Rays' opener moved back a day, giving more time to prepare temporary Steinbrenner Field home
Rays' opener moved back a day, giving more time to prepare temporary Steinbrenner Field home
DALLAS — The Rays' opener against the Colorado Rockies was pushed back a day until March 28 on Monday to give Tampa Bay an extra day to adapt the New York Yankees' Steinbrenner Field.
Tampa Bay is playing home games at the Yankees' spring training facility in Tampa, Florida, this year because of damage to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9.
The Yankees' last spring training home game is against the New York Mets on March 24.
The Yankees said Sunday the Rays “will have limited permission to sell regular-season advertising inventory throughout the seating bowl, including stadium concourse walls, the scoreboard and the outfield walls.”
Rays staff will operate the scoreboard and employ Tampa Bay elements. The statue of late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will remain in place outside the stadium but decisions have not been made on the large Y-A-N-K-E-E-S signs on each side of the stadium and the Yankees mural on the back of the scoreboard.
Tampa Bay is scheduled to play 19 of its first 22 games at home and 37 of 54 through May 28, then play 64 of its last 108 games on the road in an attempt to avoid summer rain at the open-air ballpark.
The site of any Rays postseason games would be decided jointly by the Rays, Yankees and Major League Baseball, the Yankees said.
Tampa Bay will use the Yankees clubhouse on the first-base side, which was renovated during the 2023-24 offseason. New York will use the visitors clubhouse for its regular-season games at Steinbrenner Field.
A building containing a visitors batting cage and weight room was previously built on the third-base side and additional team dining facilities and a new weight room are under construction on the first-base side.
Yankees personnel will not have access during the regular season to their pitching facility near back field 3 and rehab players will be limited to the minor league facility on the other side of Dale Mabry Blvd. The Rays will not have access to the Yankees' pitching facility.
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