A series scheduled at the Los Angeles Angels from April 7-9 will instead be played at Tampa, Fla., from April 8-10, MLB said Monday. The second series between the teams will be played at Anaheim, Calif., from Aug. 4-6 instead of at St. Petersburg, Fla., from Aug. 5-7.
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. The Rays are home for eight games each in July and August.
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball switched a pair of series involving the Tampa Bay Rays to the first two months of the season in an attempt to avoid summer rain at open-air Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home following damage to Tropicana Field.
Advertisement
Minnesota’s first series against the Rays will be played at Steinbrenner Field from May 26-28, and the Twins’ second will be at Target Field in Minneapolis from July 4-6.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up
Tampa Bay heads into the All-Star break with a 10-game trip to Minnesota, Detroit and Boston, and has a 12-game trip to the Angels, Seattle, Oakland, and San Francisco from Aug. 4-17.
Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home since the team started play in 1998, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, with most of its fabric roof shredded. The Rays cannot return to the Trop until 2026 at the earliest, if at all.
Tampa’s average monthly rainfall from 1991 to 2020 was 2.25 inches in April and 2.60 in May, according to the National Weather Service, then rose to 7.37 in June, 7.75 in July and 9.03 in August before falling to 6.09 in September.
The Class A Tampa Tarpons, the usual team at Steinbrenner Field, had six home postponements, two cancellations, and four suspended games this year from June 21 through their season finale on Sept. 8.
The Rays are scheduled to play their first six games at home against Colorado and Pittsburgh, go to Texas for a three-game series, then return for a 13-game homestand against the Angels, Atlanta, Red Sox, and the Yankees.
The Tarpons will play their home games on a back field.