The Vagabond Rays

Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay Rays' home stadium, was supposed to be used as a shelter during Hurricane Milton.  Instead, Milton's winds destroyed the roof, ripping almost every panel off completely.  The rest of the stadium, fortunately, wasn't damaged, but the roof obviously needs to be repaired.  Unfortunately, those repairs won't be completed in time for Opening Day 2025.

The Rays have long been in need of a new stadium, and finally got the approval for one earlier this year.  It won't open until 2028, however, which means they'll still be at Tropicana Field for the next three years.  And now, they'll need to find a temporary home for at least the start of the 2025 season.

A number of cities have presented themselves as options for the Rays' temporary home, but Major League Baseball wants them to remain in the Tampa Bay area, near their fanbase.  A teams' Spring Training complexes are in the Tampa area, so they do have options.  How many of those options are actually realistic, though?

Most of the teams whose Spring Training complexes are in the Tampa area have a Minor League team in the Florida State League that play in the same stadium once Spring Training ends.  So, the Rays' using one of those facilities would require adjusting the Florida State League schedule.  I'm not saying it can't be done.  They're doing the exact same thing in Sacramento with the A's and RiverCats sharing that stadium for the next few seasons.  But that was known well in advance, so it made it much easier to work the MLB and Triple-A schedules around each other.

With that in mind, Sarasota could be an option.  The Orioles don't have a Minor League affiliate in the Florida State League, so their complex would be readily available for the Rays.  Or they could use their own facility in Port Charlotte, but that's 100 miles away from Tampa/St. Petersburg.  Is that too far?

One benefit of those Spring Training stadiums is that they're, for the most part, Major League ready.  The pitch clock and replay system have already been installed since the Major League teams need to use them for Spring Training games.  And, even though most Spring Training games are during the day, they do play a handful of night games, so the lighting is in place, as well.  Although, as we saw when the Blue Jays had to start the 2021 season at their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, it's not ideal.

I get the desire to keep the Rays as close to home as possible.  But, if they don't want to use another team's Spring Training facility, it would be easy enough to take an 85-mile trip across I-4 to Orlando.  There's obviously plenty of hotel space and, most importantly, there's a 7,500-seat stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.  The Rays actually used it for part of Spring Training in 2023, so they've called the stadium "home" before.  And it's also hosted Major League games in the past.

Personally, I think Orlando may be the best option.  Especially since no one knows how long it'll take until Tropicana Field is ready for play.  Ideally, they'll be able to repair the roof relatively quickly and the Rays can return home sometime in April or May.  But, that's assuming the roof is the only damage.  Who knows what other damage there is or how extensive?

All of this is complicated by another significant factor.  The Rays are already moving into a new, $1.8 billion ballpark in 2028.  They obviously need to determine the cost of the repairs, but is it worth it to replace the roof on a building that's being torn down in three years anyway?  Especially when the team already has the funding for the new stadium and the City of St. Petersburg, which doesn't have unlimited resources, just dealt with back-to-back hurricanes.  So, it seems very possible, if not likely, that the Rays won't be able to use their home park at all in 2025.

Removing the roof and turning Tropicana Field into an outdoor facility doesn't seem like a viable option, either.  For starters, the stadium is 35 years old, and it was built as an indoor facility with a permanent roof.  That means there's no drainage system, etc.  And it's not like they can just install one!  So, they'd have absolutely no protection from the weather, whether it be rain (it rains a lot in Florida) or the heat (it also gets pretty hot there in the summer).

So, while 2025 is the obvious and immediate priority, we could be looking at a situation where the Rays need to find a stadium solution for more than just next season.  It's entirely possible that they've already played their last game in Tropicana Field and will be vagabonds until their new stadium (which hasn't even broken ground yet) is complete.  And, if this becomes a semi-permanent, multi-year thing, it shouldn't be at somebody else's Minor League facility.  It would be at a place that at least feels like it's their home away from home.

That's why I think Orlando may be the best option.  I totally get the desire to keep them in Florida.  And it'll be easy enough to find somewhere for the Rays to play within their home state.  So, sorry to disappoint you, Nashville, but it doesn't look like you'll be their temporary home.  Especially since Orlando is easy, makes sense and is close enough to Tampa/St. Petersburg that Rays fans will be able to make the trip.  I'm sure there are plenty of Rays fans in Orlando, too, so it would actually make thing significantly easier for them.

There's something else to consider, too.  Despite having the smallest seating capacity in the Majors, Tropicana Field looks empty most of the time.  The Rays don't even sell tickets in the upper deck and cover it with a tarp instead.  If they draw similar crowds to a 7,500-seat stadium, though, it'd look packed!  A seating capacity that low could obviously cause problems should the Rays host playoff games, but you cross that bridge when you come to it.

Obviously, nothing is ideal about this situation.  The Rays finally got the approval and funding for their much-needed new stadium, only for Mother Nature to have her own plans regarding Tropicana Field.  Now, instead of going into the offseason looking for ways to improve on an 80-82 record and fourth-place finish, they have a much more pressing problem.  They need to figure out where they're gonna play in 2025, and possibly beyond.