it is too late now to make all the adjustments that would be necessary to play elsewhere. They sat back so long. Is the retractable roof not enough to shelter them from the storm? I seriosuly don’t know this cause I have no clue how severe the storm is now. I thought it was cooling off a bit.

….but do you really want 10s of thousands of people driving to and from ballgames in the middle of a hurricane?

I agree, it’s nuts to send the Cubs (or anyone) INTO a known hurricane zone.

how much money do the Astros honestly stand to lose? Aren’t they telling people to evacuate? How many of those people (if they have tickets) are going to rush back the next day for a game?

If it’s serious enough for regular folks to be told to leave then shouldn’t it also be serious enough to not have people flown in? I can understand playing at a neutral site and either St. Louis or Atlanta works. Atlanta would be better for the Cubs since there’s a large Cubs fanbase and they are undefeated there this year and St Louis probably works better for Houston as you’ll at least get some Cardinal fans to root against the Cubs.

God doesn’t want the Cubs and Astros to play. Chicago tornadoes, Houston hurricanes, if they go play in St. Louis undoubtedly there will be flooding or locusts or the plague or something.

Hot and muggy but little chance of rain. Time to schedule it.

They could play the games Sunday or Monday…

Well here’s a thought, What If Minute Made park has damage to it and they cant play the games anyway? And whose going to be even able to get into Houston after the storm has passed anyway.

Bud Selig your a freaken moron

I don’t understand why they didn’t have plan A and plan B. Everything goes fine the Cubs and Astros play as scheduled. Problems this is already in place.

Little known fact the Cubs and Sox already have a reciprocal agreement if long term damage happened to Wrigley or the Cell.

Does anyone remember that bizarro doubleheader the Cubs played with the Expos in 1991 when the Olympic Stadium fell apart?

What I remember most is my pictures all came out backwards.

the Astros today will determine whether to move up the starting time of their home game tomorrow against the Chicago Cubs from 8:05 p.m. to 2:05 p.m. to make sure it is complete before landfall. Thus, Texas officials could use Minute Maid Park for emergency purposes, if needed.

If the state is planning on using the stadium, it cannot be used for baseball. Asking employees, especially the gameday ones who make little money for their work, to skip around in the face of a hurricane is irresponsible.

Article link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-080910-hurricane-ike-chicago-cubs-houston,0,1532803.story

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said he had spoken Wednesday to Katy Feeney, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of scheduling, and she had no concrete plans for rescheduling games.

Even Theriot wants nothing to do with it:

“I don’t want to go,” Ryan Theriot said. "I understand why the Astros want the games there. They’re in the wild-card [race] and playing well. But [if] that storm does turn and they evacuate the city, then what do you do? Now we’re stuck. You hop on a bus and go where?

“Take a bus from Houston to Chicago? I just don’t know what the outcome will be, and [hurricanes are] so hard to predict. When you have no power or no cabs to get anything to eat and you’re just stuck, that’s no fun for anybody. … I’d hate to get stuck.”

If I were the Cubs I’d fly back to Chicago or stay in St Louis for now.

DH Sunday, game Monday. That is the current plan they are kicking around.

Isnt it possible that Houston gets evacuated b/c of the hurricane? Are people going to let back by Sunday?

Been screwed up since the Blacksox issue

How do you know MLB is sitting on their hands? The Cubs can’t do anything until after tonight’s games. As we all know, hurricanes can be unpredictable. MLB surely will wait until the last minute to make a decision. They don’t want to make an early decision to cost Houston the revenue.

I’m sure the Cubs will be talking to MLB before they head to Houston. Let’s wait until tonight to flip out over this.

how these people who run this sport can never seem to get their act together. Good god, you would think that this would be something that could be discussed at the winter meetings so they could have a roll out plan.

Its about as stupid as Bud saying that the best record in baseball cant have home field advantage in the world series because there would not be enough time to coordinate all the travel and other items. Well you dont know who is the world series untl the league series are played anyway.

We as the fans of baseball on this blog could run this league better than these guys!

Friday and Saturday games cancelled. Double header on Sunday, game on Monday. At least that is the tentative plan. Assinine. The coastal area of Texas is going to get pummeled, to include a potential 15 foot storm surge. Yet Bud the Dud Selig still thinks the Astros and Cubs should press on at Minute Maid Park while the good people of Texas face devastation. How does this prick Selig maintain employment year after year?

