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Hurricane Ian impacts Tampa Bay Rays in only one way

By Kevin Henry

Aug 23, 2020; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; A general view of the exterior of Tropicana Field before a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. Mandatory Credit: Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 23, 2020; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; A general view of the exterior of Tropicana Field before a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. Mandatory Credit: Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports /
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As Hurricane Ian takes aim at the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, the Tampa Bay Rays will not be impacted by the massive storm, at least on the field.

Playing on the road, the Tampa Bay Rays will avoid the wrath of Hurricane Ian

Wrapping up the home portion of its 2022 regular-season schedule with a 7-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon, the Tampa Bay Rays are playing the remainder of their 2022 regular-season games on the road, including opening a series against the American League champion Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.

Tampa Bay plays its next three games in Cleveland, far away from what could be a devastating scene in their home area as Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall in and around the Tampa-St. Petersburg area early on Thursday morning. After that, the Rays play three in Houston against the Astros before finishing the season with three games at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

It’s a tough end to the season for the Rays, who enter Tuesday’s play just a half-game ahead of the Seattle Mariners for the fifth seed in the AL postseason bracket. Over the course of the next nine games, Tampa Bay will be playing teams with a combined .563 winning percentage, the fourth-highest mark of any MLB team. Seattle, meanwhile, has the next-to-easiest strength of schedule remaining at .396 over their next 10 games.

Still, according to FanGraphs, the Rays have a 99.7 percent chance to make the postseason. It’s simply a matter of which seed the Rays will be in the AL bracket.

While the Rays will not be in Tampa during Hurricane Ian’s arrival, the Rays front office is making contingency plans for what will happen with postseason ticket sales. The Rays are pushing any potential postseason ticket sales back to October 5, the final day of the regular season.

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That, however, seems to be the only way that the Rays will be affected by the monster storm as the team can focus on securing its spot in the postseason far away from Hurricane Ian’s wrath.

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