The Rays made their return to Tropicana Field by beating the Cubs 6–4, marking MLB’s return to downtown St. Petersburg Monday and celebrating repairs to the Trop, the team’s home for the previous 28 seasons, as well as the “strength and resiliency of the Tampa Bay community.” Pre-game ceremonies included a “presentation of the flag by roof repairers, first responders and team staff who worked on the project,” a national anthem by country singer Eric Church and first pitches by St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor. The celebration with the community continued after the game, as Rays lead owners Patrick Zalupski and Bill Cosgrove, CEO Ken Babby and team ambassador Brett Phillips took Gov. Ron DeSantis to nearby Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill and “bought a beer for everyone there.” Players talked pre-game about improvements to their clubhouse and expansion of the weight room, but they “seemed most excited,” after playing last season outdoors at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field in front at 10,000, “about having 25,000 fans cheering for them” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/6).
As the Rays work to solidify the team’s future with a new stadium in Tampa, the new owners “wanted to make Monday’s reopening of Tropicana Field about the past.” Some of the changes “included increased acknowledgment of their two World Series teams, as photos on the main concourse walls are now primarily from the 2008 and 2020 seasons.” And in including members of the stadium repair crew, first responders and team staff involved in the project as part of the on-field ceremonies, the Rays “addressed the more recent history of the Tampa Bay community’s response to the back-to-back 2024 hurricanes.” DeSantis “was on the field pre-game” and stayed for the game (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/6).
Welch and Castor “stepped up to home plate and threw out ceremonial pitches” at Tropicana Field for the first time in 561 days. Above them in the owner’s suite hovered DeSantis, who “supports a plan to build a stadium in Tampa on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus.” With him stood Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan and Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin, both of whom are “working to get that done.” The political showing Monday “offered reminders of the past, present — and possible future — lurking over a team that spent almost 20 years in search of any other place to call home.” For the fans of what “likely will be the team’s lone home sellout for the season, at least, baseball was back at the Trop” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/6).