MLB Needs to Deal With Hurricane Milton Fallout

Hurricane Milton caused loads of damage to Central Florida and the Gulf Coast of Florida including the infliction of damage to Tropicana Field – – home of the Tampa Bay Rays.  If you have not seen the aftermath of that storm with regard to that facility, go to Google Images and search on ‘Tropicana Field Hurricane Milton”.  There used to be a dome on the stadium that appeared from above to be a full circle; now the coverage is about 15-20 degrees.

A report this morning at CBSSports.com says that the field may not be ready for the Rays on Opening Day 2025 (March 27,2025) posing a challenge for the scheduling mavens at MLB.  I make no claims on expertise as a structural engineer or as a construction manager, but looking at the damage done there, I think any consideration that the field will be repaired by Opening Day is fanciful at best.  Tropicana Field may not be habitable until well into the MLB season in 2025 and the planned new facility in St. Petersburg will not be ready for several years.

So …

• Quo vadis Tampa Bay Rays?

The logical answer from a geographical perspective is for the Rays to share the Marlins’ facility in Miami.  However, that simple solution has a financial drawback:

• Neither the Rays nor the Marlins draw well at home.
• Rays’ fans in the Tampa/St. Pete area would have to drive about 250 miles to get to Miami.  How many will make that trek for 81 games in Miami?
• Marlins’ fans do not turn out in droves to see the local team.  How many will show up to see the Rays 81 times in a season?

That “financial drawback” also afflicts other MLB teams since the visitors share in the live gate when they are on the road.  So, here is an off-the-wall idea:

• The Yankees’ Spring Training stadium is in Tampa – – not that far from Tropicana Field.  It does not have a roof, and it was not devastated by Hurricane Milton.
• Despite being a Spring Training facility, the stadium – – George M. Steinbrenner Field don’t you know – – seats just over 11,000 folks and it has 13 luxury suites.
• That field is used by the Tampa Tarpons – – the Single-A team for the Yankees.
• It might be much easier to cobble up a co-mingled schedule with a minor league team than another MLB squad AND the stadium in Tampa would be far more accessible to Ray’s fans.

Just a thought …

Moving on …  The NFL owners met in Atlanta this week for a regularly scheduled convocation.  Two interesting outcomes from that meeting are:

1. Tom Brady is now a part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.  That sale had to be approved by the rest of the owners, and it had been held up reportedly because the price Brady was paying was too much of a “sweetheart deal”.  Evidently, that was somehow resolved in the minds of the other owners.  Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis, sold 5% of the team to Brady, another 5% to Brady’s business partner and 0.5% to Hall of Fame DL, Richard Seymour.
2. The owners unanimously approved a plan to renovate the Jags’ stadium in Jax with an infusion of public funding and a 30-year lease by the Jags to play in Jax.  That should put an end to rumors/reports about the Jags being the seed crystal that creates a “European Division” in the NFL.  Such a division may materialize someday, but the Jags are not going to be the forcing function for such an entity any time soon.

Switching gears …  Yesterday, I mentioned that WR, Davante Adams went from the Raiders to the Jets; later yesterday, the Browns traded WR, Amari Cooper to the Bills.  Cooper was involved in a mid-season trade last year too; the Cowboys acquired him around the trade deadline, and he was part of a Cowboys’ team that made the playoffs.  Last year, the Cowboys gave up a first-round pick for Cooper.  This year’s price for Cooper’s services is significantly lower:

• Bills get Cooper plus a 6^th round pick in 2025
• Browns get a 3^rd round pick in 2025 plus a 7^th round pick in 2026

For the record, you can expect to see a few more trades among NFL teams as playoff hopefuls try to shore up weak spots on their rosters.  The in-season trading deadline is at 4:00PM on November 5^th; so that means there are still 20 days for wheeling-and-dealing.  I will be interested to see if the Commanders participate as “buyers” in the next couple of weeks.

The new owners in Washington seem to have adopted a “build steadily” strategy for the team and the roster; they did not go out and spend lavishly to make headlines over the summer.  Now, the Commanders are in first place in the very winnable NFC East, and they just lost their Pro-Bowl DT, Jonathan Allen for the season with a pectoral injury.  The Commanders’ can also use any and all help in their defensive backfield; so, I will find it interesting to see if the Commanders’ Front Office makes a course correction in the next two weeks or so to make a playoff run for the team.

Finally, an observation by George Steinbrenner:

“Second place is really the first loser.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………