The Rays turn Steinbrenner Field into their home for 2025 and Tampa gets a chance to host them. It will be an interesting and hopefully winning one outside.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Josh Lowe runs on his RBI double during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
TAMPA. Fla. (AP) — Today the Rays and the Rockies open the 2025 regular season outdoors and in Steinbrenner Field the new one season home of the Rays, More than 3,000 unique signs and advertising boards have been installed. The 10-by-9 foot “Y-A-N-K-E-E-S” letters above the first- and third-base stands will have been covered with Rays markings, along with the interlocking “NY” hanging from the ceiling in the center of the clubhouse. The team store will have been emptied of pinstriped gear and restocked with Rays apparel.
A metamorphosis that even Statcast can’t measure.
“Building the plane while you fly it,” said Bill Walsh, the Rays’ chief business officer. “At times really, really exciting and at times obviously just incredibly frantic and stressful.”
Concluding the ballpark couldn’t be repaired quickly, Tampa Bay found an office site near the Trop two weeks later and announced a deal on Nov. 14 to play 2025 home games at Steinbrenner Field, the open-air 11,026-capacity spring training base of the Yankees across the bay in Tampa. The site of any postseason homes games remains uncertain.
These temporary digs will feel like a player palace. A two-year renovation designed by Gensler and executed by Turner Construction Co. transformed the home clubhouse from motel quality to a Four Seasons.
A home clubhouse more lavish than most regular season facilities
Player and staff space doubled to 50,000 square feet. There is a two-story weight room with floor-to-ceiling windows and garage door, indoor and outdoor stretching areas, a Ping-Pong table, a barbershop, eight beds in a trainers area, massage rooms and a SwimEx along with hot and cold tubs with TVs at water level, a sauna red-light therapy and four batting cages. Each player locker has a safe along with USB and USB-C ports. There is a 70-seat meeting room, six private offices and 12 desks for additional staff.
A made-to-order open kitchen is near a 2,400-square foot picnic patio with 18 tables for dining and a long counter.
“I could totally see a wedding,” said Matt Ferry, the Yankees’ director of baseball operations.
Andy Pettitte, a former Yankees ace and now a spring training instructor, recalled how the food table was in a clubhouse corner near the showers when the stadium opened in 1996.
“It’s crazy it’s so beautiful,” Pettitte said after a dip in the cold tank. “When I came up, it was taboo to be in the trainers room.”
Steinbrenner Field’s regular-season team is the Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons, who will dress a 1.2-mile drive away at the team’s minor league complex across Dale Mabry Highway and play home games on field two, a practice diamond behind Steinbrenner’s first-base side.
New York spent the last two offseasons renovating the home clubhouse.
“The industry owes Hal Steinbrenner a real debt of gratitude,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said of the Yankees owner. “He put literally tens of millions of dollars into improving Steinbrenner Field and the first people who are really going to get to use it for any period of time is the Tampa Bay Rays.”
Some reminders of Yankees will remain
George Steinbrenner’s statue and the retired numbers commemorating Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and other Yankees greats near the entrance must remain untouched along with the late owner’s name above the videoboard.
All the other signage is set to change — the new ones would stretch a mile laid side to side. Five companies, 50 installers and at least 80 Rays staff will carry out the conversion.
A method will be found to cover the floor tiles leading to the clubhouse bathrooms that spell out: “The Bronx” and “New York.” It was unclear whether the Rays can cover wallpaper near the showers meant to create the illusion of scenery viewed from a speeding subway. While the clubhouse is set up for spring training with 51 stalls along the walls circling the room and 28 in the center spread into four pods, the Rays thought it might be too difficult to remove the unneeded spaces in the middle.
“We didn’t do as much branding as we wanted to do because the Rays are going to cover most of it,” Ferry said.
Yankees staff will remain in their fourth-floor offices, but the team will use the cramped visitors’ clubhouse on the third-base side when the Rays host New York from April 17-20 and Aug. 19-20. Extra construction is being funded by the Rays.
