The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are set to begin a short two-game series tonight at George M. Steinbrenner Field in the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, which the Rays are calling home for 2025. Southpaw Carlos Rodón is lined up to face righty Shane Baz, but before Baz could even take the mound, the tarp went onto the field.
According to YES Network’s Michael Kay, it was raining heavily earlier in the day on Tuesday, and while it stopped, an ugly forecast has the league playing it safe.
They don’t want to begin a game with both starters ready to go, only to have it delayed very early on with both pitchers potentially burned. So right now, we are in a rain delay. As Kay alluded, these familiar summer showers in Tampa are among the reasons why Tropicana Field existed with a full dome in the first place prior to being damaged in the offseason by a hurricane (and also why MLB planned so many road games early in 2025 for the Rays).
Join us in the game thread to pass the time! Hopefully, we have baseball soon.
Update
Buckle up, folks, It looks like it might be a minute before we get baseball, and I can assume you that the two teams are highly uninterested in a doubleheader in disgustingly hot Tampa tomorrow. They have common offdays on September 8th and 22nd, but the travel logistics for both dates would be awkward.
