It was a sweet homecoming for the Tampa Bay Rays, as they returned to Tropicana Field after more than a year away from St. Petersburg.
The dome that was shredded by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 was replaced. A new, larger scoreboard greets fans in right-center field. New amenities have been added to the ballpark.
And maybe most of all, fans who sweated in the summer heat playing last season at the Rays' temporary home at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa were bathed in sweet air conditioning.
But all that was put behind them as the team returned to a spruced-up Trop for Monday's home opener, which ended as a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs. A sellout crowd of 25,114 attended.
“What a moment for the community,” said Rays CEO Ken Babby, an exclaimation point on nearly 10 months of work to get the place ready for Monday. During that aggressive timetable, the Rays were sold to an ownership group that included Babby.
Their first priority: a new stadium in Tampa by 2029.
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Three hours before the first pitch, James Hickey was in the stadium parking lot, hunched over the back of a pickup truck, doling out sandwiches. He drove to St. Petersburg from North Port, and is not upset over the possibility of the Rays heading across the bay.
"You just don't want to lose them," he said. "You've heard rumors of them maybe going to Montreal and stuff, and we want to keep them in Tampa Bay, no matter where they are."
Over the Rays' 28 years, they haven't drawn well, but it was the 20th consecutive sellout for a home opener (excluding 2020, when fans weren’t allowed to attend because of COVID-19).
"I know they struggle to get attendance in here and it's still an hour and a half for us to come up and we try to come to as many games as we can," Hickey said, "but just whatever to keep them here if that's what they think is the answer, then maybe maybe a new location can't hurt."
Many have blamed the attendance issues on location. Other critics blame the stadium. Outdated. Sterile. Catwalk circus.
Melanie Shepherd winters in St. Petersburg, coming from Boston. There, she went to Red Sox games at the baseball shrine known as Fenway Park. So just how does the Trop compare?
"It's very different from Boston. Culture shock. I didn't know that it was a covered arena. It was so weird. Didn't expect that at all. And air conditioning!" she exclaimed. "It was crazy."
Back inside the dome, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor each threw out ceremonial first pitches, a symbolic nod to a season spent split between cities — and a return that felt bigger than baseball.
Babby framed the moment as both responsibility and opportunity.
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“You know, we don't have a sophisticated business. We are community stewards, and we're trying to do what's right … and continue that work forward,” Babby said during the Rays.TV broadcast. “There’s great history and great rooted tradition, and now we’re trying to take this franchise … to the next level, both on the field, and, of course, off.”
The new ownership, led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski, committed additional private money on top of the roughly $57 million the city of St. Petersburg spent to restore the stadium. Babby pointed out the new sound system, lights, video board and turf and "a lot of new seats."
"We replaced almost all the seats in between the dugouts, you know, which are really special, and a lot of happy fans here today," he said. "We're out here working as hard as we can, because our fans deserve it, and it is our honor to do so."
Bryan Baker struck out Chicago's Pete Crow-Armstrong to seal the Rays' triumphant Trop return. It evened their record at 5-5 after a difficult start to a season-opening nine-game road trip.
“It felt pretty good to say the least,” Baker said of his reaction to the final pitch. “I think that was an encapsulation of how everybody felt getting back in this building and playing in front of these fans. To get out there and seal the deal for the boys was really fun.”
Rays players appreciated the full house and the amendities of a major-league park.
“It was great. Shoutout to the city of St. Pete and the fans for showing up for us after everything they’ve been through,” said Chandler Simpson, who had two hits and two stolen bases.
Junior Caminero, who hit one of three home runs for Tampa Bay, said, "The fans’ support was amazing. It was exciting to be back at Tropicana.”
The team's lease ends after the 2028 season. The owners have proposed building a $2.3 billion stadium on land now used for Hillsborough College, an outfielder's throw from Raymond James Stadium.
The Rays want tax dollars to pay half the estimated cost.
The Rays would build surrounding development, including hotels, offices, restaurants, residential and recreational areas, that would be “100 percent” privately financed, with tax dollars from the district used to eventually pay off the tab.
The issue is expected to come before the Hillsborough County Commission this month.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
