By STEPHEN FLANAGAN JACKSON
Many of us who live in this neck of the woods in southeastern Hillsborough County enjoy the proximity of Tampa. We enjoy the diverse and varied opportunities that the big city offers, but we would not want to live in the city itself. One amenity is professional baseball or MLB—Major League Baseball. MLB in and around Tampa has actually been on the menu for many, many years. Since 1913 several pro baseball teams have spent the preseason in the Tampa area for what is termed spring training, the Chicago Cubs being the first. But since 1998, one team in particular has offered MLB throughout the season.
This is the Tampa Bay Rays, previously nicknamed the Devil Rays but since 2008 referred to as the Tampa Bay Rays.
Throughout their history in Tampa Bay, the Rays have been competitive to varying degrees after initially struggling desperately to gain their feet under them. But for the last several years, the Rays have blossomed and thrived under two very good managers. First and earlier in this category was Joe Maddon. As manager, Maddon took the Rays to great heights, including an American League pennant in 2008 and the first All-Latino lineup in MLB history that same year.
The Rays are playing the 2025 season at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field.
Now, the manager is another phenom who, like Maddon, never was a star in the majors. Actually Maddon never played MLB. That is Ken Cash, a former major league back-up catcher who has been at the helm of Tampa Bay’s dugout since 2015, the longest serving manager in the majors. Cash is a Tampa born-and-raised guy, a former Little Leaguer and high school star at Gaither High, an All Star with Florida State University who was a second-string catcher for five MLB teams, including a stint with Tampa Bay. Despite running a team with a financially-restricted owner, Stuart Steinberg since 2005, who cannot or will not match the Yankees or Dodgers or Mets dollar for dollar for elite free agents, Cash seems to always have the Rays playing well beyond their potential and competing for a division pennant or a wild card. This season is no different. The Rays are running close to the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East and are actually in a good spot so far to make the playoffs in October as a wild card. Manager Cash is up to his annual job of sparking the Rays beyond their potential. Tampa Bay is playing well above .500 ball, thanks to consistent starting pitching from Drew Rasmussen and timely relief hurling from Pete Fairbanks. Add in the surprise batting of a few upcoming stars, along with a corps of not so well-known but solid pros to round out the squad, and you have a dynamic, hustling, competitive team taking the diamond each game during the marathon season, which pro baseball is.
The team played for years under the only permanent, non-retractable, slanted roof in MLB: the dome or Tropicana Field, which carries the name of the famous orange juice company of Bradenton, now Pepsi Cola, and will through the 2030 season. Actually, since Milton, the tornado, ravaged the Gulf Coast last year, the Tampa Bay Rays have been forced to temporarily abandon Tropicana Field due to its roof and much of the super-structure of the stadium’s being severely damaged by Milton’s high winds. At one point, it was not known if the baseball team would stay in Tampa Bay because the dome was unplayable and serious repairs could take at least a year or longer to repair. Once again, the Rays were a victim of the hurricane weather of this area. Similar to a couple of years ago, serious questions existed as to whether or not the Rays would even stay in Tampa Bay or, perhaps, be forced to re-locate to Orlando or another site desirous of a MLB team. Back when this was being discussed prior to damage to the stadium, the ridiculous proposition was put forth that the Rays would play half of their 81 home games in the dome in Tampa Bay and half in another city….actually half in another country.
Seriously being discussed, as unreasonable as it sounds, was for the Rays to play half of their home games in Tampa Bay and the other half in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.—a city abandoned by the MLB way back in 2014 for Washington, DC. The idea was soon and, thankfully, dismissed. The franchise appears to be staying in Tampa Bay and staying in the dome in St. Petersburg, once roof renovations and other updates are completed for the 2026 season.
But the big question following the devastation to the Trop was where would the Tampa Bay Rays play their home games.
Well, who do think ultimately came to the rescue? None other than the New York Yankees. The Yankees offered the use of its minor league baseball stadium and spring training locale to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Tampa Bay owner accepted the offer and arranged to move the team to, of all places, the George Michael Steinbrenner Field in downtown Tampa for its temporary home during the 2025 baseball season. Steinbrenner, now deceased, was, of course, the millionaire shipbuilder and controversial owner of the fantastically successful New York Yankees, a seven times World Series winner under this stewardship. Now, his family has inherited the Yankees as well as the George M. Steinbrenner Stadium in Tampa, which seats 10,646 spectators and is a first-class minor league ballpark.
That stadium is now the interim home to the Tampa Bay Rays. Obviously, most people have a GPS on their cell phone or vehicle or laptop. So you can merely type in the address of the George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is near US 92 on the N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, to receive specific and detailed driving instructions when you get ready to go to your first ball game this summer. The Steinbrenner Field stadium is across US 92 from the Raymond James football stadium, home of the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Steinbrenner Field is a far cry from the modest 35,000 capacity of the Dome. The Steinbrenner Field stadium was being utilized by the Yankees during spring training and as the home field for one of its low-ranked minor league teams, the Tampa Tarpons. The Tarpons, once the Tampa Bay Rays accepted the gracious Yankee offer, moved to a nearby diamond and smaller stadium for the 2025 season and, presto, the Tampa Bay Rays had a home and a site remaining in Tampa Bay So, now, MLB is still viable as one of the attractions of living in the suburbs of Tampa, in the southeastern corner of Hillsborough County, about a 30 to 40 minute drive away, depending, of course, on traffic.
Once you take a look at your destination route for the trip to Steinbrenner Field, you can go to the Rays’ website and purchase your tickets at whatever price you can afford, and you are ready to see MLB, another top-flight entertainment value of living in suburban but not downtown Tampa.
The Rays are playing the 2025 season at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field.
But, now, you have to learn exactly where Steinbrenner Field sits in the maze and labryinth of highways and roads in the Tampa area. In other words, how do you get there? Just consult your computer or GPS, or use a map and take it from there.
Baseball is still the national pastime. So if you don’t mind the possibility of a raindrop or two, and the heat and humidity do not bother you too much, find your way to Tampa and the charming Steinbrenner Field. Happy balls and strikes!
Stephen Flanagan (Steve) Jackson is a journalist for the print and digital version of ObserverNews.Net/. Jackson previously was the general manager of the Montgomery (Ala.) Rebels, an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in the AA Southern League, now playing as the Montgomery Biscuits as the affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.