Pirates OF blasts MLB for making team play amid air quality issues

The Pirates and Padres were scheduled to start at 12:35 p.m. ET on Thursday, but five minutes beforehand, the hosts announced that they were monitoring the situation and would be delayed. The game then started at 1:20 p.m. ET.

Late Thursday morning before a decision had been made though, McCutchen told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he wasn't happy with how negotiations were proceeding.

Per Mackey, McCutchen (who returned to the Pirates in the offseason 10 years after winning the NL MVP award) came into the clubhouse and conducted the interview wearing a mask. The five-time All-Star wore his mask during the contest as well.

About 15 minutes before the originally scheduled first pitch, Mackey tweeted that no players were out on the field, nobody was warming up and a tarp was going onto the mound. The Buccos beat writer took fans inside the ballpark with photos and videos, describing the surreal scene as "strange," and even tweeting shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET that he predicted there was "no way" the game would be played.

At the time of first pitch, Pittsburgh had an air quality index (AQI) of 191, which is on the high end of the "unhealthy" tier (151-200). "Very unhealthy" is in the 201-300 range and "hazardous" readings are 301 and above.

Per iqair.com, Detroit had the worst AQI of the world's "major cities" at 1:20 p.m. ET, measuring 188.

According to Mackey's report, both McCutchen and veteran lefty pitcher Rich Hill talked before the game about how they believed some of the smoke had made its way into the Pirates clubhouse.

In addition to the outfielder, catcher Austin Hedges was outspoken on his concerns as well and talked about how the air quality impacted him behind the plate during Wednesday's game.

"Visually, plus I felt like the amount I was sweating and having a tough time breathing, it was too many things impacting the situation. Plus the possibility of what could be happening that we have no idea," he said. "I think that’s the scariest thing. Is this really nothing? Or is this way more? It’s one of ’em. I wish we knew a little bit more about it.”

Hedges added that it seemed like officials were of the mindset that "getting the money in takes precedent over health."

"That’s too bad. Because it doesn’t seem like player health is the Number 1 priority," Hedges said. "Sometimes it seems like people pretend like it is, but to me, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not. Money always is. I don’t know. It’s pretty frustrating.”