{"id":544699,"date":"2026-04-07T01:50:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T01:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:50:53","slug":"rays-return-to-tropicana-field-for-first-since-hurricane-milton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544699\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays return to Tropicana Field for first since Hurricane Milton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Tampa Bay Rays start a three-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.&gt;&gt; Watch the game on CW18!It&#8217;s the first time the team will play at Tropicana Field since the roof was destroyed during Hurricane Milton in 2024. The game is sold out, and country music star Eric Church is set to perform the national anthem to help celebrate the return to home field. The field got a new roof in August. It also has new artificial turf, home-plate club seats, and new flooring on the outfield deck.Last year, the Rays played their home games across the bay at the Yankees&#8217; spring training facility.&gt;&gt; More about Tropicana FieldGame detailsWho: Chicago Cubs (4-5) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (4-5)When: Monday, 4:10 p.m. EDTWhere: St. Petersburg, FloridaNational anthem: Eric Church Watch: CW18Rays on WESH 2\/CW18Watch select games on WESH 2 and CW18!Going to the game?Tropicana Field roof repairs\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Tampa Bay Rays start a three-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesh.com\/article\/some-tampa-bay-rays-games-air-wesh-2-cw18\/70887726\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Watch the game on CW18!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the first time the team will play at Tropicana Field since the roof was destroyed during Hurricane Milton in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>The game is sold out, and country music star Eric Church is set to perform the national anthem to help celebrate the return to home field. <\/p>\n<p>The field got a new roof in August. It also has new artificial turf, home-plate club seats, and new flooring on the outfield deck.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the Rays played their home games across the bay at the Yankees&#8217; spring training facility.<\/p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=109350X1567040&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlb.com%2Frays%2Fballpark%2Funder-the-roof&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesh.com%2Farticle%2Ftampa-bay-rays-return-tropicana-field-home-opener%2F70940166&amp;xcust=undefined\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">More about Tropicana Field<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Game detailsWho: Chicago Cubs (4-5) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (4-5)When: Monday, 4:10 p.m. EDTWhere: St. Petersburg, FloridaNational anthem: Eric Church Watch: CW18<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis content is imported from Twitter.<br \/>\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n<p>Rays on WESH 2\/CW18<\/p>\n<p>Watch select games on WESH 2 and CW18!<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aspect-ratio-original lazyload lazyload-in-view\" alt=\"\ufeffRays on WESH 2\/CW18\" title=\"\ufeffRays on WESH 2\/CW18\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/social-graphic-1080x1440-69d38c60ddaea.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tWESH 2 News\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRays on WESH 2\/CW18<\/p>\n<p>Going to the game?<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis content is imported from Twitter.<br \/>\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis content is imported from Twitter.<br \/>\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n<p>Tropicana Field roof repairs<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aspect-ratio-original lazyload lazyload-in-view\" alt=\"FILE - The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez, File)\" title=\"The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton \" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ap267362c5ae52af.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tJulio Cortez\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez, File)<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis content is imported from Twitter.<br \/>\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis content is imported from Twitter.<br \/>\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This week, we laid the groundwork (literally) to bring baseball back! Dirt was delivered and distributed to set the base for the turf installation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/krI9oIvFE3\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/krI9oIvFE3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tropicana Field (@tropicanafield) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tropicanafield\/status\/2014789993529479194?ref_src=twsrc^tfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aspect-ratio-original lazyload lazyload-in-view\" alt=\"Roof repairs at Tropicana Field are near completion at the domed stadium near downtown Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Va. The roof of the stadium was destroyed during hurricane Milton in 2024. (\" title=\"Roof repairs at Tropicana Field are near completion at the domed stadium near downtown Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Va. The roof of the stadium was destroyed during hurricane Milton in 2024. (\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ap269d38cad6de7a.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aspect-ratio-original lazyload lazyload-in-view\" alt=\"Roof repairs at Tropicana Field are near completion at the domed stadium near downtown Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Va. The roof of the stadium was destroyed during hurricane Milton in 2024. (\" title=\"Roof repairs at Tropicana Field are near completion at the domed stadium near downtown Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Va. The roof of the stadium was destroyed during hurricane Milton in 2024. (\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ap269d38cad67438.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aspect-ratio-original lazyload lazyload-in-view\" alt=\"Roof repairs at Tropicana Field are near completion at the domed stadium near downtown Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Va. The roof of the stadium was destroyed during hurricane Milton in 2024. (\" title=\"Roof repairs at Tropicana Field are near completion at the domed stadium near downtown Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Va. The roof of the stadium was destroyed during hurricane Milton in 2024. (\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ap269d38cad72396.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Rays start a three-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.&gt;&gt; Watch the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[723,62079,62077,62080,62081,5,3289,62082,17646,5457,189,3880,4,43086,62078,10096,540,92,6727,62076,5168,5167,22684,16264],"class_list":{"0":"post-544699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-cw18ray","10":"tag-eric-church-national-anthem","11":"tag-floridawatch","12":"tag-game-detailswho","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-home","15":"tag-home-plate-club-seat","16":"tag-hurricane-milton","17":"tag-last-year","18":"tag-lightning","19":"tag-monday","20":"tag-nhl","21":"tag-roof","22":"tag-spring-training-facility","23":"tag-st-petersburg","24":"tag-tampa-bay","25":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","26":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","27":"tag-tampa-bay-rays-home-opener","28":"tag-tampabay","29":"tag-tampabaylightning","30":"tag-tropicana-field","31":"tag-wesh"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116360920830932183","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}