Here Are The 8 NL Teams Coming In To Play The Rays This Season

With spring training now underway and the Super Bowl behind us, it's time to make plans for the upcoming MLB season. In Tampa, the Rays have a good range of national league teams coming to Fenway for interleague series'.

Though each season the schedule rotates a bit, it has become standard for the Rays to square off against many NL East teams. However, in addition to that, there are some clubs pulling in throughout the spring and summer that will certainly get fans' attention. Especially given these teams do not play in Tampa all that often.

San Francisco Giants, April 12-14

From one bay area to another, the always exciting Giants come into Tropicana Field first for a weekend in mid-April.

New York Mets, May 3-5

From one orange-accented uniform opponent to another, three weeks later, the Mets are here for the weekend.

Chicago Cubs, June 11-13

This is perhaps the most intriguing series of the year. The Cubs last visited the Trop in 2017. Though they don't necessarily have the same star power as years past, they are still an iconic franchise that we don't often get to see.

Washington Nationals, June 28 - 30

Both homestands in June included NL teams rolling in. The Rays end the month at home vs. the Nationals.

Cincinnati Reds, July 26-28

The last weekend of July also includes an interleague series. The Rays take on the Reds for a three-game stretch.

Miami Marlins, July 30-31

After a day off, the month concludes with the Marlins driving up north for just two games. This is the only stretch of the season where the Rays play two NL teams in a row.

Arizona Diamondbacks, August 16-18

The 2023 National League champion, Arizona Diamondbacks spend the weekend in Tampa in mid-August. This should be a great matchup with the Diamondbacks having a similar roster to last year that contains a lot of great young talent.

San Diego Padres, August 30-Septemeber 1

The last home series vs. a National League team is also an enticing one. The Padres are loaded with hitters and are another team that doesn't make it to Tampa all that often.

The Tampa Bay Rays started in Major League Baseball in 1998. Originally called the "Devil Rays," the expansion team opened at home 25 years ago today (March 31, 1998), taking on the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field. Coincidentally, the Rays opened their season yesterday at home, beating the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field. Though the club has had numerous all-star players over the years, the Tampa Bay Rays retired numbers are slim. The group contains only one person who was a player on the team.

Over the years, Tampa has been a breeding ground of great baseball players. Rays legends such as Fred McGriff and Tino Martinez are from Tampa, as is the team's current manager, Kevin Cash.

The retired numbers are displayed inside the park on a wall that is to the left of the center field scoreboard. One of these numbers represents a manager who ended his career as an advisor with the Rays and was a Tampa, FL resident. The other two numbers reflect players, but again, only one of them actually played for the Rays. He too, called Tampa home.

The Rays will sport numerous uniform options this season. They will pay tribute to their anniversary with the throwback Devil Rays look on Friday home games (in addition to opening day). Over the course of the season, they will call up various players from their minor league system. These players, like the current roster and coaching staff, will immediately have three numbers unavailable to them regardless of the colorful uniform combination.

Here are the official Tampa Bay Rays retired numbers.