MLB announced several adjustments to the 2025 regular season schedule on Monday, accounting for the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays will be playing outdoors.
The Rays have played their home games indoors ever since the franchise’s inaugural season in 1998. But with Hurricane Milton ripping the roof off of Tropicana Field in October, they have been forced to set up shop elsewhere for the time being.
The club ultimately landed on the New York Yankees’ Spring Training facility, George M. Steinbrenner Field, as their temporary home earlier this month, selecting the location over several other local minor league parks.
Steinbrenner Field is outdoors, though, open to the elements on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Due to the anticipated heat and rain over the summer, the league has swapped the locations of two home-and-home series to minimize the number of games there during that time of year.
Instead of facing the Los Angeles Angels on the road from April 7 to April 9, the Rays will host that series between April 8 and April 10. In return, the Rays will head out to Anaheim from Aug. 4 to Aug. 6, rather than playing the home series that was initially scheduled from Aug. 5 to Aug. 7.
The Rays also added an additional home series against the Minnesota Twins from May 26 to May 28, rather than playing at Target Field that weekend. Tampa Bay will now head out to Minnesota from July 4 to July 6.
As a result of the reshuffling, the Rays are slated to play 19 of their first 22 and 47 of their first 59 games at their temporary home. Just 16 of their 51 games between July and August will be played at Steinbrenner Field.
Tampa Bay will frequently be on the road down the stretch, as they are now primed to be visitors in 69 of their final 103 games.
It remains to be seen where the Rays will play beyond next season, with Tropicana Field in disarray and their stadium deal at risk of falling apart. Instead of playing at a brand-new facility in St. Petersburg starting in 2028, the Rays are suddenly a relocation candidate once again.
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