Hurricane Helene is making a mess of the end of Major League Baseball’s regular season, and the league is facing no shortage of criticism from fans and pundits regarding how it’s handled the situation. But the speed and rapid intensification of the storm created a set of unique circumstances for the league—in turn, adding another layer of drama to the final days before the postseason.

The storm, projected to make landfall Thursday night in Florida’s Big Bend region as at least a Category 3 hurricane, is forecast to produce heavy rainfall and tropical-force winds throughout much of the Southeast over the next 24 to 36 hours. Because of that, MLB postponed the final two games of a Mets-Braves series at Truist Park late Wednesday.

The two teams, each battling for Wild Card position in the National League playoff chase, are now scheduled to play a straight doubleheader on Monday, otherwise an off day for MLB between Sunday’s end of the regular season and Tuesday’s postseason start. The Mets-Braves makeup games, however, will not be played if they are not needed to determine playoff eligibility.

But should the games be played, the Braves or Mets are facing a potential cross-country trip right after the doubleheader to face the Padres or Dodgers—and with a pitching staff depleted from the doubleheader. As a result, the competitive landscape of the postseason could be significantly altered.

Not Always Like This

MLB has had a long history of being proactive in responding to hurricanes toward the end of the regular season—when there are fewer available dates to reschedule games. For example, the approach of Hurricane Irma in 2017 prompted MLB to shift a Rays-Yankees series from Tropicana Field to Citi Field in New York. Just last year, Hurricane Hilary—a rare tropical storm to hit Southern California—similarly led the league to reschedule a Rays-Angels series in Anaheim.

MLB sources, however, tell Front Office Sports there were some key differences in the situation surrounding Hurricane Helene. The system was not a named tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center until Tuesday morning, and before then had been thought to be a far smaller storm not as likely to impact the Atlanta area significantly.

Though Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon, MLB and its weather advisors thought as recently as early Wednesday there still could be a window that evening to play—hopes that were dashed a few hours later.

Because of the swift acceleration of Hurricane Helene, there was essentially no window to consider shifting any of the games to a neutral site. Such a move not only requires approval of the teams and MLB Players Association—something that might have been difficult to obtain given the competitive implications—but also a minimum of 24 hours’ notice to prepare another ballpark operationally.

“I’ve never seen a hurricane intensify so quickly and in the way that Helene has here,” a league source tells FOS.

More problems are possible over the weekend as the Royals—also fighting for playoff position—are due to travel to Atlanta on Thursday after completing a series in Washington. Depending on the extent of the storm damage in Georgia, though, there may be schedule alterations to the Royals-Braves games.

As college football heads into a pivotal weekend on the field, including a monumental SEC matchup when No. 2 Georgia visits No. 4 Alabama on Saturday night, chaos off the field has dominated discussion around the sport all week.

From conference realignment to the transfer portal to the evolving impact of NIL (name, image, and likeness), the shifting college landscape keeps leading to firsts across the sport.

Selection Service

The Pac-12 has been at the center of realignment among non-Power 4 conferences. It’s already successfully poached five schools from the Mountain West: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and most recently, Utah State. 

However, the Mountain West has notched a significant win, with six of its seven remaining football-playing members agreeing to keep the conference together, despite interest from rival leagues, according to The Athletic and other reports. The Pac-12 was said to be interested in UNLV, while Air Force had interest from the American Athletic Conference, which announced a long-term commitment from its current 15 teams this week.

That would leave both the Mountain West and Pac-12 with seven football programs, beginning in 2026. The Pac-12 needs one more member to retain its FBS status, and the Mountain West two more, as Hawaii is not a full-time member.

There’s Always Next Year

As many schools are figuring out which conference they will play in moving forward, athletes are utilizing new policies to keep their playing options open, too.

In April, the NCAA removed its one-time limit on allowing undergraduates to transfer and be immediately eligible to play the following season. Now, there is no cap. And that’s leading to several players cutting their seasons short for a variety of reasons.

UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka is redshirting after three games due to an NIL dispute. This would have been his last year of eligibility, but now he’ll be able to transfer and play—perhaps for more money—somewhere else in 2025.

Football players can redshirt so long as they have played in less than four games that season. As most programs enter their fourth or fifth week, that opportunity is being taken advantage of.

On Wednesday, UNLV running back Michael Allen and USC defensive tackle Bear Alexander both announced decisions to sit out the remainder of the season and redshirt, due to a lack of playing time opportunities.