Wildfire smoke continues to wreak havoc on American sports

CNN
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A series of games and sports practices have been postponed Smoke from the Canadian wildfires It continues to choke off parts of the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast of the United States.

About 75 million people are under air quality alerts as wildfire smoke envelops major US cities, with Major League Baseball (MLB), the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) forced to postpone games over concerns about air quality. dangerous air.

MLB postponed two games — one between the Detroit Tigers and host Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park and the other between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium — on Wednesday due to warnings from medical experts and weather about “hazardous disinfection” of air quality in both cities, the league said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the WNBA was forced to postpone Wednesday’s game between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx due to the effect of smoke on Liberty’s home arena, with the league noting that information regarding rescheduling the game would be provided at a later date.

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) has canceled Thursday’s practice at Belmont Park Because of “poor air quality conditions” affecting New York StateWhile in New Jersey, the NFL postponed Harrison’s Wednesday Night Challenge Cup game and rescheduled it to August 9.

“The safety of our players, officials and fans is our highest priority. After consultation with the NWSL medical and operations staff, it was determined that the match could not be conducted safely based on the expected air quality index,” the NWSL said in a statement.

Smoke from Canada’s fires has cyclically affected the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for more than a week, raising concerns about ongoing poor air quality damage.

Wildfires in Canada have burned more than nine million acres so far this year — about 15 times the normal burned area at this point in the year — and more than 10,500 people have been evacuated from communities across Alberta.

According to MLB, the Phillies-Tigers game will take place at 6:05 PM (ET) on Thursday, while the Yankees and White Sox will now play a doubleheader starting at 4:05 PM (ET) on Thursday.

The Belmont Stakes is scheduled for Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, and the NYRA said a decision on Thursday’s live racing program will be made in the morning after a “review of air quality conditions and the outlook.”