MLB Moves Yankees-Rays Series From Florida to Citi Field Due to Hurricane Irma
The Yankees and Rays will be relocating their upcoming series from Florida to New York due to Hurricane Irma, MLB announced on Friday. The series, which was set to run from Monday through Wednesday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, will instead be played at Citi Field, the home of the Mets.
This is the second time in as many weeks that the league has been forced to move a series due to inclement weather. Last week, the Astros and Rangers had a series at Houston's Minute Maid Park shifted to—ironically enough—Tropicana Field due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, which slammed into Texas' Gulf Coast and caused severe flooding in the city and nearby towns. With Hurricane Irma rapidly approaching Florida and with the greater Tampa area expected to be affected by the Category 4 storm, MLB once again had to find a new site for a series, as flipping the two teams' remaining home series was deemed unworkable. The possibility of waiting to see whether games could be played in Tampa, meanwhile, was also dismissed due to uncertainty over whether Tampa's airport would be open after the storm.
According to MLB Network's Ken Rosenthal, Citi Field was chosen to host the series instead of other rumored sites like Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Chicago because of the ease of housing the players on such short notice, as only the Rays will need to have hotels booked. According to the New York Post's Joel Sherman, Tampa will be the home team.
The series will be played on Monday and Tuesday night at 7:10 p.m., followed by a 1:10 matinee on Wednesday.
