On Wednesday, Marlins president David Samson announced that the upcoming Brewers-Marlins series has been moved from Miami to Milwaukee's Miller Park. The three-game set, which starts Friday, had been scheduled for Marlins Park, but damage and upheaval resulting from Hurricane Irma mean that Miami isn't yet ready to host such an event. Here's Samson's statement in full:
"Major League Baseball in conjunction with the Miami Marlins, agreed that it is in the best interest of our community to relocate this weekend's Marlins games against the Milwaukee Brewers to Milwaukee. Marlins Park stood ready to host the games, but we all agreed that burdening public service resources was not the proper course of action. Following Hurricane Irma, the Miami Marlins realize that all of our employees, as well as our entire community, have other needs that must take a priority at this time. The Miami Marlins look forward to returning home on Monday to play the New York Mets."
Although Miami wound up not taking a direct hit from Irma, the city still suffered significant harm from the powerful storm. Via CBS News:
CBS News' Mark Strassmann reports that across the city, Irma's power twisted street after street into debris fields -- a landscape of mangled trees and downed power lines. The storm's 100 mph gusts battered Miami.
Dozens of boats sank, washed ashore, or were missing. Up to 5 feet of storm surge pushed onto Brickell Avenue, a downtown boulevard of high rise condos and banks.
Additionally, almost 900,000 Miamians were left without power. Hence, the rather drastic change in venue.
Presumably, the Brewers will function as the road team, even though the games will be in their home ballpark. Flipping three road games for three de facto home games could provide a modest edge to the Brewers, who are in the running in both the NL Central and in the chase for the second NL wild-card berth.
