MLB’s Hottest Team May Not Be Able to Host Playoff Games

Defying significant odds, the Rays are squarely in playoff contention, and that’s creating some new concern about what will happen with the team in October.

Talks between the team and league officials have begun about logistical scenarios for potential Rays playoff games. Initially reported by The Athletic, the core issue is that Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Rays’ temporary home for 2025 while Tropicana Field is renovated after substantial hurricane damage last fall, is not nearly large enough for normal playoff operations. 

Seating about 10,000 fans, the limited capacity of the spring training home of the Yankees runs into stark contrast with MLB’s League Championship Series and World Series—playoffs rounds that have game operations managed at the league level instead of by individual teams. Within those league requirements are roughly 7,500 seats per World Series game set aside for a variety of non-fan needs such as players, visiting teams, broadcast partners, sponsors, media, and other groups. 

Also at issue is player compensation during the postseason, which is derived from gate receipts of guaranteed postseason games and is largely a function of the ballpark capacities of the participating teams. That element almost certainly will bring the MLB Players Association into the discussion.  

That could result in the Rays being moved temporarily to a larger venue should the team advance beyond the Division Series. Such a move to a neutral site, however, also invites issues such as the loss of a home field advantage that the team would have earned. Additional factors to be considered are heightened travel costs of playing additional games away from Steinbrenner Field and the complexities of staging a postseason-level television broadcast at a minor league venue not designed for that.

Surprising Success

After a 4–0 Thursday win against the Royals, Tampa Bay was just half a game behind the Yankees in the American League East division and the top wild-card team. A postseason probability of less than 38% at the start of the season has roughly doubled to more than 78% as the Rays have been MLB’s best team since early May. MLB front-loaded the Rays’ home schedule to have fewer games there in the peak Florida summer heat, and the Rays have gone 27–23 at Steinbrenner Field so far, following an 11–18 start with a 16–5 run. 

The ongoing situation in Tampa could also inform how MLB handles the A’s should they become a playoff team while still playing temporarily in Sacramento, as a new Las Vegas ballpark is built. 

The playoff consideration also arrives as Rays owner Stu Sternberg has entered into exclusive negotiations for a $1.7 billion deal to sell the club to a group led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski.