The Rangers were expected to conclude their current road trip in Houston against the Astros this week. Those plans were changed.
Due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, the three-game series has now been moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Both teams will play at Tropicana Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
The games will be played at 6:10 p.m. on both Tuesday and Wednesday and 12:10 p.m. on Thursday.
Tropicana Field was considered the best alternative due to the dome and the fact that the Rays are on the road this week. After the series with the Rangers, the Astros will stay in the Tampa area and play the New York Mets.
Another option would have been the Rangers and Astros switching home series, playing this week in Arlington and then going to Houston at the end of September. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told the Dallas Morning News that the Rangers offered to play the games as the visiting club but declined to swap home-and-home series. Tickets for that series at The Globe in September have already been sold and could create an issue with asking the ticket holders to change things up in three weeks.
On the baseball side of things, it would also create a two-week road trip for the Rangers, who are still in the race for the final wild card spot in the American League. Houston already has the A.L. West division wrapped up but is now faced with an 18-game road trip due to the hurricane. After the series with the Rangers and Mets in Florida, the Astros hit the West Coast for a nine-game road trip. They are not expected to return to Houston until the middle of September.
The Rangers also announced it will donate the proceeds from its Texas 2 Split 50/50 Raffle to the American Red Cross from all three games of the upcoming weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels. The proceeds will be used for relief for the victims in the Houston and South Texas area devastated from Hurricane Harvey.
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In addition, Major League Baseball and its players association have pledge $1 million to hurricane relief aid.
Also of note, the preseason game Thursday night between the Cowboys and Texans has been relocated to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
In college football, the Rice football team joins other teams from the Houston area relocating to Dallas-Fort Worth. The Owls arrived in Dallas after their weekend game against Stanford in Sidney, Australia.
