CLEVELAND (AP) — The regular season finale between the Guardians and Houston Astros was canceled Sunday after a lengthy delay, preventing Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez from a shot at hitting his 40th home run and joining the exclusive 40-40 club. With Houston set to open its AL wild-card series at home on Tuesday, and with a forecast of steady rain expected for several more hours, the game never started and was called following a 3-hour, 5-minute delay. The Guardians finish at 92-69 and the AL Central champions will host Game 1 of the ALDS on Oct.
5. They'll play either the AL West champion Astros (88-73) or Detroit Tigers, who clinched a wild-card berth. “We know Detroit very well and obviously just got to know Houston,” said Guardians first-year manager Stephen Vogt, who did a remarkable job in following beloved manager Terry Francona.
"So we know whoever we end up playing, we’re going to have our work cut out for us. “It’s an exciting field. All six teams have their strengths, have their weaknesses, and it’s really cool to have three AL Central teams in it.
” Vogt and Houston manager Joe Espada met on the tarped field with the umpiring crew, head groundskeeper and Guardians' front office members for 15 minutes at about 2:20 — 55 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. “We had our concerns over safety for our players,” Vogt said. "The field has taken a ton of water over the last three days and that was really the No.
1 thing for us. At the .