Rays would host games at Steinbrenner Field if in playoffs - ESPN

The Tampa Bay Rays will play potential postseason games at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, setting up the possibility of a World Series staged in a minor league stadium with a capacity of 10,046.

The move came after discussion of potentially shifting postseason games to an alternate major league stadium, with Miami's LoanDepot Park among the sites considered. The Rays are playing their regular-season games this year at Steinbrenner Field, home of the Low-A Tampa Tarpons, after hurricane damage tore the roof off Tropicana Field and rendered it unfit for play in 2025.

The Rays occupy fourth place in the American League East at 50-47 but are just 1½ games behind the Seattle Mariners for the third wild-card spot in the AL.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday he anticipates the Rays will return to Tropicana Field, which is being refurbished, for the 2026 season.

By then, the Rays could be under new ownership. While an agreement has yet to be signed, the sale of the team for $1.7 billion to an ownership group led by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski continues to progress, sources told ESPN. The change of team control would not happen until after the postseason, sources said, though there could be a signed agreement in place prior to that.

The Rays would likely stay in the Tampa Bay area after being sold by Stu Sternberg, who bought the team in 2004 for $200 million.

Sternberg pursued a sale of the Rays in the wake of the team pulling out of a deal with St. Petersburg, where Tropicana Field is located, for a $1.3 billion stadium. The sides had agreed to the deal prior to Hurricanes Helene and Milton causing more than $50 million worth of damage to Tropicana Field.

The Pinellas County board of commissioners in