Normally, Tropicana Field serves as the home of the Tampa Bay Rays during the regular season. However, Charlotte Sports Park, their normal spring training facility located in Port Charlotte, took extensive damage from Hurricane Ian last September. As a result, the Rays determined they could not hold their spring training games in Charlotte County this year.
This presented the Rays with an unusual problem: where would they play the following February and March? They went with a simple yet unheard of solution: staying home. Literally. For the 2023 Grapefruit League, the Tampa Bay Rays made the decision to stay at Tropicana Field for their home games.
Needless to say, most MLB teams do not spend spring training at their regular season facilities. Still, the Rays continue to make the best of a complex situation, and their fans have loved every minute of it. Here is a look at Tampa Bay’s current spring training set-up for their 2023 Grapefruit League campaign.
A look at Tropicana Field three hours before first pitch against the Atlanta Braves.
Fans make their way through Gate 5 as they enter the ballpark.
Fans also have access to select Rays merchandise at a miniature team store on the lower deck.
While not as crowded as normal gamedays, the Third Base Food Hall still had plenty of foot traffic throughout the afternoon.
Several areas of the stadium were roped off and inaccessible to fans due to the game’s limited capacity.
The stadium’s upper level seating is also closed off to spectators, who could only sit in the ballpark’s lower deck.
Despite the stadium’s current capacity limits, the Rays have still managed to get some impressive attendance numbers at their spring training games.
No home run balls for the fans this time, as all the seats in between the left and right foul pole were closed off and left empty.
The DEX Imaging Home Plate Club offers some of the best seats in the stadium.
Fans get to watch as the Rays warm up by their dugout prior to the game.
Both the Braves and Rays got their respective outings in batting practice on the Tropicana Field turf itself prior to their matchup.
A rare sight: the Rays dugout completely empty before they took to the field in Thursday’s game.
Despite being named after a PepsiCo beverage, Tropicana Field features an enormous Coca-Cola bottle sculpture in right-center field.
Fans still had access to the Budweiser Porch throughout the game, albeit only from the viewing balcony itself.
The video board lit up with a welcome message to fans just 15 minutes before first pitch.
Spring Training #GrapefruitGators
