Gabe Kapler never left his hotel room Tuesday morning. He didn't need to in order to know that he probably wasn't managing a baseball game in Seattle.
There was very little visibility when the Giants landed and they woke up to a dark sky on Tuesday, with the Air Quality Index in Seattle hovering well above 200 because of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. The Giants were off Monday, but they watched and read closely as A's players complained about the conditions inside T-Mobile Park, which has a retractable roof but is not fully enclosed.
Kapler said some of his own players expressed concerns about playing in the smoke Tuesday night. After hours of conversations between the Giants, Mariners and Major League Baseball, the clubs postponed the game and booked charter flights to San Francisco, where they'll play at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday and 1:10 p.m. Thursday, with the Mariners serving as the home team.
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SIGN UP HERE "This was certainly a joint decision that we all felt was in the best interest of the players," Kapler said.
The decision came a day late for the A's, who split a doubleheader with the Mariners on Monday. After the first game, 22-year-old starter Jesus Luzardo said he was gasping for air on the mound.
Kapler said the Giants read the descriptions from the A's and took them into consideration. They wanted to get the games in while in Seattle if they could do so safely, but the AQI in Seattle when the games were postponed was 241, while in San Francisco it was just 68. The air quality at Oracle Park is supposed to be pretty close to normal the next two days.
"I think there was some concern, for sure," Kapler said. "Everybody was reading the reports on the air quality and we all wanted to be safe. Players were definitely expressing some concerns."
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The Giants will fly home at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Mariners had a bit more trouble getting a plane on short notice, which is why they preferred to play two nine-inning games over two days instead of a doubleheader on Wednesday.
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The Giants already have played two doubleheaders, one because a game was postponed to protest systemic racism and injustice and another because of a false positive on a COVID-19 test. Kapler said the team was not shaken, noting that they went into this season with the understanding that the schedule would be constantly evolving.
"This is not easy," he said. "But we're fine and we're ready."