Steinbrenner Field Was Largely Embraced By The Rays, Even If It Felt Like A ‘Rental’

The Tampa Bay Rays made their way through the 81-game schedule at Steinbrenner Field without a single rainout. That is saying something considering, for example, a tropical depression that merely brushes the region could wash away a couple of playing dates. Fortunately, there were no such issues for a storm-fatigued area.

Perhaps, in what was thankfully an average summer as far as Mother Nature, there is a reason for having been spared of the need to reschedule games.

“You don’t get like a full day of rain here,” said closer Pete Fairbanks. “It happens to storm really hard between 45 minutes and two hours instead of all day. I think (no rainouts) makes sense the more that I think about it.”

There were 12 rain delays totaling 12 hours and 48 minutes. Incredibly, there were only three in-game delays with the other nine prior to first pitch. Five delays were 20 minutes or less with the shortest June 19 against the Orioles when first pitch was pushed back 10 minutes. The longest delay was a yawning four hours and 25 minutes for an August 24 game against the Cardinals, which turned a 12:10 start into 4:35. The culprit, for the most part, was lightning that lingered within a few miles of the ballpark.

Ryan Pepiot often felt like he got soaked in a rainstorm, even when there was not a drop of rain on the radar. He once went through four jerseys, two pairs of pants and two pairs of cleats thanks to perspiring profusely in the relentless combination of heat and humidity that routinely had the heat index in the 105 neighborhood regardless of start time.

“It has been fun playing outside,” said the righthanded pitcher, whose spot in the rotation often drew the short straw of getaway day afternoon starts during the summer months. “It has also been not so fun playing outside sometimes. It’s a little toasty and the clubhouse crew is doing a lot of laundry mid-game changing jerseys for us.”

Manager Kevin Cash, who is looking forward to returning to the Trop next year, was very appreciative of the effort from Dan Moeller’s grounds crew to the clubhouse attendants. The skipper also looked after his players.

“We knew it was going to be hot, but then it was like a different level at times,” he said. “So, you felt for the players and what they were going through.”

That likely will not be a concern next season when the club returns to Tropicana Field, which began to have new roofing installed in August while interior cleaning and rehab work continues. The expectation is that the venue will be ready for baseball once again by the time the Rays, under a new ownership group that was approved by MLB on September 22, have their home opener April 6 against the Cubs following a nine-game trip that begins in St. Louis.

“I don’t think I have played a season this hot since I was in North Carolina,” said Fairbanks, referring to when he pitched for the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers) in 2016. “Playing (at Steinbrenner Field) was a different experience, that’s for sure.”

A temporary home that worked well

Fan engagement in a spring training and minor league venue – the Single-A Tampa Tarpons moved to a roughly 1,000-seat facility abutting the first base side of Steinbrenner Field and prepared for home games less than a mile away at the Yankees’ player development complex – that held 10,046 for the regular season, has precious little room in foul territory and unpredictable wind patterns often made things interesting on a game-to-game basis. There was one other thing.

“This reminds me of when I was in the Gulf Coast League,” said the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, of the cramped, but nice, visiting clubhouse in comparing it to his time as a 17-year-old with the Braves’ rookie league affiliate in 2007.

On the other side of the divide is a home clubhouse that sparkles in every way imaginable. In that sense, it was great timing for the Rays to play at Steinbrenner Field given the extensive renovations the Yankees undertook prior to spring training this year.

“It is top-notch,” said Pepiot, echoing the sentiment of his teammates.

The lack of foul territory, though, irritated a pitcher or two as prolonged at-bats were not unusual given foul popups that would have been outs in other stadiums found the seats at Steinbrenner. The lack of foul room was also a hazard, something that was unfortunately realized when pitcher Hunter Bigge was rushed to a hospital less than mile away after taking a foul ball to the right side of his face.

“I would have liked a little more foul territory for safety sake, but stuff you can’t change you can’t change, so you get used to it,” said Fairbanks.

Get used to it they did. Not that it was easy.

“I wished there was a little more foul ground,” said Pepiot. “A couple of more popups could have been outs, like they were at the Trop.”

The wind, of course, was never an issue at the Trop. At Steinbrenner Field, what appeared to be routine flyballs often carried and carried until they landed several feet beyond the fence, as was often the case in right field. Conversely, there were games when balls that seemed to be near-certain homers off the bat ended up being caught well short of the warning track thanks to a pitcher’s best friend: wind blowing in. Even though the ballpark’s dimensions are identical to that of Yankee Stadium, including 312 feet down the left field line and 314 to right, it was anybody’s guess as to how it would play.

“I was truly believing that it was going to be tiny,” said Brandon Lowe, on thinking the ballpark would be potentially a homer haven. “I think we had more home runs taken away by the wind than given to us by the wind. On the flip side of things, I think the pitchers would tell you that there were a lot more short-porch home runs that would be either doubles or outs at the Trop. It was a big adjustment that I think the guys handled very well given there was not a whole lot of time to get adjusted.”

There was precious little time to get adjusted. It was spring training as normal for the team in Port Charlotte, a workout at Steinbrenner Field and then Opening Day against the Rockies on March 28, which was pushed back a day to allow a little breathing with the team’s move into the complex.

Everything was minor in scope, though, when compared to the colossal task of moving a team even if it was only 22 miles across Tampa Bay. Who knows? The Rays could have ended up playing outside the region if not for the cooperation of their division rival.

“Thanks to the Yankees for working out a deal,” said Lowe. “They very well could have said ‘no.’ We’re thankful we stayed in the area and got to play here.”

Intimate atmosphere

With alterations that were made following the Yankees’ final Grapefruit League game, capacity at Steinbrenner Field was reduced to 10,046 from 11,026. The Rays sold out 61 of 81 home dates and averaged 9,713. As far as the 20 non-sellouts, the Rays drew less than 9,000 on 16 occasions, including a low of 7,883 against Seattle on September 2, a Tuesday evening following the Labor Day weekend.

Having fans right on top of the players made for a different playing environment.

“I liked the fan engagement that came with it,” said Pepiot. “To have the fans show out like they did all season, especially some of those hot days in the middle of the summer, and it was a loud and vibrant crowd cheering us on no matter how we were playing, that was the special part about playing here.”

As Lowe noted, remaining in the region was key.

“There were a lot of unknowns (after the Trop was damaged by Hurricane Milton) and there were a lot of rumors about going other places, but to be here, I couldn’t have been happier,” said Pepiot. “A lot of people didn’t necessarily know how it was going to be when you’re playing in somebody else’s place. The guys and the staff here made it feel like a home, and made it feel like it’s our place, a rental place. But it was fun.”