Mariners, Rainiers, Reign, AquaSox plan to play in smoke

SEATTLE – So far, our smoky air won’t force the cancellation of any pro sports in Western Washington on Tuesday night.

Keep checking in if you’ve got tickets, however.

The Seattle Mariners, Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle Reign and Everett Aquasox all told Q13 News on Tuesday morning that they had no plans to cancel their planned games, but all said they were monitoring the situation.

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The Mariners are scheduled to play host to the Houston Astros at 7:10 p.m., while the Rainiers have a 7:05 game against Reno at Cheney Stadium and the AquaSox face Spokane at 7:05 p.m. at Everett Memorial Stadium. The Reign are supposed to host the Houston Dash at 7:30 p.m.

“We have been monitoring the situation,” Mariners spokesperson Rebecca Hale said. “Most likely any decision wouldn’t be made until later today.”

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The Reign said they were working with the National Women's Soccer League to make a decision, but just before noon there were no plans to cancel the match.

"Seattle Reign FC is working closely with the NWSL to carefully monitor the air quality in Seattle," the team said in a statement. "Any decision whether or not to play will be made by the NWSL. At this time, we are planning on the match being played as scheduled. Assuming we move forward with tonight’s match, team physicians from UW Medicine will be available to monitor players on both teams. Oxygen will be made available to both teams throughout the match, and we anticipate two breaks per half (at 15, 30, 60 and 75 minutes).

"We expect the NWSL to make a decision regarding tonight’s match later in the day. We will share updates through Twitter as new information becomes available."

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The AquaSox said they hadn’t made a decision yet either, but did say they were concerned.

“There are other teams in our league on the east side of WA that have been dealing with this for the last few years so we worked with them for guidance,” AquaSox general manager Danny Tetzlaff told Q13 via email. “Those teams worked with local health officials, their Major League affiliate, the Northwest League office, Minor League Baseball, and doctors to find a set of parameters to use for these conditions.

“We would cancel the game if the air quality was so bad that we felt it would be unsafe to play. In fact, our game against the Tri-City Dust Devils in Pasco, WA was cancelled on Sunday night due to the poor air quality.”

Tetzlaff said the team shortened batting practice Monday in response to the poor air quality.

As for the Rainiers?

"No changes to our scheduled 7:05 start time as of right now," spokesperson Brett Gleason said in an email at 11 a.m.