Sunday – No way can you fly in then play 2

I am THERE if they go!

Astros owner Drayton McLane expects to learn about noon today how the club will proceed for Friday’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs at Minute Maid Park.

As of 10 a.m., McLane said the Cubs were still expected to fly in tonight, but the key will be fans’ safety. McLane said the team is working closely with the emergency management services.

“The most important thing is people’s safety. We’re trying to do what is best for all our fans and their families. We’ll know more later today,” McLane said.

ON AN OFF DAY BEFORE THEIR biggest series of the Year? The players Union has to step in. I have friend who runs the film series in the Museum of Fine Arts. They will have to cancel 5 rare films flown in from Italy this weekend. Play a game in St. Louis Friday. If after the game or early Sat Houston does not get hit move there for either Sat, Sunday games or single games on Sunday /Monday.

I also think City officials have to step in. How do schedule a major public event while advising many people to leave town.

based on this MSNBC article I just pulled up.

A few quotes:

Mandatory evacuations were also ordered for tens of thousands of people in low-lying areas in Harris County, where Houston is located.

That alone means don’t come here if you’re not already here.

Flights were also being disrupted. American Airlines is canceling all flights in and out of Houston’s Intercontinental airport as of noon Friday and all day Saturday.

Southwest is canceling all flights in and out of Houston’s Hobby airport as of Friday morning.

Even if they decide to try to play in Houston, will they even get out of St. Louis in time?

If current projections of the storm’s path hold up, the area surrounding Houston — home to about 4 million people — would be lashed by the eastern or “dirty” side of the storm…….This stronger side of the storm often packs heavy rains, walloping storm surge and tornadoes.

C’mon! Do you really need to think about this?

So the current plan is to scrap Friday and Saturday, hope everything is OK then play 3 games Sunday and Monday. Which is fine, I guess, IF (big if) the storm passes without incident.

So why not find an alternate site (Atlanta, KC… wherever) for game one of the series only? Play it Friday night or Saturday afternoon and compensate the Astros somehow for lost revenue. If everything turns out OK in Houston, travel back for games 2 and 3 on Sunday night and Monday afternoon. If (God forbid) something does happen in Houston, the teams are already at the alternate site to complete the series (which, at that point, should be the last thing on everyone’s mind).

Seems to me to be a little more proactive than the “let’s just hope for the best” stance of the current plan.

that would hurt both teams chances down the strech. Imagine the Cubs flying in, the stadium is damaged, the airport is closed. They can’t play in Houston and they can’t leave. This could cause problems with the series afterward. If there plan is to have the games sunday and monday, get the at least get the astros out of Houston and that way if they can’t play on Sunday they are not trapped in Houston. OR BETTER YET JUST PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!

What if another Katrina happens and something horrible happens at the juice box (like the roof caving in). There will be talk of MLB being greedy and putting making money ahead of the safety of everyone involded.

Gov. Perry, please call Bud NOW!

The last place you want to hold an evacuation, let alone a relatively meaningless ball game, is in a place like this. Anyone want to volunteer to camp out under the glass?

Let’s assume the games get called completely to be played at a later date. Let’s also assume, in this later date, three games don’t matter for the Cubs as they’re already in the playoffs. Do they send minor leaguers to rest the team, or play hard since the games would matter to the Stros?

and put on the MLB Business Hat.

In my mind the, the Cubs having the better legs to stand on from a monatery perpsective.

If the cubs refuse to go and they have to forfeit, that hurts their playoff chances(No guarantees that they are not going to get swepted if they do play). We hope they still make it..but ya never know. MLB would be risking a big revenue source for the playoffs. The Cubs stand to bring in more revenue to MLB during the playoffs then the Crew or the Stros do.

The Cubs should refuse to go and leverage off of this in addition to obvious safety concerns. If MLB were smart business people, they would listen to the Cubs refusals to go before the listen to the Stros protests to play in houston.

Just play it at a neutral site for christ sake…Don’t play Chicken with God

to Houston has been officially canceled as of about 5 mins ago.

