Tal's Hill lives! Astros delay scheduled Minute Maid Park renovations
If you were hoping to celebrate the planned demolition of Minute Maid Park's center field oddity known as 'Tal's Hill', you'll have to wait a bit.
The Houston Astros announced on Thursday that they have postponed the scheduled MMP renovations that were to take effect in 2016. Their reasoning? The Astros' mostly unexpected 2015 postseason run (that just came to an end with their ALDS Game 5 loss to the Kansas City Royals) threw off the timeline for when the club and contractors had expected work to be concluded.
#Astros to postpone center field renovation pic.twitter.com/iBe44bTUO0
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2015
Said team president Reid Ryan in a statement: "Through the bidding process, we determined that the construction timelines to have the ballpark ready for Opening Day 2016 became too risky, and we decided it was in everyone's best interest to postpone the renovation. The playing field, including Tal's Hill, will stay the same for the 2016 season. Other potential renovations to the ballpark are being evaluated, and we will announce future plans in the coming months."
In addition to the Astros' October run delaying matters, the team cited an international cricket match taking place at MMP in November as a secondary roadblock.
