Two years after Tropicana Field was left badly damaged and without a roof, the Tampa Bay Rays are back inside their longtime home and into baseball’s biggest stage at the same time.
The stadium’s repairs came with an estimated price tag of about $60 million, and the club spent the season away at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees, while the work got done. What had once been a familiar scene around Tampa Bay - images of the torn-up roof and debris scattered across St. Petersburg - eventually gave way to a renovated ballpark, with the inside of Tropicana Field refreshed and even the stadium’s stingrays back in place.
“It was so so sad,” one person said at the time.
Another person involved in the process described the effort behind the scenes this way: “Everything has been done with a lot of thought a lot of effort done correctly working collaboratively with the Tampa Bay RAYS Major League Baseball and it hasn’t been easy a lot of back and forth pushing and shoving and lot of giving here,” one person involved in the process said.
For Chandler Simpson, the return carried a clear message for the people who waited through the disruption.
“Shout out to city of St. Pete and all the Tampa area fans for showing out for us for everything we’ve been through,” Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson said.
The Rays also reached the World Series after a year in which they missed the playoffs, then made a postseason run that ended with an American League Championship Series victory.
But their homecoming arrives with the series already in a difficult spot. Tampa Bay comes back to Tropicana Field down 2-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers after losing both games in Milwaukee.
Game 2 started with the Rays on top. They struck first and built a four-run cushion early before Milwaukee battled back and won 5-4.
“Liam Hicks doing some yard work, we go to the second deck in the center, Rays grab a 4-0 lead,” Tampa Bay 28 sportscaster Kevin Lewis said.
Later, Lewis summed up the result plainly: “And that is how the game ends. Brewers win 5-4 again taking a 2 to nothing lead in the World Series,” Lewis said.
A Rays representative said the team understands the challenge ahead: “I completely understand what’s in front of us and what it’s going to take,” a Rays representative said.
Now Tampa Bay returns home looking for its first win of the World Series, with the stadium expected to remain the club’s home through 2028.
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