Rays Could Play Postseason in a Minor League Stadium
The Tampa Bay Rays are preparing for a possible postseason with an unusual venue: George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. This stadium, which normally hosts minor league games, could be the setting for the World Series, with a capacity limited to 10,046 spectators.
This decision was made after considering other options, including LoanDepot Park in Miami. The Rays have been playing their regular season games at Steinbrenner Field, home of the Tampa Tarpons of the Low-A, due to the damage caused by a hurricane at Tropicana Field, which left it unable to play in 2025.
Currently, the Rays are in fourth place in the American League East, with a record of 50-47, just 1.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the third wild card spot.
Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that the Rays could return to Tropicana Field, which is being renovated, for the 2026 season.
By then, the Rays could have new owners. The sale of the team for $1.7 billion to a group led by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski is still ongoing.
The Rays are expected to remain in the Tampa Bay area after the sale by Stu Sternberg, who acquired the team in 2004 for $200 million.
Sternberg sought the sale of the Rays after the team withdrew from a deal with St. Petersburg, where Tropicana Field is located, for a $1.3 billion stadium. The parties had agreed to the deal before hurricanes Helene and Milton caused over $50 million in damage to Tropicana Field.
The Pinellas County Board of Commissioners delayed the vote in October 2024 to fund its share of the stadium. Less than a month later, the Rays said the delay would cause a one-year delay in the stadium’s opening and cause cost overruns that would make the deal unsustainable without more government funding. In mid-March, Sternberg told St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch that the team would withdraw from the stadium deal.
The future of the Rays under the direction of Zalupski and his partners, mortgage broker Bill Cosgrove and Ken Babby, owner of two minor league teams, is a key question for MLB. Manfred has expressed his desire to resolve the stadium situation of the Rays and the Athletics before MLB expands to 32 teams.
