The franchise once known as the Oakland Athletics worked for more than two decades to build a new stadium in the Bay Area. Their failed journey featured ill-fated detours to Fremont, San Jose and back to Oakland again, before they finally gave up altogether on the city they had called home for 56 years. 

The Tampa Bay Rays have been trying for nearly as long to escape Tropicana Field, their outdated—and now hurricane-ravaged—ballpark in St. Petersburg. That quest has involved flirtations with different parts of St. Pete, sites across the water in Tampa and even one wild idea to share the team with the city of Montreal. 

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8