The offseason has not begun, but already considered one of baseball’s greatest free brokers has drawn extra hypothesis than anybody may have foreseen a month in the past: the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays will be unable to start the 2025 season at Tropicana Subject, the stadium they’ve known as dwelling for the reason that franchise’s inception in 1998, due to damages incurred by Hurricane Milton. Two questions loom over the now-roofless indoor stadium: how lengthy will it take to restore, and does town of St. Petersburg (which owns the venue) have the money and the persistence to restore it?
Extra information: One Potential Rays Relocation Site Withdraws From Consideration
No matter Tropicana’s long-term future, the short-term future is evident: the Rays want a brand new dwelling.
Julio Aguilar/Getty Pictures
That has prompted hypothesis from far and large about the place the crew ought to relocate.
Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala advocated the crew keep inside the county the Rays name dwelling.
Philadelphia 76ers government Daryl Morey instructed Canada, writing on his Twitter/X account: “I say Toronto to finish the house swap settlement with the Raptors.” The Raptors performed in Tampa throughout the pandemic-interrupted 2020 NBA season.
I say Toronto to finish the house swap settlement with the Raptors
— Daryl Morey 🗽🏀 (@dmorey) October 16, 2024
In the meantime, a column that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday advocated for a brand new venue that might give the Windy Metropolis three Main League Baseball groups, together with the White Sox and Cubs.
Extra information: Rays Might Not Have Tropicana Field Repaired In Time For 2025 MLB Season
A pop-up baseball discipline on The 78, a 62-acre South Loop web site the place the Chicago White Sox additionally wish to construct a brand new stadium, may very well be transformed for momentary main league use, writes Paul Sullivan:
All it might want is a crew, a construction seating about 12,000 followers and a few ahead pondering by the Rays, MLB, town of Chicago, and the 78 builders.
The proposal comes days after a spokesperson for Montreal’s Olympic Stadium confirmed the venue wouldn’t be playable in 2025.
Extra information: Rays Issue Heartfelt Statement About Hurricane Milton Damage to Tropicana Field
“Till 2028, the sphere of play will probably be inside a development web site and subsequently not open to the general public,” stadium communications officer Anik Parisé told the Tampa Bay Times through e mail.
Montreal had been seen as a well-liked vacation spot as a result of in 2019 the Rays explored a “sister metropolis” partnership with Montreal by which the Rays would play a few of their dwelling video games within the Expos’ former metropolis. MLB finally rejected that plan.
For extra MLB information, go to Newsweek Sports.
