCS, pitching changes are likely. BetOnline was currently offering a line on this game with starting pitchers undecided - +118 Astros, -128 Yankees as of 11:15 am ET Wednesday. Both managers on Monday announced plans to go with bullpen days for Game 4 in lieu of a reliable No. 4 starter for either club.
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Yankees manager Aaron Boone hinted at the only other concrete part of a postponement when asked by ESPN, saying, "Tanaka would be in play."
Boone's Game 1 starter, Masahiro Tanaka, blanked the Astros over six innings Saturday while throwing just 68 pitches to get through the Houston lineup exactly two times. If Wednesday's game is postponed, Tanaka could take the mound Thursday working on a normal four days' rest.
"Good chance of that," Boone said. "That's something we'll talk through also. But a good chance of that, yes."
In the likely event Wednesday night’s game is bagged, Game 4 will move to Thursday, and Game 5 will be played Friday at Yankee Stadium. Unless Houston wins both of those games, the series will return to Minute Maid Park for Game 6 on Saturday. Then, if a Game 7 is necessary, the Astros will host that series-decider on Sunday.
ESPN.com notes:
That means that although the weather might provide a temporary reprieve for the pitchers on Wednesday, the consequences later in the series might impact both teams as they try to traverse a possible four-games-in-four-days-in-two-cities scenario to decide the American League champion.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
