Top Menu

Baseball world preps for Hurricane Milton

With Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida, the baseball world is sending home players and staffers and hunkering down for one of the most severe storms to ever slam the state.

As of this morning Hurricane Milton is a Category 4 hurricane, approaching 250 miles southwest of Tampa and expected to read land by tonight. It is expected to impact the heart of the baseball world in Florida, ranging from Orlando to the north and the coast to the south. That includes Tampa-St. Petersburg, which features the Trop and five spring-training sites (Clearwater, Tampa, Bradenton, Lakeland and Dunedin), along with several spring-training sites down the coast (Sarasota, North Port, Port Charlotte and Fort Myers).

The preparation in the baseball world begins with the use of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, as an emergency storm shelter by the Florida Department of Emergency Management. Hundreds of cots have been set up on the playing field, as the facility can potentially house 10,000 local residents.

In nearby Bradenton, the Pittsburgh Pirates have cancelled fall play and sent home players, coaches and personnel in anticipation of the story. Pirate City, the team’s player dorm, was fortified to withstand hurricane weather in the most recent renovations, and the city will use Pirate City as an emergency operation center. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“When Pirate City was rebuilt in 2008, it was built for hurricane standards … so we’ve got a pretty strong building here,” Pirates vice president of Florida operations Jeff Podobnik said. “From the Pittsburgh Pirates’ standpoint, [we have] a great relationship with the city of Bradenton, but it’s also that comfort level that I can have with our staff members that work here.”

From a preparation standpoint, Hurricane Milton hasn’t been any different for Mr. Podobnik and the rest of the Pirates’ Florida staff. As usual, anything that could be a projectile has been packed up, tied down or moved inside, including bases, trash cans and tables — even the baseball cages. Windscreens on outfield fences have been rolled up so that the fences themselves don’t blow over.

Hurricane impacts on the baseball world are a way of life in Florida. After Hurricane Ian swept through the region in September 2022 and caused an estimated $113 billion in damage in Florida alone, the Tampa Bay Rays were forced to abandon Charlotte Sports Park in spring training 2023 and set up shop in Orlando’s ESPN Wide World of Sports and Tropicana Field. That damage was felt particularly hard in the greater Fort Myers area and environs north; the Minnesota Twins saw damage to Hammond Stadium and the Lee Health Sports Complex, but not to the point where spring-training operations were scrapped.

, , ,