Musings about baseball in Tampa in 2025
In brief, it may play out to be a true sh*tshow
I’ve been a Floridian for over 15 years as of this June, and we’ve been incredibly fortunate to not have been too impacted by tropical weather systems. I can count on two hands the storms that have affected the area since I’ve been here. I missed the 2004 hurricane season with Charley and so many others that affected the Tampa Bay region, but this year is for the record books, for sure.
I have also been watching baseball in some fashion in Tampa specifically for over a decade, seeing prospects like Aaron Judge, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., and so many others pass through as they made their way to the Majors.
While what happened to Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton was kind of a distant thought, it was indeed a possibility due to the age. I noticed while in the camera well ahead of one of the games I shot this past year at “the Trop” how dirty the roof looked while it was backlit from the Sun. “Is it supposed to look like that?”, I thought to myself. My logic was “maybe it is” because if you leave a car sitting for a while, the windows, windshield, etc. won’t stay clean. You’ll get water spots along with debris blown by the wind. I figured that must have been what happened.
That very well may have been true, but what I didn’t realize was that the roof was simply old and wasn’t kept up. Now, I suppose given how “cheap” (used loosely in this case) the Rays ownership is, that all kind of makes sense. Fans have been griping for years about the state of the stadium and how it “looked like a dump”. I didn’t mind it.
When I’m given the opportunity to watch baseball in Florida with a roof and air conditioning, I’m all in. Sure, traffic getting in and out isn’t great, but try getting out of a Lightning game and you’ll see how poor of an experience that is. I found out the hard way that taking surface streets to visit my ailing father at nearby Tampa General Hospital shortly after a Lightning game ended was a terrible idea, especially when you consider how many streets in downtown/Channelside are one-way.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise that considering the strength of storm that Milton was (after all, the winds did knock a crane over in a nearby street), the roof tore off. We were fortunate to not have lost power, so we saw the report on the local ABC affiliate live as it happened. I realized at that moment, as I unexpectedly got emotional, that baseball would not be in St. Petersburg in 2025. I saw it as the stadium was beyond repair, and maybe that ends up being the case.
I truly think that 2025 will be a huge moment for baseball in the Tampa Bay Area. Fans wanted the Rays to play in Tampa, despite neither side (the team or Tampa/Hillsborough County) wanting to agree to any kind of terms in building a stadium in Tampa proper.
With the news that the Rays will play in George M. Steinbrenner Field in 2025 and possibly for the foreseeable future, depending on the state of Tropicana Field, fans will finally get what they wanted. Obviously, it’s not the way they wanted it, but they’ll get to see their Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa.
A lot of that end has been sorted out, but now the actual “home team” for Steinbrenner Field for the bulk of the year, the Single-A Tampa Tarpons, is without a place to play.
A home run by OF Joel Mendez on Field 1 at the Yankees Minor League and Development Complex (John Brophy)
An MLB article noted that they’ll play elsewhere within the Yankees’ Minor League Complex. There are a few issues with that, notably that the Complex does not have any lighting, nor do they have any tarps to cover the field for the inevitable rain we’ll see. Maybe that’s part of why the Rays will pay the Yankees $15 million to play at GMS Field given they’re displacing the Tarpons.
I was chatting about this with a local photographer friend, and he mentioned that it’s possible they play “home” games at away locations in the area, similar to what the Rays are doing. The Tarpons averaged about 500 fans during the week, and around 1,200 fans on a good Friday or Saturday night. I added that there are two major reasons I think this is what happens.
In a similar reason to why the Rays are playing at GMS Field, the infrastructure is already there. Lighting, obviously, but the Florida State League teams are mostly obligated to broadcast their games via MiLB TV. The Tarpons found out about this last minute (about a week before the home opener from what I understand) and threw together a pretty remarkable broadcast under the circumstances.
That said, the Yankees have their own hurricane damage to contend with at their respective fields. Hurricane Milton knocked over the batter’s eye on Field 1 at the Complex, blew out the roof of the tower that overlooked all four fields at the Complex and some foul poles were knocked over at the Complex as well.
The Tarpons open their season on April 5th at Lakeland, but their home opener is set for April 8th. They could play in Dunedin since Dunedin plays in Clearwater versus the Threshers (Blue Jays vs Phillies) for the first full week, then play in Dunedin as the away team since they are scheduled to play the Blue Jays the following week. The various teams in the area are likely all going over their respective schedules soon to see how the Tarpons can be accommodated.
Given how much of this is still uncertain, I hope to cover and write about the Rays while they’re home and do the same for the other local minor league affiliates on away trips. That’s where this Substack comes in!
I’ll leave a handful of free articles like this one available for all to read, but will put other articles behind a paywall. Like much of what’s going on with baseball in the Tampa area, it’s something that’s very fluid right now, and will be implemented in the near future. I have big plans for 2025; it’s all or nothing given the potential opportunity I have with the Rays playing considerably closer to me than before.
I do have some health concerns that derailed plans last year since I was mostly functioning as a photographer, but if I function more as a journalist/reporter in the future (basically down to staying out of the heat and in air conditioning), I think I can maintain the coverage I truly want to provide. I hope to earn your subscription!