With floodwaters not far away from their stadium, the Iowa Cubs will return to Des Moines this weekend for a homestand with Nashville. I-Cubs general manager Sam Bernabe says they don’t know if they’ll get all the games in, but will try.
Bernabe says they’re coming to town with the intention of playing as many games in the eight-game homestand as they can. He says the option of playing out of town is not there and they’re going to try and play the games in Des Moines. The club had looked at moving the games to Memphis as flood waters grew closer to the stadium.
Improvements made following the 1993 floods, and sandbagging, have kept the stadium dry. Bernabe says getting to the stadium will be a challenge. He says there will be challenges getting to the stadium with all the downtown bridges closed. There also won’t be any parking next to the stadium.
Bernabe says the levees that protect the city run through the parking lots and the entrances to the parking lots had to be closed off to protect from floodwater. He says they plan to set up a shuttle service and will announce that later. Bernabe is hoping the team can provide some relief from the flooding.
Bernabe says they thought it was important to try and get back to some sort of normalcy. "We know how badly most people are suffering in the deal and we want to try and be able to provide some entertainment for their hometown team, so we thought it was important to get the team back and get the boys on the field as quick as we can," Bernabe says. The I-Cubs open the homestand Friday against Nashville at Principal Park.