Current homes for Rays, A’s present unique differences

TAMPA, Fla. – Discussed with frequency in the media and by participants, the (no current hometown identification) Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays face a similar yet diverse set of challenges. Each is playing home games scheduled in minor league facilities this season and that’s where an essential similarity ends.

While the A’s are in the process of relocating from Oakland to Las Vegas and the Rays await their future, both teams encounter alterations in which they play the game. Both are removed from a major league stadium physical venue and both cope with similar conditions indigenous to their home playing site.

Consider these temporary sites.

For the A’s, they moved into Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, with a permanent seating capacity of 10,624. With expansion to the facility, the site now holds 14,014 and will be home to the A’s for the next three years. To accommodate the venue, the A’s put in new lighting, new dugouts, a new home clubhouse and upgrade to premium seating.

Because of the searing Sacramento summer heat, the A’s will play 60 of their 81 home games at night.

In the case of the Rays, they are forced into George Steinbrenner Field, the spring home of the New York Yankees, and that’s when the roof of Tropicana Field was destroyed during an October 2024 hurricane. The Rays reconfigured the existing seating capacity to 10,046 and draw this amount for nearly every home game. Over the previous several years, the Yankees improved the site by installing improved lighting for night games, remodeled the home clubhouse and added amenities such as batting cages, expanded weight rooms and therapy pool.

Still, the consistent regularities of a major league stadium remain absent for both clubs.

“One of the biggest factors we encountered, once we got into summer, is the sun glaring in the batter’s eye until the fourth inning,” said A’s catcher Shea Langeliers before the Athletics began a three-game series with Tampa Bay on June 30. “That gets pretty tough to see. That’s almost half-way through the game. Normally, you take for granted how high the stadium and how it blocks the sun much sooner. With the stadium so low, the wind really comes to effect and pop-ups end up swirling. It really affects play.”

That observation is similar to the reaction Rays’ players have in playing in Steinbrenner Field. Because capacity at Steinbrenner is capped at 10,046 and no upper deck, the wind tends to swirl as well. That makes fly balls and popups an adventure and as Tampa Bay second baseman Brandon Lowe observed earlier this season, “this can be a game-changer.”

“You can call them challenges but the circumstances for both clubs are similar but yet different,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “Our is a three-year process where we can actually do things to make this home. I don’t know the trajectory (in Tampa) and I have the impression it’s one year. Both organizations are in a similar process. Ours now has shovels in the ground in Las Vegas, and the timeline is 2028 for us. We know our future is a little bit different than the Rays.”

While both teams adjust to unusual playing conditions and unexpected outcomes, the futures of each franchise are split.

With groundbreaking last week for their new $2 billion stadium on the southern end of the Las Vegas strip, the A’s are traversing through a short-term trial but long-term solution. Conversely, the Rays have a short-term solution with a one-year deal to play in Steinbrenner, but no long-range resolution.

Because the Oakland Coliseum became inferior to conduct Major League Baseball games and the A’s attempt to build a new stadium essentially in the Jack London Square area of Oakland failed, movement out of the Bay Area appeared the only viable solution. When A’s owner John Fisher committed $1.4 billion to the new stadium, that amount fell short of the estimated $2 billion cost. At this point, the A’s seek to cover the outstanding balance through investors and loans.

For the Rays, they await repairs to Tropicana Field and roof replacement, which was destroyed during that hurricane last October. The work is expected to the completed in time for the 2026 season and the Rays return to their only home since entering the American League for the 1998 season. With this move comes a three-year commitment to The Trop. While the A’s have a long-term commitment to their new stadium in time for the 2028 season, the Rays, at this point, appear homeless beyond the 2028 season.

Discussions are evidently underway for Tampa Bay owner Stuart Sternberg to sell the team, and a group of investors have a vision of constructing a new stadium in the Orlando area.

While politics and finances work through bureaucracy, political entanglements and public discourse, the A’s and Rays conduct business in such open-air facilities, which are not terribly conducive to major league standards.

On the diamond … after a June spectacular run, the Rays hit the skids during the final days of that month. After dropping a 6-4 decision to the A’s on June 30, the Rays lost three of their previous four and dropped two in a row for the first time since June 10 and 11 in Boston. In that defeat to the A’s, Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen lasted only three innings and his shortest outing of the season. Lifted after allowing a season-tying four runs and 54 pitches, Rasmussen called the outing “frustrating,” and added, “over the course of the year, you’ll have some really good outings, and you’ll also have some really bad ones. I think everyone who plays this game has an understanding that will happen, and unfortunately (against the A’s), this was one of the bad ones.” Still, Rasmussen has been dominant and over his six previous starts (to June 30), he is 6-1 with a 2.28 ERA.

The post Current homes for Rays, A’s present unique differences first appeared on Through The Fence Baseball.

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