Mariners-Padres Series to Be Moved to San Diego After Air Quality Issues

Air quality issues in Seattle make it likely that the Mariners' weekend series against the Padres gets moved to San Diego.

The upcoming Seattle Mariners-San Diego Padres series has been moved to San Diego after ongoing air quality issues in Seattle, the teams announced Thursday.

The series is set to begin Friday night.

The Mariners' most recent two-game series with the San Francisco Giants was postponed and eventually moved to San Francisco for the aforementioned reason. The teams made-up their two-game series Wednesday and Thursday.

Following a wave of massive wildfires on the west coast of the United States, some cities in the region have some of the worst air quality in the world as of Thursday afternoon.

According to IQAir, a group that tracks global air quality, Seattle's air quality is "unhealthy for sensitive groups," as of Thursday afternoon. Throughout the last week, it has been "unhealthy," per IQAir.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported earlier this week that MLB officials are starting to consider how the west coast fires will impact the MLB postseason, particularly the ALDS and ALCS, which are scheduled to take place in California. According to ESPN, while no plan has been finalized, Phoenix has emerged as a backup site if the league needs to move any of its postseason games due to air quality concerns. 

The Mariners enter Thursday's action against the Giants with a 22-27 record. San Diego is off on Thursday but will enter Friday's game 32-19 and 3.5 games behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West.