Tampa Bay Rays ‘Can't Just Blame' Steinbrenner Field For Home Woes

Forbes

06-05-2025

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe bats against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning of a ... More baseball game Friday, March 28, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
While the atmosphere at Steinbrenner Field has been wonderful to this point in the 2025 season, the home team's inability to cross the plate in its temporary place of residence has been a major issue.
Examples of the Rays' run-scoring difficulties include being blanked four times in a seven-game span at home. During that stretch they went 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position in a three-game series sweep at the hands of the visiting Royals, a series in which the Rays scored three runs.
Tampa Bay (16-18) heads into a six-game homestand that begins Tuesday evening against the Phillies having scored three runs or less in seven of its last eight at home. The outlier was a 10-8 win in 10 innings against the Yankees, a game the Rays trailed 8-4 heading into their half of the ninth.
Since opening the season by winning four of their first five against Colorado and Pittsburgh, the Rays are a dismal 5-12 at 1 Steinbrenner Drive.
A constant and often stiff breeze has rendered many seemingly deep drives to left field and center field nothing more than routine fly outs. Conversely, the ball has unquestionably carried well to right field with a handful of homers having disappeared over the wall near a foul pole that is all of 314 feet away, just like Yankees Stadium. In fact, the ballpark's dimensions, including 318 to left and 408 to center, are the same as those in the Bronx.
The elements are something the Rays, of course, never had to deal with while playing their first 27 seasons indoors at Tropicana Field. Alas, Steinbrenner Field and Mother Nature can play havoc with those in the home clubhouse who are navigating the 81-game home schedule.
'It's not an easy place to hit, by any means,' said second baseman Brandon Lowe, the longest-tenured member of the Rays. 'I'm sure everybody thinks that it's just like Yankee Stadium, and it's not. The wind blows in almost every single game. It's hard to see at night. And it's kind of proven to be a little more difficult than people were originally thinking.'
Steinbrenner Field had new lights installed prior to spring training 2023. The Yankees have played plenty of Grapefruit League games at night, so it's nothing new. What could make a difference is the lights are not as high in the smaller park, though everything is up to MLB standard. The wind, and adjusting to it, has been a much larger issue.
'The park has been a big factor,' said bench coach Rodney Linares, in his seventh season on manager Kevin Cash's staff. 'A lot of guys talk about going the other way (to right field) because the ball travels that way, and a lot of guys, they go away from their strengths sometimes. You can see the difference (when we play on the road). It has been a little challenging.'
Speaking of the road, the Rays have fared well on their last two trips going a combined 7-2 at Arizona, San Diego, where they caught the Padres at the right time given the many injuries that Mike Shildt's club was dealing with at the time, and Yankee Stadium. True, the Rays scored more than four runs in only three of those games while they were shut out once. Yet, it is clear the lineup and its approach has been better on the road.
'It's puzzling, but that's baseball at times,' said Cash, whose team has hit only 21 homers in 22 home games. 'I don't have an explanation. It's frustrating and it's irritating.'
The Rays banged out 16 hits in a 7-5 win over the Yankees on Sunday to take two of three from their division rival in the Bronx. Carryover is needed for a team hungry to pick up the pace at home where it is averaging exactly four runs per game (88 runs, 22 games), and a paltry 3.6 when the aforementioned extra-inning win against the Yankees and a 16-1 mauling of the Red Sox on April 14 are excluded.
'Obviously, we've got to be better,' said Lowe. 'We can't just blame the (ballpark) for not scoring runs, but we're going to have to figure it out here soon.'