List of Changes at Steinbrenner Field for Tampa Bay Rays Games

It's going to be a unique situation when baseball season begins for the Tampa Bay Rays. With Tropicana Field's fate uncertain, the Rays will play at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa in 2025. This week, the team released details on what will change and what will stay the same at the field that's been the Spring Training home for the New York Yankees for almost 30 years.

Tropicana Field is out of commission. What will happen with it is still to be decided. Damage from Hurricane Milton can't be repaired in time for the 2025 season so the Rays announced last month they'll play home games in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field. That's been the home of the Yankees here in Florida since the 90s. And it will continue to be the Yankees spring training home. But once spring training is over, the New York Times reports that the Yankees will be treated like any other visiting team once the season begins and they play the Tampa Bay Rays.

Rays staff will take care of tickets. Rays ushers and ticket takers will be mixed in with Steinbrenner Field crew members. The Rays will have to cover the expenses of "renting" the venue. That means paying for things like lightning changes that'll need to be made, installing padding in the outfield and doing some improvements to the dugouts. All of these are requirements for Major League Baseball's standards, according to the report.

According to Bay News 9, the Rays can put up their logos around the venue. Specifics on the Rays' decor aren't set in stone yet. But it'll be interesting to see as the Yankees presence is felt all over Steinbrenner Field. One thing the Rays can't touch... that George Steinbrenner statue out front. But the Rays will retain all of the revenue from ticket sales, merchandise and even parking.

To give crews more time to change the field over to become the Rays home ballpark for the regular season, a change has been made to the team's schedule. The home opener against the Colorado Rockies will now be on Friday, March 28. First pitch is at 4:10pm.

On its official website, Steinbrenner Field posted: “We are happy to extend our hand to the Rays and their fans by providing a Major League-quality facility for them to utilize this season,’’ Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. “Both the Yankees organization and my family have deep roots in the Tampa Bay region, and we understand how meaningful it is for Rays players, employees and fans to have their 2025 home games take place within 30 minutes of Tropicana Field. In times like these, rivalry and competition take a back seat to doing what’s right for our community — which is continuing to help families and businesses rebound from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.” [Sources: Bay News 9, New York Times, Tampa Bay Times]

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Goodbye Milton. And don't come back. The weather in Tampa Bay this week has been perfect. It's such a stark contrast to what we saw last week as Hurricane Milton tore through Florida. Lives were lost. The lives not lost were forever changed.

The forecast this week calls not only for sunny skies, but cooler temperatures. In fact, morning temps this week could dip in the 50s in the northern areas of Tampa Bay as a cold front dips down into Florida. After the past month we've had with Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, we have earned it.

Below are some of the Hurricane Milton photos our talented photographers captured in Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater and other parts of Florida during Milton's unwelcome visit.

We'll never forget seeing the roof of Tropicana Field being torn off section by section in the middle of the night. Other incredible images you'll see below in this "Goodbye Milton" photo gallery include overturned planes, cars buried in sand and a new local celebrity named “Lieutenant Dan." He's the newest "A Florida Man."

As schools in our area begin to reopen, the lights come back on, the buzzing of air conditioners returns, and gas station lines become reasonable again, we hope it's another 103 years before another hurricane like Milton comes by again. But for now the recovery begins. We made it through Hurricane Milton. And fortunately the next couple storms are staying far away from Florida.

While some of these Hurricane Milton photos bring back terrible memories of Milton's night of chaos, I definitely encourage you to hang in there until the end. Spencer Platt captured a great moment on Clearwater Beach that shows our Florida resiliency. Hurricane Milton did a number on us. But living in Florida, we know we're rolling the dice to live in Paradise.