With the information popping out on Monday that the Tampa Bay Rays are having to regulate their 2025 schedule to keep away from the summer season rain and warmth at their momentary outside residence in Florida, it is clear that Hurricane Milton did extra injury for the Rays than simply decimate Tropicana Area.
Because of schedule swaps that may have the Rays away extra from Tampa throughout the peak summer season months, the Rays will play 69 of their closing 103 video games on the highway in 2025. That is not nice information for a group that has been a perennial postseason contender in latest seasons, lacking the playoffs final season for the primary time since 2018.
Not solely will the Rays have to regulate to taking part in at George M. Steinbrenner Area this season, however they may also need to learn to win constantly on the highway late within the marketing campaign in the event that they hope to play significant baseball in October.
It was unhealthy sufficient that the Rays needed to spend not less than this season with a minor league/spring coaching stadium as its residence. Nevertheless, to have the strain of taking part in on the highway much more after the All-Star break and additional alienating its fan base is one other blow for a franchise that can be questioning about its long-term future within the Tampa space after the newest plans to maintain the group alongside Florida’s Gulf Coast imploded.
Whereas MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has admitted there is “uncertainty” round the way forward for the Rays and the place they may play, Monday’s schedule shifting appears like a little bit of a panic from MLB’s standpoint.
Adjusting the schedule to maintain the Rays residence when the climate is drier and cooler and on the highway to keep away from the warmth and moisture is a little bit of a head-shaker for these followers in Atlanta, lower than a seven-hour drive away however nonetheless encased in humidity each summer season. The identical could possibly be stated in Cincinnati, St. Louis or different areas the place summers will be sweltering and warmth indices soar.
The transfer additionally shrugs off historical past. In spite of everything, the Texas Rangers handled the humidity and warmth within the Lone Star State whereas taking part in outside from 1972 till Globe Life Area opened in 2020. The Miami Marlins performed outside from 1993-2011, coping with the identical scorching and wet results the Rays must endure with out Tropicana Area within the equation.
When the Athletics and Rays get collectively this 12 months, MLB must market the matchups because the Vagabond Sequence. In spite of everything, these are the 2 franchises on the lookout for a house and questioning precisely what the close to future will appear to be for them.
Just like the A’s, MLB has watched one other franchise grow to be unstable, and this schedule adjustment appears like one other potential step for the Rays out of the Tampa space and not using a domed stadium plan in its future. It is a state of affairs Manfred and MLB did not need in 2025, however is now a actuality that has shifted schedules and probably the way forward for the Rays.
