ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays played a baseball game Monday at Tropicana Field for the first time in more than 560 days, beating the Chicago Cubs, 6-4, in their 2026 home opener.
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The Rays returned to the Trop after spending the 2025 regular season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, which became necessary when Hurricane Milton ripped off the stadium’s roof and caused flooding in October 2024.
From an ownership change to a repaired Trop to an updated TV contract, there’s plenty of “new” to go around with the Rays this season, and that was on full display Monday.
A sellout crowd of 25,114 was treated to pregame ceremonies that included first pitches by St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, and a national anthem rendering from country music star Eric Church.
Rays fans roared when Shane McClanahan’s first pitch was called a strike, cheered even louder when Cedric Mullins hit a two-run home run in the second inning that tied the game at 2, and once more when a Yandy Diaz double gave them a 3-2 lead in the same inning.
“Incredible work by all the people that worked on the stadium and all the people that, everyone that had a part in the process for this all to come together,” said Rays fan Donnie Mestas. “It’s great.”
Early arriving fans toured the concourse, concession stands and team store at the Rays home since its inaugural season in 1998.
“It blew my mind, honestly,” said fan Joey Murphy. “I mean, since I’m local, I drove by the Trop all the time and just seeing the progress that it got made, I mean, congratulations to all the construction workers and everybody that did everything for these projects. I mean, it turned out amazing.”
The Trop’s new roof was officially put in place in November, and new turf, infield and warning track have been installed as well. The air conditioning, which fans surely missed last summer during the outdoor games at Steinbrenner Field, has been reactivated. New drywall had to be hung, followed by fresh paint, new carpeting and flooring, as well as clubhouse improvements.
“It’s one of my favorite stadiums. Glad it’s back,” Mestas said.
Fans wait outside Tropicana Field before the Rays home opener on April 6, 2026. (Spectrum News/Anthony Sande)
The Rays will play three seasons in the Trop. Past that, their future remains uncertain. Talks are underway about moving into a new $2.3 billion stadium in Tampa, on the Hillsborough College campus.
Fans are divided.
“I hope they keep it here. Not in Tampa,” said Debra Kraus, who lives in Tampa. “That’s too much chaos right by the Bucs stadium and everything. And they already had issues last year with the traffic flow over there between the two games.”
Keaton Johnson also lives in Tampa and said it would be awesome to have a Rays stadium there.
“It’s obviously very expensive, but I think it’ll bring a lot of money in from, you know, tourism dollars and all the development around it,” he said. “Hopefully there’ll be a lot of affordable housing right there. So I think it’ll be a net good for the community.”
As for Monday’s game, the Rays pitching staff held the Cubs to just four hits. Diaz and Chandler Simpson had two hits each.
A sellout crowd of 25,114 welcomed the Rays back to Tropicana Field. (Spectrum News/Josh Rojas)
McClanahan, pitching in a regular season game for the first time since 2023, put up four innings with two runs allowed.
The lefty underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August 2023 and then missed the entire 2025 season due to an inflamed nerve in his left triceps.
Kevin Kelly (1-1) pitched a perfect fifth to earn the win and Bryan Baker finished for his first save, yielding Matt Shaw’s solo shot in the ninth.
Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda also homered for the Rays.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
