The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics played through a haze of smoke Monday.
The teams split a pair of seven-inning games in a doubleheader that had been in question due to poor air quality caused by wildfires in the western United States. According to ESPN, Seattle’s air quality index “surpassed 200 on Monday, a number considered ‘very unhealthy.’” Sports Illustrated reported that the first game had an air quality index of 218.
The players were impacted despite having T-Mobile Park’s retractable roof closed.
“I’m a healthy 22-year-old. I shouldn’t be gasping for air or missing oxygen. I’ll leave it at that,” Oakland pitcher Jesus Luzardo said, according to ESPN.
Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle that the players were feeling the poor air quality, specifically during Game 2.
“I heard 200 was the cutoff level to start and my understanding is it was way over that, both games,” Melvin said.
Oakland pitcher Jake Diekman tweeted at Major League Baseball after the game, asking “what’s the cut off for air quality?”
According to Sports Illustrated, the MLB doesn’t have a set standard for the air quality index in which games can’t be played. The Mariners’ doubleheader on Monday started a homestretch that has them playing in T-Mobile Park eight of the next nine days.
