Canadian wildfire smoke forces Tigers-Phillies game to be postponed

The Philadelphia Phillies were scheduled to finish their series against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night. The series finale has been postponed, however, due to air quality concerns stemming from smoke entering the region from wildfires in Canada.

The Phillies had a scheduled off day on Thursday so the final game of the three-game series will now be played at 6:05 p.m. Thursday. Zack Wheeler was scheduled to take the mound for the Phillies on Wednesday night. He will presumably start in the rescheduled game on Thursday now.

The whole Philadelphia area was issued a code red air quality alert. This means that outdoor activities and events are discouraged due to potential issues with health. According The Weather Channel, the air quality alert for the Philadelphia region is in effect until Friday at midnight, meaning Thursday's game could be in jeopardy as well.

The two teams will hope that they can get the series finale in tomorrow. The Tigers would have to travel back to Philadelphia in the event of another postponement later in the season which they would like to avoid. The Phillies would like to continue their momentum as they have won four straight games.

The club's offense has been clicking more in recent games as players such as Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber have been heating up. Since the beginning of June, Turner is batting .280/.308/.600 with two home runs and four RBI. Schwarber is hitting .250/.357/.667 with three home runs and seven RBI.

The Phillies will look to carry their momentum over as they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to Citizen's Bank Park this weekend. Beating up on teams like the Tigers and Washington Nationals is something that good teams need to do. The Phillies will be tested as the Dodgers come to town with a 35-26 record. Hopefully the air will clear, and the Phillies can finish off a sweep of the Tigers and take care of business against a good Dodgers squad.