Game four of the Major League Baseball NL Division Series was postponed because of rain on Tuesday, giving Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta another day to rest his troublesome right hamstring and putting ace Stephen Strasburg in play for the Washington Nationals.
The Cubs and Nationals took batting practice and the grounds crew got the field ready before bringing out the tarp. The rain started to fall about 30 minutes after the game was supposed to start at Wrigley Field. With more showers in the forecast, Major League Baseball then called it off.
Chicago lead 2-1 in the best-of-five series going into game four. There is rain in the forecast for early in the day on Wednesday.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon said the World Series champions will stay with Arrieta. Nationals manager Dusty Baker left open the possibility of using Strasburg, who started the opener, instead of Tanner Roark.
If the Nationals win on Wednesday, game five would be on Thursday in Washington. The winner of the NLDS takes on the Dodgers in the next round, scheduled to begin on Saturday in Los Angeles.
