TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — As the Tampa Bay Rays begin to gather information for their 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the most unpredictable and challenging element will most likely be weather.
The Rays have enjoyed a near flawless record of timely games and no postponements during their 27-year tenure inside Tropicana Field.
But anyone who has attended games at the Trop probably has a story or two about hearing a classic bay area thunderstorm outside, as the game played on inside without delay.
Rain is not just a Steinbrenner Field issue. The entire Class-A Florida State League gets creative when it comes to starting games, dealing with rainouts, and using the condensed 7-inning game rule to squeeze in double-headers. The grounds crew at Steinbrenner has proven itself time and time again, making a quality field ready, despite the elements.
With a Major League Baseball schedule tailored toward nighttime starts for television, long delays and confusing make-up schedules could be costly.
The Tampa Tarpons, the Class-A FSL affiliate for the New York Yankees, is one of several bay area teams to endure scheduling challenges thanks to Mother Nature.
From June 4 to Sept. 8 of the 2024 season, the Tarpons had a total of 20 home games impacted by inclement weather. Eight of those games were wiped out entirely, postponed, or in one case cancelled.
In one frustrating week, the Tarpons July 23 game against the Clearwater Threshers was postponed, followed by another postponement on July 24. The postponement on that second day was an attempted double-header that began at just before 4:30 p.m. A five hour and 23-minute weather delay later, the game was completed the next day. As for the regularly scheduled game that day? That one was pushed to July 27.
On July 25, the game from the day before was completed and then the Tarpons and Threshers played their scheduled game for that night. The first pitch was 9:46 pm.
Official box scores from 2024 racked up more than 16 hours of weather delays, just at Tarpons home games.
It is impossible to predict Rays weather issues in 2025, but all those nights spent listening to a downpour pound the roof at Tropicana Field may now be the sound of rain drops on a tarp covering the infield.