According to MLB.com, Major League Baseball reiterated on Thursday that the Tampa Bay Rays will be permitted to host any postseason games at Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home field.

As Tropicana Field, the Rays’ typical home field, undergoes significant renovations following Hurricane Milton’s heavy damage in October 2024, the team will play the 2025 season at the New York Yankees’ spring training complex. Tropicana Field won’t be prepared to host playoff baseball, but it should be game-ready by the 2026 season. As a result, if the Rays make it to the postseason, they will host all of their home games at the 10,046-seat facility that is normally used by the Florida State League’s Single-A Tampa Tarpons. Naturally, this brings up the complex idea that ALCS and possibly World Series games may be played at such a little venue.

The second- and third-wild-card clubs in each conference do not host games under the current playoff structure until they make it to the Division Series stage. The Rays would need to win their division or earn the top wild-card berth in the American League in order to be assured of a home playoff game. The Rays must first secure one of the six AL postseason spots that are up for grabs. The Rays are 50-47 at the half and fourth in the competitive AL East. They are only one and a half games behind the Seattle Mariners, though, for the third and last wild-card berth. The Rays have been a little unfortunate so far and likely deserve a better record than their current one, as seen by their plus-61 run differential.

They will have a 3-9 record moving into the second half of July; if they want to catch up, they will need to quickly reverse this trend.

Courtesy: https://www.covers.com, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/, https://pechanga.net, https://www.mlb.com/