The offseason has not begun, yet already one of baseball's biggest free agents has drawn more speculation than anyone could have foreseen a month ago: the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays will not be able to begin the 2025 season at Tropicana Field, the stadium they have called home since the franchise's inception in 1998, because of damages incurred by Hurricane Milton. Two questions loom over the now-roofless indoor stadium: how long will it take to repair, and does the city of St. Petersburg (which owns the venue) have the money and the patience to repair it?
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Regardless of Tropicana's long-term future, the short-term future is clear: the Rays need a new home.
That has prompted speculation from far and wide about where the team should relocate.
Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala advocated the team stay within the county the Rays call home.
Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey suggested Canada, writing on his Twitter/X account: "I say Toronto to complete the home swap agreement with the Raptors." The Raptors played in Tampa during the pandemic-interrupted 2020 NBA season.
I say Toronto to complete the home swap agreement with the Raptors
— Daryl Morey 🗽🏀 (@dmorey) October 16, 2024Meanwhile, a column that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday advocated for a new venue that would give the Windy City three Major League Baseball teams, along with the White Sox and Cubs.
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A pop-up baseball field on The 78, a 62-acre South Loop site where the Chicago White Sox also want to build a new stadium, could be converted for temporary major league use, writes Paul Sullivan:
All it would need is a team, a structure seating about 12,000 fans and some forward thinking by the Rays, MLB, the city of Chicago, and the 78 developers.
The proposal comes days after a spokesperson for Montreal's Olympic Stadium confirmed the venue would not be playable in 2025.
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"Until 2028, the field of play will be within a construction site and therefore not open to the public," stadium communications officer Anik Parisé told the Tampa Bay Times via email.
Montreal had been seen as a popular destination because in 2019 the Rays explored a "sister city" partnership with Montreal in which the Rays would play some of their home games in the Expos' former city. MLB ultimately rejected that plan.
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