I remember that too! That was ridiculous as well. It's like "Is there really no available options that would give the Saints (or Astros here) at least a geographical advantage?"
It isn't like a lot of Astros fans are going to find the time to take a trip to watch their favorite team. Hell, they can't even get to an airport. This isn't unprecedented. Houston played the Cubs once in Milwaukee after a hurricane and got no-hit. I don't know for sure how they benefit from a "geographical" advantage -- unless being south of the Ohio River matters.
They can still benefit geographically by not playing in the opponent's home state. Even if there isn't a ton of Astros fans there, they'd still be better off not going against the Mets in New York, where there will obviously be a lot of Mets fans. And still the closer you get to home the more likely there will be fans. I'm sure there are plenty of Astros fans in nearby states.
Meh, they had 3,500 in Tampa, which is just across the Gulf. They could play before that kind of a crowd at a minor league park in Oklahoma. They play half their games on the road and a ballpark full of fans for the other team isn't something they never experience. These are pro ball players. Plus, they are the home team on the field. Seems like a whine without any real cheese. It isn't like the Astros are going to collapse and blow the division.
First of all, if we're talking "something important" than we wouldn't be discussing the baseball aspect of this at all. We would only be discussing the real-life issues that Hurricane Harvey caused. Second of all, I think playing in a AAA ballpark in Oklahoma City would be way better and more fair than playing at the opponents home park. Anyway, they're not playing in New York and will be playing at home for this coming series anyway.
No arguments on either end of your reply ... at least from me. I think that even if they had shifted the games to NY, the Astros (having watched the Mets this week) would probably still have swept the series. That's how bad the Mets are currently.
Exactly! I would imagine that a lot of weekday games don't get more than about 20,000 anyway. And that's even with it being scheduled in advance. So yeah, I don't think in a Major League park it would get much more than the 14,000 or so a AAA park can hold if it's in a park with one or two days' notice or if it's in Houston right now.
