The Tampa Bay Rays' temporary relocation saga rolled along Monday with only slight clarification from one potential host city — and a more significant opinion from the one person whose two cents carry more value than others: baseball commissioner Rob Manfred.
Speaking on The Varsity podcast with John Ourand of Puck, Manfred said the league's hope was to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay region while the city of St. Petersburg contemplates how to resolve the damages to Tropicana Field incurred by Hurricane Milton.
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"The easiest thing is always to stay in the market where the clubs are anchored if we can manage it," Manfred told Ourand.
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. Only a few panels of the stadium's teflon-coated fiberglass roof remained intact after Milton ripped through the region on Oct. 9.
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They have a few options for temporary relocation in the area, such as their spring training facility in Port Charlotte and the stadium at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.
It remains to be seen how long the city of St. Petersburg (which owns the venue) will need to repair the stadium, and if it has the money and the patience to repair it.
The situation has prompted speculation from far and wide as to where the Rays can play when their 2025 regular-season schedule kicks off next March. Cities that have been trying for years to lure MLB teams have predictably been among the most vocal.
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Montreal has been seen as a popular destination to regain a franchise ever since the Expos permanently relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005. 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.
But a spokesperson for Montreal's Olympic Stadium confirmed in an email to the Tampa Bay Times that the venue would not be playable in 2025.
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Nashville, Tennessee also is home to a group of investors looking to land a team in the future. Could it play temporary host to the Rays?
Not if it requires taxpayers' investment in a stadium, Mayor Freddie O'Connell said, via FOX 17 Nashville.
"For us, this is not something we can consider seriously," O'Connell said, "unless somebody brings a proposal to the table shows us a fully private financing plan for fully private financing proposal."
That statement doesn't necessarily preclude Nashville from serving as the Rays' temporary home, though it does come as tacit confirmation that no suitable proposal has crossed the mayor's desk.
Nashville has been home to a Triple-A franchise for the last 40 years. Since 2021, the Nashville Sounds have been affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers, playing out of First Horizon Park, which accommodates approximately 10,000 fans.
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