A little over a month ago, Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, was destroyed by Hurricane Milton. And while we did learn yesterday that the field can be fixed (… for the small price of $55 million), it is never going to happen in time for the 2025 season.
Further complicating matters? The question of if they are going to fix the stadium AT ALL. After all, if the Rays are planning to move to an entirely new city (or even a different location in the same general area), spending that much money on repairing a temporary home for the Rays doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for anybody. But those are all medium/long-term problems. In the meantime, the team needed an answer for the 2025 MLB season, and now they have one: Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
Steinbrenner Field is the Spring Training home of the New York Yankees (if you couldn’t tell by the name), as well as the Class-A Minor League Tarpons. How they will coordinate those teams remains to be seen.
Under the current schedules, there are 42 dates when the Rays and Tarpons — who averaged 993 fans per game last season — would both play at home. Manfred said there could be some adjustments to team schedules if there was an agreement for the Rays to play in a minor-league facility, and FSL officials have been told recently to expect changes.
But if you’re keeping track at home, this decision means that next season, there will be TWO MLB teams playing at minor league stadiums (the Athletics being the other).
Like Brett said yesterday, you have to wonder how this impacts the Rays’ ability to attract free agents, not just this offseason, but for the next few. We all know they’re not the spendiest team in the league, but the near-term accommodations and long-term uncertainty are pretty big issues.