With The Tropicana Field Roof Being Ripped Off, The Rays Need A New Home

Tropicana Field has always been a lousy place to watch a baseball game. I went to about 40 games there when I lived in Florida from 2004-05. It was a shithole even back then. But at least back then, you could watch a baseball game there. After Hurricane Milton slammed into the Florida coast, the Rays are now homeless.

I never would have guessed it would cost $100 million to replace a fabric roof. Normally, I'd shit all over the Rays ownership for being so cheap for letting the roof just sit and age out there. However, the Rays have committed to building a new stadium. This roof looks like Shredder and Freddy Kruger just got through with it but I can't blame Stu Sternberg too much for hoping the roof would've lasted a couple more seasons.

So by all accounts, the Rays needs somewhere to play until their new stadium is ready. So where should they go? Here are some options that could be considered:

Oakland Coliseum

The stadium obviously sucks. The travel to other AL East cities would be a nightmare to deal with. But, this is a major league-ready stadium that is just sitting there. With the CBA, stadiums have to have certain amenities for the players. As lousy as the Coliseum is, it does check those boxes and is just sitting there. 

I don't think this is a good solution for logistical reasons (who would even go to these games?) but it is a stadium that you can plug and play. 

Nashville

Nashville is desperate for Major League Baseball and getting to showcase a great fan turnout is the perfect way to position yourself for being one of the next expansion cities. This is the AAA park for the Nashville Sounds. The issue here is that on top of the amenities I spoke about earlier in Oakland, the Sounds would still have to play here. Would the Brewers farm club be that welcoming to the Rays? This isn't going to be a 1 year situation. The new stadium might not be ready for 3 years.

New York City 

The Mets and Yankees almost always alternate when one team is home and the other is away. That means you'd have an open stadium nearly every day during the baseball season. This would suck for the Rays in that they would never have a true home ballpark. You'd have to move the shit out of the clubhouses and put the Mets and Yankees stuff in there. It would be a huge pain in the ass. But they are MLB-ready stadiums. Plus, I'd love to get even more baseball here in NYC.

Tampa/Dunedin

Florida has no shortage of minor league ballparks. You also have all the Spring Training locations. The Tampa Yankees play nearby so maybe you could honor some of the season tickets and local corporate sponsors you have. The Blue Jays contemplated played in Dunedin during COVID-19. That obviously wouldn't have been with fans in the stands. 

L.A. Colisuem

The Dodgers played here from 1958-61 while Dodger Stadium was being built. Check out that giant screen in left field. Can you believe a big league team not only played here for 4 seasons but won the 1959 World Series with this as a home ballpark? The Red Sox and Dodgers played a 2008 exhibition game seen here above. This isn't at all a likely scenario that this would be used as a regular baseball park again but I'd love to see a game where this silly screen is up.

Montreal

The Rays had a plan to play half of their games in Montreal before MLB killed that proposal a year ago. You'd have to make some modifications to Olympic Stadium but they have played spring training games here from time to time since the Expos left in 2004. Like Nashville, it's also a great way for the city to show that can support Major League Baseball

This Rays roof situation is certainly a bizarre development. Them having to leave the state for potentially three seasons would be wild. But then again, we also have the A's spending the next three years in Sacramento. The 2025-27 American League is going to be a weird as fuck.