MAJOR League Baseball has announced the schedule for the 2026 season – including the reveal of the future of Tropicana Field.
The Tampa Bay Rays‘ home was devastated by Hurricane Milton late last year.
Tropicana Field has been out of action since suffering extensive damage in hurricane Milton[/caption]
The future of the field has now been revealed through the MLB 2026 schedule[/caption]
The roof of the venue was virtually shredded by winds and debris, leading to extensive water damage.
The Rays were left with a bill as high as $55million to fix the damage, and had to find a new home for the 2025 season.
They have been playing this campaign at the New York Yankees’ spring training facility, the George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The 11,000 capacity ground is within 30 minutes of Tropicana Field, but fared better during the storm and was fit to host MLB games for the season’s start in March.
But now fans of the American League East outfit have seemingly had their homecoming date confirmed.
The new MLB schedule has them returning home on April 6th 2026.
They will face the Chicago Cubs following nine games on the road.
Work at Tropicana Field is ongoing, but a 2026 return date has been the target since repairs began.
Tropicana Field can house a maximum capacity crowd of over 42,000[/caption]
The process has been complicated by the Rays’ dramatic plans to move stadiums anyway in the near future.
Plans for a newly-built stadium in Florida were spiked last month, leaving the future of the team’s home games up in the air.
The outfit only had intentions of using the field until 2027, and were unsure whether they wanted to rebuild following the storm damage.
However the lack of a decisive option to move to caused them to reverse this decision earlier this year.
The reconstruction efforts have seen a series of bizarre twists and turns.
In April the club started selling souvenir sections of the damaged roof to fans for $15 apiece.
The Rays also got a financial boost that month in the form of an additional $22.5million in funding from the St Petersburg City Council.
And while the short-term future over the next three seasons seems secure at a repaired Tropicana Field, the long-term is less certain.
The collapse of their prospective move to a new venue has left the team in limbo.
The Rays are holding their own this season amid the chaos, but not enough to challenge at the summit.
They have gone 64-69 on the season for a .481 record.
They are set to begin a three-game series with the Washington Nationals tomorrow.