What had been the visitors trainers room was opened to the main part of the locker room and in the equivalent of musical chairs, the training tables moved to the baseball storage area. The umpires room became the manager’s office, which was remade into the clubhouse manager’s space, and umpires were moved to a trailer outside the ballpark. Max’s Cafe, which had been used for media meals, will be the visiting team’s food area.
A security room became the video review room and a humidor for baseballs was constructed off the tunnel circling between the dugouts. Tracking and replay technology was installed.
Seat inventory will change from Ticketmaster to Tickets.com but luxury suites will remain at the current 13. Food will be provided by Legends Hospitality, co-owned by the Yankees’ parent company, instead of Levy Restaurants, Tropicana Field’s concessionaire since 2018.
“We absolutely have kind of day by day, in some cases kind of hour by hour schedules for various installations,” said Walsh, who learned from the experience of shifting the team’s 2023 spring training site after damage in Port Charlotte caused by Hurricane Ian.
Storms are likely in the summer
Absence of a roof figures to be disruptive in an area that had a record 80.29 inches of rain last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including 82% from June 1 through Oct. 15. The Tarpons had eight games delayed by rain either pregame or in-game plus four cancellations, three postponements, four suspended games and one that was shortened.
“We’re going to be playing outdoor baseball in Tampa Bay for the first time ever during the regular season and people have been talking about this for decades,” Walsh said. “It’s kind of in our DNA to be a bit of an agitator and try to find opportunity sort of through challenges and through doing things differently. And this is certainly doing things differently.”
Tampa Bay Rays’ José Caballero (77) celebrates his grand-slam home run while rounding first base during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Wednesday, April, 9, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — José Caballero slugged his first career grand slam and the Tampa Bay Rays held on for a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night to snap a five-game losing streak.
Caballero gave the Rays a 4-0 lead in the first inning before the Angels hit solo homers in the second, fourth and fifth to cut the margin to one. Yandy Díaz added a solo homer in the seventh for a two-run cushion before Los Angeles’ Kyren Paris hit his second solo shot of the game in the eighth.
All six homers went to right field where down the line it is just 315 feet at George Steinbrenner Field, the Rays’ home while Tropicana Field undergoes repairs from hurricane damage last fall. Caballero’s homer — his first of the season — traveled 327 feet as did Díaz’s drive, also his first.
Paris’ homers were his fourth and fifth of the season. Jorge Soler hit his third and Taylor Ward his first.
Ryan Pepiot (1-1) went five innings and gave up three solo homers. Pete Fairbanks was the fourth Rays reliever and worked a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Yusei Kikuchi (0-2) pitched six innings and gave up four runs.
Díaz and Curtis Mead each had a pair of hits for Tampa Bay. Nolan Schanuel had two hits for Los Angeles.
Angels third baseman Yoán Moncada left the game with right thumb soreness.
Key moment
Fairbanks got the first two outs in the ninth before walking Schanuel. Mike Trout fouled out to end the game.
Key stat
Caballero’s first slam came in his 688th at-bat in his third major league season.
Up next
The teams conclude their series Thursday with Jose Soriano (1-1, 3.65 ERA) scheduled to pitch for the Angels against Zack Littell (0-2, 4.15).
Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Matthew Knies (23) celebrates afrter scoring past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Knies scored a game-winning goal in overtime to record his second hat trick of the season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Toronto opened up a three-point lead on Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division with four games left for each team.
Knies finished off his hat trick with 1:04 left in the overtime.
Mitch Marner had a goal and three points and Auston Matthews had three assists. Anthony Stolarz finished with 25 saves.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Victor Hedman and Nick Perbix scored for the Lightning, which moved three points ahead of Florida for second place in the division. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves.
Toronto scored twice in the opening 3:33, with Marner scoring his 25th of the season at 1:13 followed by Knies off a rebound for a 2-0 lead.
Perbix scored with 1:02 left in the first period. Bjorkstrand tied it on a power-play goal 50 seconds into the third before Knies regained the lead on a Toronto power play at 2:02.
