Astros moving series to Florida due to Hurricane Harvey
By Conor Dorney
The Houston Astros will play their upcoming series with the Texas Rangers in Tampa Bay due to the devastating effect of Hurricane Harvey.
As the state of Texas continues to deal with the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, the storm has already forced a scheduling change for a team in one of the cities hit hardest by Harvey, the Houston Astros.
The Astros will play this week’s scheduled three-game series vs. the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida.
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 28, 2017
After weighing the best options for a neutral site to host the intra-division matchup between the Astros and Rangers, MLB decided on Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
The first-place Astros were scheduled to begin a three-game series at home against the Rangers on Tuesday followed by a three-game series with the New York Mets, which also appears to be possibly moving to Tropicana Field according to the Astros:
Additionally, the series vs. the Mets may also be moved to Tropicana Field. That decision will be made later this week.
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 28, 2017
Houston had just returned from a road series win over the Angels last weekend, and if they are also unable to play their series at home against the Mets, they could see themselves without a true home game until Sept. 15.
It’s not the first time that the club has had to move games out of the area due to the impact of a storm. In 2008, the Astros played their scheduled home series against the Cubs at Miller Park in Milwaukee due to Hurricane Ike.
Any scheduling details pale in comparison to the heartache that’s currently being experienced in Houston and other parts of Texas affected by the storm, as evidenced by this quote from Astros manager A.J. Hinch earlier today:
Hinch said Altuve asked him yesterday: "How many days do I have to play with this on my heart?"
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 28, 2017
His family and baby are safe in Houston.
It’s likely that the effects of Hurricane Harvey will have further scheduling conflicts across the world of sports, but it is already encouraging to see the baseball community banding together to help out however they can. Earlier this afternoon, Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association pledged to jointly donate $1 million towards relief efforts in the region.
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The full scope of the damage and devastation caused by Harvey at this point is still unknown, but small glimmer of hope is that sports can certainly have an impact in helping a community heal after a tragedy. Maybe the Houston Astros will be the team to fill that role in 2017.