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.

So the O’s will play another American League East rival not in the usual facility for the second time in a few years. During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Toronto Blue Jays played at Sahlen Field, home of the team's Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons.

Tropicana Field opened in 1990 and has housed the Rays since 1998. The team had planned to use the stadium only through 2027 until a replacement ballpark could be built.

No AFL championship this time for O's prospects: In the Arizona Fall League championship game last night, Salt River beat Surprise 3-2. 

The Surprise roster featured eight O's prospects and Chris Frosch, who was with the O’s High-A Aberdeen club as strength and conditioning coach in 2024. Surprise was managed by Roberto Mercado, the Double-A Bowie skipper this year.

In the title game, O's prospect Creed Willems batted leadoff at catcher and went 0-for-4 with a hit by pitch. Dougles Hodo III started in left field for Surprise, going 0-for-2 with two walks. 

Salt River scored single runs in the second, third and fifth innings to win the AFL title.

O's prospects had been on AFL winners with Mesa when it won the 2021 AFL championship and with Surprise when that club won the 2013 title.