Hedman tied the game at 11:05 of the third on the power play.
Takeaways
Maple Leafs: Marner recorded his 202nd career multi-point game and passed Dave Keon for fourth most in franchise history. … Knies has 10 goals in nine career games against Tampa Bay.
Lightning: Center Luke Glendening left the game in the first period and did not return. … LW Jake Guentzel missed the game for family reasons.
Key moment
Brayden Point was cross checked by Bobby McMann and dropped the gloves with the Toronto forward to fire up his team. McMann earned the extra penalty on the play that led to Victor Hedman’s tying goal at 11:05 of the third.
Key stat
Toronto finished with 32 blocked shots.
Up next
Tampa Bay hosts Detroit on Friday and Toronto hosts Montreal on Saturday.
Once feted with a parade through the streets of Cordoba for his U.S. Open triumph in 2007, and celebrated again for his victory at Augusta National two years later, Cabrera found himself staring down prosecutors in July 2021. The man known as “El Pato,” or “The Duck,” for his waddling gait had been accused of making threats against one of his former partners.
Cabrera ultimately was sentenced to prison, and a year later, pleaded guilty when another ex-girlfriend came forward with similar claims. The court made the two sentences concurrent, but the result was still three years and 10 months behind bars.
He was released on parole in August 2023 and cleared to return to the PGA Tour Champions later that year.
“We certainly abhor domestic violence of any type,” Ridley said on the eve of the tournament Wednesday. “As it relates to Angel, Angel has served the sentence that was proscribed by the Argentine courts and he was a past champion, so he was invited.”
Cabrera spent 15 minutes speaking with a small group of reporters Tuesday, beneath the stately oak that serves as a popular meeting point near the Augusta National clubhouse. He was honest but succinct. He was contrite. He acknowledged the mistakes that he had made, and said that he was was back with feelings of both hope and gratitude.
“Life has given me another opportunity. I got to take advantage of that,” Cabrera said, speaking in Spanish. “There was a stage in my life of five years — four, five years — that they weren’t the right things I should have done. Before that, I was OK.
“So I just have to keep doing what I know I can do right.”
That includes striking a golf ball.
After he was paroled, and before Cabrera could secure his visa to travel outside of Argentina, his longtime coach, Charlie Epps, brought him a set of clubs to begin practicing again. There was a bit of rust, but the swing didn’t feel a whole lot different than it had a couple of years earlier, when Cabrera made the cut in the Senior Players Championship.
“I started to practice a lot, getting in form,” Cabrera said. “I don’t know if exactly my game’s back technically.”
It was good enough to win Sunday. Cabrera was tied with K.J. Choi in a PGA Tour Champions event that he only got into at the last minute when Mark Hensby withdrew, until a birdie on the 17th hole. Cabrera safely found the 18th green, two-putted from 18 feet for par, and he was able to celebrate a victory that seemed a decade in the making.
Or perhaps longer during those long nights in prison.
“Obviously I regret things that happened and you learn from them,” Cabrera said, “but at the same time, those are in the past and we have to look forward to what’s coming.”
That included the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night, when Cabrera was able to once again join a collection of past winners to celebrate and reminisce. Scottie Scheffler, as the reigning champion, chose the menu, and Cabrera was looking forward to having a chance to catch up with old friends like Gary Player, who has become one of his biggest supporters.
“I can’t wait to see him,” said Adam Scott, who beat Cabrera in a playoff to win the 2013 Masters. “It’s a happy thing for me. We’ve got a fairly long history. I first met him on the European Tour before we both were on the PGA Tour. We have played in Presidents Cups, we’ve been partners. I’m thrilled he’s going to be back joining us this year.”
Cabrera understands if there are some who feel differently. Not everybody is predisposed to forgive and forget.
“Everybody has their own opinion,” he said, “and I respect that.”
But Cabrera is also steadfast in his belief that he belongs at Augusta National again.
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