Rays open season with walk-off win at Yankees' minor-league stadium, fans chant 'sell the team'
The Tampa Bay Rays opened their season on one of the most positive notes possible, but the overarching reality of their situation remained as clear as the unobstructed sun in the sky.
One of two MLB teams forced to play this season and beyond in a minor league stadium notched an Opening Day win with a walk-off homer from rookie Kameron Misner, defeating the Colorado Rockies 3-2. Per OptaStats, Misner is the first player in MLB history to hit a walk-off home run on Opening Day for his first career homer.
The game saw the Rays enter the seventh inning down 2-0, but they tied the game with a rally featuring a double from emerging star Junior Caminero and RBIs from Jonathan Aranda and José Caballero. Misner's dinger came at the expense of Rockies reliever Victor Vodnik.
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All of that was played at Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankee's spring training stadium and home of their Single-A affiliate Tampa Tarpons. The Rays are set to play the entire season there after their longtime home of Tropicana Field was shredded by Hurricane Milton in the offseason.
Rays games are going to be unusual this season. So are A's games. (Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
(Mike Carlson via Getty Images)
While there were initial hopes that Tropicana Field could be repaired and the Rays could return after a year, all agreements on their long-term home have so far fallen through. The team appears poised to relocate if it can't figure out a deal in Tampa or St. Petersburg, with Orlando as a notable possibility.
The whole situation has become an embarrassment for MLB, which has seen two separate disputes over a stadium result in teams deciding to play 2025 at a stadium usually used by minor league teams. The other is the Athletics, who at least have a plan to move from Sacramento to Las Vegas once construction on their new stadium is done (which will still take years from now).
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The A's are scheduled to begin their tenure at Sutter Health Park — the home of the Sacramento River Cats, Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants — against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.
The pressure has been on Rays owner Stuart Sternberg in particular, which was audible Friday when fans started chanting "sell the team."
Those chants reportedly align with the desires of the MLB commissioner's office.
It's at least worth noting that Steinbrenner Field overall appeared to be a pleasant atmosphere, if not limited by its capacity of 11,026. Tropicana Field was considered one of the worst stadiums in MLB and the brighter, more intimate feel of a minor league stadium is a positive.
Especially when fans have a walk-off win to celebrate.
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