D-backs' schedule, pitching plans in chaos due to rainout

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NEW YORK -- The D-backs are known for creating chaos when their young players get on base, forcing catchers into hurried throws to second, speeding up the internal clocks of infielders and distracting pitchers.

But this weekend, the weather is creating the chaos, with rain forcing the postponement of Saturday’s game between the Yankees and D-backs at Yankee Stadium.

With the D-backs in a tight race for the National League Wild Card, every game is crucial, so Major League Baseball rescheduled Saturday’s game for Monday at 10:05 a.m. MST. That means that Arizona's game against the White Sox scheduled for Monday in Chicago will be pushed to Thursday at 11:10 a.m. MST.

Fans with paid tickets for Saturday's game may use them for the rescheduled game, or exchange them for tickets to a similar regular-season game at Yankee Stadium (subject to availability) as described in the Yankees’ rain check policy, which may be found at www.yankees.com/raincheck.

Why not play a doubleheader Sunday in New York and keep the White Sox schedule as is? Well, rain is also in the forecast for Sunday, and MLB can’t count on being able to get both games in.

Moving the game to Monday leaves open the possibility of a doubleheader, should Sunday’s 10:35 a.m. MST game also get postponed.

Thursday was scheduled to be an off-day for the D-backs and White Sox. So the teams were able to simply reschedule Monday’s game at Guaranteed Rate Field for Thursday.

Now, what this means for the D-backs' pitching … well, stay tuned for that.

Over the past 48 hours, the D-backs have been going over a multitude of scenarios to try to determine how they would line things up.

“It's going to be more of a read and react situation,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said before Friday night’s game. “Someone's coming. We're just not sure when and how much rain will be coming. And there's all sorts of plans that are built around the first day or the second day or both days. Where it goes from there, we're not sure. We're going to be adaptable and make the necessary adjustments. That's what we do here.”

Adaptability is one of the pillars of the culture Lovullo has strived to build with the D-backs. It will certainly come in handy over the final eight games of the season.

Zac Gallen is scheduled to start Sunday, which would line him up for what the D-backs want to do the rest of the way. Gallen could then pitch Friday night’s series opener against the Astros at Chase Field, which would line him up to start the second game of a potential Wild Card Series.

Lovullo, though, didn’t want to go quite that far when discussing plans Friday.

“I don't want to put the cart before the horse,” Lovullo said. “I want to be very humble about where we're at.”