Astros president: Rangers rejected our offer to swap home series

The Houston Astros are relocating their home series this week against the Texas Rangers to Tropicana Field in Tampa, Fla. due to the flooding created in Houston by Tropical Storm Harvey - though the Astros' initial plan wasn't to play the upcoming three-game set in Florida.

Astros president Reid Ryan admitted Monday he had suggested both clubs could instead just swap their two home series remaining this season between them, but the Rangers turned down the offer, instead wanting to play host for the final six contests.

"You've got a major storm that's disrupted everything. We went to the Rangers and said hey let's switch series. You guys have our home series. We'll take your home series. They rejected that and didn't want to do that," Reid said Monday, according to Mark Berman of Fox 26 KRIV. "The Rangers wanted us to play the next three days at their place, but they did not want to trade series with us. They wanted all six of our games at their park.

"The fact that the Rangers refused to go home and home with us, we had to look at all of the options that were out there. We had to look at our players' best interest and we had to look at the integrity of the schedule."

Under Reid's proposal, the Rangers' Globe Life Park would have hosted the three games from Tuesday to Thursday, while Minute Maid Park would then host the penultimate series of the season on Sept. 25-27.

According to the Dallas News' Evan Grant, the Rangers did not want to secede their home games late in the season because they did not want to create a scheduling issue - Texas ends the season on a seven-game homestand - or inconvenience their own fans. They were, however, willing to move this week's games to a suitable alternative, to which the Astros eventually decided on the Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field.