A Second MLB Team Will Play in a Minor League Stadium Next Year
The Free Friday Post
Hi friends-
After Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off of Tropicana Field in Tampa last month, it became clear that the Rays would not be able to play home games there in 2025.
None of the options for a replacement stadium were good.
The reason Tropicana Field had a roof at all is because it rains a lot in western Florida from May through October, which coincides almost perfectly with the baseball season. And unlike with football, you can’t play baseball in the rain.
It’s *possible* that the Rays could have begged the Marlins to let them use their home park in Miami on days the Marlins were away, but there were two main problems with that plan: 1) the Rays would have had to fund the construction of separate home clubhouse at LoanDepot Park (if it was even possible to build in time) and 2) by the time the hurricane hit, MLB had already set its 2025 schedule. Ensuring the Marlins were never home when the Rays were would have resulted in a cascading clusterf-k of re-scheduling that would have impacted travel for all 30 teams.
And so, the Rays have chosen to play their regular season home games at Steinbrenner Field, the 11,000 seat stadium the Yankees use for spring training. (The Yankees single-A affiliate Tampa Tarpons have until now played their regular season games there— but they are being kicked out until further notice).
The Rays will now join the A’s and become the second team playing in a minor league stadium in 2025. The Rays fell victim to Hurricane Milton, the A’s to Hurricane John Fisher.
It’s fitting, actually, that the Rays are now effectively taking their place as a Yankee farm feeder. Per Sportico, the Rays will pay the Yankees $15 million in rent for the season, which is hilarious when you consider the Rays highest paid player last year only made $8.75 million (Brandon Lowe). I mean, sheesh. Maybe the Yankees could have done the Rays a solid and dumped Marcus Stroman’s $18 million contract on them in exchange for use of Steinbrenner Field?
Anyway, the poorest team in MLB paying the richest team to rent their spring training facility for regular season games after their own decaying stadium was leveled by a hurricane would be incredibly embarrassing for the league, if commissioner Rob Manfred was capable of embarrassment.
It’s unclear how long the Rays will be forced to slum it, since Tropicana Field will cost an estimated $55 million to fix, and the Rays are supposed to be getting a new stadium in Tampa in 2028. (I’ll believe that when I see it.)
So for now, we’ll have the West Sacramento A’s and the Steinbrenner Field Rays for the foreseeable future. And here’s a fun thought experiment: would you rather play for a team in 110 degree heat every day? Or one where rain delays become part of your daily life?
With the dream of the Oakland Rays now dead, the only obvious solution here is to root for the A’s and Rays to make it to the ALCS next year, then watch MLB tacitly acknowledge the humiliation of having these two teams play in these subpar facilities as they scramble to re-locate the series to proper stadiums that can hold more than 25,000 fans combined.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Teoscar Hernández is seeking a multi-year deal, and I’ve heard that a four-year contract will get it done. The Dodgers, Red Sox, and Orioles are reportedly interested. Hernández could wait until Juan Soto signs to potentially add the Mets, Yankees, and others as bidders. He’s made no secret that he wants to return to the Dodgers. We’ll see if they pony up.
Juan Soto is taking meetings with the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays—and expect his list of suitors to grow. For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Jeff Passan heard that the Dodgers will not go hard after Soto, and I’ve heard the same. As a reminder, despite the perception that the Dodgers buy championships, Andrew Friedman has never given a Scott Boras client longer than a one-year deal in his life. Soto’s signing isn’t close, and as I wrote yesterday, I expect him to pick his next team during the winter meetings in December.
The industry is almost certain Garrett Crochet will be traded this off-season, because the White Sox are going nowhere and Crochet will command a huge haul in return. Expect every team not currently rebuilding to kick on the tires on Crochet. The Red Sox seem like a good fit to me, given their plethora of hitting prospects and their need for pitching, but who can say?
The industry is also certain that Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki will sign with the Dodgers, and I could do an entire newsletter on the crazy conspiracy theories I’ve heard about why and call it “BlueAnon.” For what it’s worth, I’m not convinced. I bet someone a coke on Monday that he’ll pick the Padres instead because he’s friends with Yu Darvish and he doesn’t want to deal with the Japanese media circus following Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but we’ll see.
Speaking of the Rays problems, it sure doesn’t look like Wander Franco will ever set foot on an MLB field again.
FanDuel and MLB settled a lawsuit over player likenesses.
Blake Snell is perhaps the best free agent pitcher on the starting pitching market, and word is he wants to stay on the west coast. This puts the Giants, Padres, Dodgers, and Angels in pole position—if they make competitive offers. I am leaving out the Mariners because I don’t know that they need starting pitching, and the West Sacramento A’s because they’re a poverty franchise.
That’s all for today! Remember that our book club for Bottom of the 33rd is on Monday, December 2nd from 5:30-6:30 PM PT, and that the author Dan Barry will join the zoom! Also, our weekly hourly Saturday zooms talking baseball will resume at noon PT tomorrow. Zooms are open to paid subscribers, so take advantage of the fun (and help me buy treats for my dog!) by upgrading your free subscription here:
And as always, you can follow me on Instagram at molly_knight, and on Bluesky at mollyknight.
Meanwhile the White Sox are a minor league team playing in a major league stadium.
I'm with you, I think he's Padres-bound. The Japanese baseball writer whose opinion I trust the most thinks Padres. There's suspicion that the no fraternizing with MLB teams order that NPB gave this season was after one of the Padres front office dropped Sasaki's name into a speech about prospects in the Padres system. I suppose we'll know by December 15th I guess, because of posting rules?
The Dodgers have to sign Teo! They can't break up TeOh(tani), the great bromance for our times!