Apparently, they’re one zip code away from evacuation. Plus, if the hurricane comes through Houston, anyone wanting to go to a game would have to cross the evacuation routes to get into downtown.

Doesn’t sound too promising.

Carlos Zambrano will not be on a ptich count Satuday in Houston.

Hell, worry about the game being played at all, not the ptich count, get the real story

Too many TALKIN HEADS on ESPN

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/11/hurricane.ike.texas/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Unless there is a coal or nuclear power plant next to the Houston ballpark, there might no be any electricity for the facility. Yes Bud, you need electricity to run the lights, fans, scoreboard. Even if the hurricane goes south, enough electrical lines could be knocked out by the wind so that there won’t be any power to the park. As mentioned elsewhere by my fine BCB brethern, “get a clue”.

Just got a report that the Houston Symphony has been canceled Saturday night. FWIW, it’s right next to Minute Maid Park.

………….and aside from what appears to be wet weather in that area for the next few days, Stella Stadium is going to be occupied with other events on the evenings of Friday and Saturday.

I have a few friends who work security there and we chatted last night about the overall situation. No way the Cards/Busch can cancel these events, so the scheduling of the games would be interesting to say the least.

Just another twist on this already crazed situation.

Waiting word from MLB on Houston plans but doesn’t look good. If they go in, they’re going w/out me — flight canceled, g-dub ducking.

Dan

The closer Ike (who the hell came up with that name?) gets to Houston….

Makes sense to me

for not using a certain overused NASA phrase in relation to this, ahem, problem.

Way to be, folks.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5995567.html

I have tickets for Saturday, but I don’t see the Cubs flying to Houston, nor the Astros flying out. Commercial flights at Hobby will be shutting down tonight and Intercontinental will be shutting down tomorrow morning.

If the damage isn’t too severe, then a DH on Monday, but I probably shouldn’t be worrying about baseball right now…

I doubt will let a team fly in and play same day

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080911&content_id=3457698&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

No make up dates announced.

Another thing to keep in mind is the impact this storm may have on weather in the Chicago area. The 5 day storm track shows the storm heading to the north and east. Looks like it’ll pass south and east of Chicago but could impact weather in Chicago during the final home stand of the season (or St. Louis for that matter).

I remember the cloud formations of Hurricane Gilbert (?) passing through Chicago when I was a kid.

Does everyone feel better? No need for panic. MLB isn’t requiring the Cubs to fly into the hurricane. They are returning to Chicago after tonight’s game.

I’d hate to see the panic if the Cubs lost a few games. Oh, sorry we already have :-)

Can’t they move the games up to Chicago and force half of the crowd to root for the Astros?

It’d be funny to see them hand out Astros gear to 20,000 random ‘winners’.

But in quasi-seriousness, you could move the games to Chicago, and have nearly all the proceeds go back to Astros, and I’d be hard pressed to imagine that such a series wouldn’t be nearly packed even at the last minute.

Moving these games is really the only logical thing to do, I don’t like the fact at all that the games will be postponed and the Cubs will likely have to play at least one double-header down the stretch and/or have to play games after the season would normally have ended. It is unfair to both teams to have to undergo more difficult schedules down the stretch.

I know that it’s a legitimate concern for the Astros that they would lose money on 3 likely sell-outs, but these things happen. Move the games, give the Astros the lions share of the revenues for the re-located games, and call it a day. Doesn’t the league have money set aside that they can draw from for extreme emergency situations such as this?

I don’t think anyone is going to want to ask the Astros to fly off to Chicago tonight and leave their families behind in the hurricane’s path…

He’s known all week that this storm is heading right towards Houston, yet he sits on his hands and does nothing. Now, it’s too late to move it to a neutral site. Even if they play a game Sunday- there will be likely be hardly anyone there- because of the evacuation in Houston. More so, with the storm likely to blanket Houston/Galveston, who’s to say that they will even be able to play a game Sunday or Monday?

It should have been moved to a neutral site at the least two days ago… So, either Selig is an idiot & the worst commish ever, or it’s a conspiracy. I’m hoping that the Brewers get swept in their 4 game series in Philly, and then they will be so out of it, the games vs. the Cubs that they have left will mean nothing.

Bud Selig must go. Save MLB, fire Selig!!