MOOSIC, Pa. — The heavy smoke from wildfires in Canada is affecting play at PNC Field in Lackawanna County.
The SWB RailRiders were forced to postpone last night's game against the Norfolk Tides because of the unhealthy air quality.
Adam Marco is the team's director of communications and says in his 16-year career in minor league baseball, he's never experienced something like this.
"This is unprecedented for this team. It's not often you see games postponed due to air quality," he said.
Marco says they were hoping conditions would improve, but they've only gotten worse, so the team announced tonight's game has also been postponed.
The series with Norfolk is scheduled to begin Thursday, with the first pitch at 6:35 p.m.
Decisions regarding rescheduling the postponed games will be made at a later time as the teams are working with Major League Baseball and experts to continue to monitor the weather and air quality index for the week.
RailRiders management says these circumstances are out of their control.
Experts recommend people limit their time outdoors, whether you're watching baseball or playing it.
"It says don't be outdoors exerting energy, which is what Minor League Baseball is. So there's a lot that goes into play here to make the decisions on how we handled Tuesday how we handled today. Getting the games in is important. We want to have these games. We want our Waggin' Wednesday, we want our dollar dog night, but more importantly, it's the safety of our fans," Marco said.
Postponing any other games in this series could pose a problem because of the rest of the team's schedule this season.
"We don't play Norfolk the rest of this first half, and the new schedule is first half, second half, and it the International League. So we have to try to get at this point six games in over five days, or we'll see where the schedule takes us," Marco said.
The RailRiders will honor tickets from Tuesday and Wednesday as they would a game that was rained out.
Details on that policy can be found here, or email rainout@swbrailriders.com to exchange tickets.
For more information on the air quality in your area, click HERE.
Check the latest Stormtracker 16 forecast HERE.
Information from the state DEP about air quality is posted HERE.
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