The Yankees were worried about Hurricane Milton while dealing with the Royals in the ALDS

NEW YORK — The Yankees are playing their most important games of the season this week and their focus isn't solely on beating the Royals to win their Division Series.

Not even close.

Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells and other Yankees have homes in Tampa. Owner Hal Steinbrenner is also based there.

They're all concerned about Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 storm with a 12-foot storm surge that's expected to devastate the Tampa Bay region before midnight Wednesday and continue into the early hours of Thursday.

“When you're in the heat of the playoffs and everything we're about, there's always a lot of prospects that come in and make an impact,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Game 3 on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. “Anyone who knows, we obviously have a handful of people that are stationed or based down there and it's an uncertain time.”

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Pitchers Marcus Stroman and Clayton Beeter, along with others hoping to be back on the Yankees' active roster for the ALCS and World Series, were in Tampa on Tuesday to pitch at the spring training facility before heading to safety Made seats and took a flight to New York.

The Yankees are using Steinbrenner Field, their spring training stadium, as a shelter “for our employees down there and their families,” said Jason Zillo, vice president of media relations.

Hurricane Milton is expected to be the region's worst in perhaps 100 years.

The center of the storm is expected to hit 60 miles south of Tampa, near Sarasota, Florida. More than 6.5 Floridians were reportedly evacuated in the Tampa Bay area as of Wednesday.

“Historic, catastrophic, life-threatening — all of those words sum up the situation,” Austen Flannery, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Tampa, told USA Today.

Many Yankees are very worried. They'll try to discuss what lies ahead this week in their best-of-five ALDS, which ended 1-1 before Game 3, and then keep an eye on what's going on in Tampa.

“We just have to pray for the best and hope for people’s safety,” Boone said.

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Randy Miller can be reached at [email protected].