Major League Baseball announced today that due to the catastrophic weather conditions in the Houston area, this week's series between Texas Rangers and Houston Astros will be moved from Minute Maid Park to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the home stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rangers and Rays will play on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 29-30 at 7:10 p.m. ET/6:10 p.m. CT and on Thursday, August 31 at 1:10 p.m. ET/12:10 p.m. CT. The Astros will be the home team for the three-game series.
The team also announced that 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 home series with the Los Angeles Angels, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 1-3. The proceeds will used for relief for the victims in the Houston area and South Texas from the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey.
"The thoughts of the Texas Rangers organization are with all the individuals who have been affected by this devastating weather in South Texas and the Houston area," commented Texas Rangers Foundation Chairman and Rangers Ownership Committee Chairman Neil Leibman. "We pray for their safety in these very difficult circumstances."
This will mark the fourth time in team history that the Rangers have played a regular season series at a "neutral" site: The club opened the 2001 season on April 1 versus Toronto at Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto and played a three-game series with Montreal as the home team at the same ballpark, June 6-8, 2003. In addition, Tampa Bay hosted Texas in a three-game set at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, May 15-17, 2007.