O's-Rays on the road will not be at the Trop next season

The hurricane damage to the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg will send the Tampa Bay Rays to a new home for the 2025 season.

When Hurricane Milton tore through Florida on Oct. 9, the storm's winds destroyed a large portion of Tropicana Field's fiberglass roof. 

The Rays will play their home games for next season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, which is about 20 miles from Tropicana Field. The Yankees use Steinbrenner Field as their spring training home, and that will continue. They also have a Low-A Florida State League team that uses that facility, and that will also continue, although they are expected to use other fields and not the stadium field. There are more than 40 days when the Rays and Tampa Tarpons will both be scheduled to play at Steinbrenner Field. 

The Rays will continue to hold spring training at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte. Their first regular-season homestand will take place at Steinbrenner Field. They host Colorado on Opening Day March 27 and play the Rockies and Pittsburgh in those first six home games. Tampa Bay will play 16 of its first 22 games next season in their temporary home at Steinbrenner Field.

Next season the Orioles are scheduled to play the Rays on the road June 16-19 for four games, and they will play a three-game series versus the Rays in Tampa from July 18-20, the first series out of the All-Star break.

Showalter: "White pants, gray pants, it's still baseball between the lines"

Showalter: "White pants, gray pants, it's still baseball between the lines"
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rays are going out of their way to make the Orioles and media feel right at home, including the shipment of Bergers cookies from Baltimore to Tropicana Field. Boxes are stacked in the press dining room for dessert. That's the icing on the cookie. The Orioles took batting practice first at Tropicana Field, the usual order for the home team. The Rays came out of the dugout to stretch in their road gray pants, many of the players greeting the Orioles with hugs. "I...