MLB Confirms Tampa Bay Rays Can Host World Series Games In Spring Training Stadium
MLB has no other chance but to allow embarrassment of spring training playoffs
Major League Baseball has apparently given up on trying to find a solution for potential postseason and World Series games.
Just last month, reports broke that the league was trying to prevent the Tampa Bay Rays from hosting playoff games, including potentially World Series games, at their temporary home stadium. That stadium, Steinbrenner Field, is the spring training home of the New York Yankees.
Should the Rays reach the World Series, it'd be an embarrassment for MLB to see their most important national showcase series hosted in a minor league-caliber facility.
READ: MLB Trying To Stop Tampa Bay Rays From Embarrassing The League In Playoff Games
Yet this week, the league apparently confirmed that it has no choice but to allow Tampa to host playoff games in a stadium with a seating capacity of just over 11,000. Not great.
May 26, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays catcher Danny Jansen (19) hits a two run home run against the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
MLB Backs Off Tampa Bay Rays Stadium Issues
Marc Topkin from the Tampa Bay Times posted on X on Tuesday morning that "MLB has decided #Rays will have opportunity to play all postseason games at Steinbrenner Field, including World Series."
With the necessary preparations required to host postseason and World Series games, the league had to make a choice quickly, and clearly found no better option.
The Rays could have been forced to play their playoff games in say, Miami, at LoanDepot Park where the Marlins play. Or maybe outside Atlanta at Truist Park, where the Braves play. Neither were appealing for any number of reasons; they're both hundreds of miles from the Tampa area, as one example.
Families, team staff, and other important stadium personnel would have either had to travel to those locations with the team, or be forced to miss out on the reward of home playoff games. Playing in a neutral site in an unfamiliar location could remove any possible home field advantage for the Rays players. And there would have to be a massive redecorating effort on a short turnaround to make either stadium look more convincing as the home of a different organization.
Still, it must be frustrating for MLB that should the Rays make a deep playoff run, that their home games won't match the magnitude of what postseason baseball is supposed to be. The roar of the fans, the unbeatable atmosphere of a capacity crowd, the intensity that it creates, simply won't be possible at Steinbrenner Field.
Fewer players have complained about Steinbrenner relative to the Athletics temporary facility in Sacramento. But imagine the transition from say, a home playoff game at Rogers Centre in Toronto or Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to…a spring training facility. Unfortunately, it seems like everyone involved won't have a choice.