Smoke from nearby wildfires creates eerie baseball scene

Oakland Coliseum lights shone brightly for miles through a sunless, smoky sky in middle of afteron — hours before y usually would be on for a night baseball game. By mid-morning across San Francisco Bay, Giants’ Oracle Park resembled a black-and-orange horror scene.

A number of rrn California wildfires sent a thick, sometimes orange-glowing haze over area Wednesday that left Bay Area in an eerie darkness all day. sun was blocked by smoke .

“ lights were on when I first got here. It’s like we’re in a dome. It has been dark out re all day. I don’t have any sunglasses to go out re with today," Athletics manr Bob Melvin said, later adding, "I have a white hat on today, see what color it is when I come in afterward. Little experiment on my behalf today.”

Still, air quality was below 100 about two hours before first pitch. A's played games last month with air quality index up to 150-160, what is considered upper end of unhealthy, and games aren't typically considered for cancellation until it reaches 200 range, according to Melvin.

It made for a strange baseball scene to say least. AL West-leading Oakland was set to face Houston Astros, while across San Francisco Bay Giants were hosting Seattle Mariners.

sky around Oracle Park matched Giants' black and orange colors, while smell of smoke permeated air leading up to first pitch with chunks of ash falling.

“Certainly a strange look when we all woke up this morning and found kind of orangeish-red hue to sky,” Giants manr Gabe Kapler said. “Walking onto field today was certainly different, in middle of afteron and having sky look a little bit dark. But my understanding is that air quality is OK. Of course we'll keep tabs on it and if anything changes we'll make best decisions for health and well being of our players.”

Astros manr Dusty Baker said re were discussions with players union about air quality and safety of playing in such thick smoke.

“We don't kw if it's going to have impact or t,” said Baker, who still owns homes in rrn California. “I've seen it before and I've talked to everybody at home and y said y've never seen it this bad this long. re are fires all over West Coast here and I was actually playing Jimi Hendrix today, ‘ Sky is Crying.’ sky was crying today. I thought I was going to go outside and see Marlon Brando in ‘Apocalypse w.’ It’s just a strange and eerie feeling."

Small particles of ash sprinkled down during Astros-A's doubleheader Tuesday night and by Wednesday cars were covered in gray dust that required windshield wipers to remove it for visibility.

NFL's San Francisco 49ers practiced in similar conditions at ir Santa Clara facility in South Bay on Wednesday.

“I feel like I’m in Book of Eli, it’s like an apocalyptic state out re, but surprisingly air quality doesn’t seem as bad as it looks,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.

Im credits: AP