The Houston area has been walloped by Hurricane Harvey, receiving up to 25 inches of rain in some places, which has caused massive flooding and devastation in the area. While the plight of Houston sports teams is small potatoes compared to the propery damage and loss of life caused by the storm, both the Houston Astros and Houston Texans have been displaced by Harvey. The Astros were scheduled to open a six game home stand this week against the Texas Rangers and New York Mets, but given the current situation in Houston that appears unlikely to say the least. Major League Baseball is working on contingency plans with all parties involved, Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports, with the possibility of shifting venues for both series on the table.
The league is strongly considering playing the Astros’ series with the Rangers in Tampa while shifting the series with the Mets to Citi Field. The reasons for using Tropicana Field instead of Arlington are unclear, but if the series with the Mets is played at Citi Field the games would essentially be played with the Astros as the home team. That would be nice for the Mets since they would get home three days earlier from their current road trip, which is scheduled to go through the end of the week with stops in Cincinnati and Houston. The situation could create a traffic problem around the stadium, particularly with the U.S. Open in session for the next two weeks across the street, and it wouldn’t be ideal for the Astros. Shifting these two series would cause the Astros to play 19 games in a row on the road, which is far from a perfect scenario but one that may not be avoidable given the circumstances. More information should come out in the coming days, but one would imagine that any proceeds the Mets could generate from these games should be donated to the relief efforts in Houston.
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