Following the second rainout of the series, the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees are settling their American League playoff Tuesday afternoon in the Bronx.
After fans waited through a 2 1/2-hour rain delay, the decisive Game 5 of the Division Series between the Guardians and Yankees was postponed Monday night and rescheduled for Tuesday at 4:07 p.m. That gives New York a chance to start All-Star lefty Nestor Cortes on three days’ rest instead of 14-game winner Jameson Taillon.
Cleveland is expected to stick with right-hander Aaron Civale, rather than turn to 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber on short rest.
The winner faces Houston in the AL Championship Series.
Game 2 at Yankee Stadium also was postponed because of bad weather last week, pushed back a day to Friday afternoon.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Guardians-Yankees winner heads to Houston for Game 1 of the best-of-seven ALCS on Wednesday night against Justin Verlander and the rested Astros.
Houston reached its sixth straight ALCS by completing a three-game Division Series sweep of Seattle when rookie Jeremy Peña homered in the 18th inning Saturday for a marathon 1-0 win over the Mariners.
AL West champion Houston (106-56) went 4-3 against the AL Central champion Guardians this season and 5-2 versus the AL East champion Yankees.
With a history of postseason heartbreak, Cleveland teams are 1-7 in winner-take-all games — losing their last seven.
The young Guardians are trying to end Major League Baseball’s longest current World Series championship drought in their first year after a franchise name change. Cleveland hasn’t won it all since 1948.