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Diamondbacks @ Rays discussion
Diamondbacks @ Rays discussion
Lourdes Gurriel – DH
Victor Mesa – LF
Tommy Troy – CF
Would it be too soon to call Tropicana Field the original home of the “Tarps off” movement? For it was in October 2024 that the Category 3 Hurricane Milton ripped through the Tampa area, and basically tore the roof off the place. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but it meant that the Rays had to play all their home games last season at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the Yankees. That explains the particularly light attendance for the team last year – though they still managed to outdraw the Athletics, similarly displaced out of a major league stadium, to one in Sacramento.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTechnically, Tropicana Field is actually the sixth oldest ballpark in the majors – older than every NL stadium bar the Cubs and Dodgers. That’s because it actually opened eight years before the Rays moved in there. Construction began back in 1986, in the belief that a stadium needed to be in place to lure a major-league team to the area. St. Petersburg missed out in the first round of expansion franchises in 1993. But before that, of all teams, the San Francisco Giants nearly relocated there in 1992. The deal eventually fell one vote short of approval from the then fourteen National League teams. But as we know, Florida got its second team, with our expansion siblings in 1998.
Tonight’s game is the D-backs’ first return to the park since the storm, and it’s not one which has been a happy place for Arizona. Indeed, they have just one victory there since 2013. The last time the Diamondbacks visited Tropicana, in August 2024, they were swept. Though two of the defeats were by one run, including the series finale where defeat took twelve innings. That took place after the D-backs have come back from 6-0 down after six innings to force extras. Our last victory was also in extras, a 3-2 win in May 2019 which took thirteen frames. Ketel Marte is the only one of the 17 D-backs who took the field that day to still be with the team.
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Ketel Marte – 2B
Yandy Diaz – DH
Geraldo Perdomo – SS
Jonathan Aranda – 1B
Corbin Carroll – RF
Junior Caminero – 3B
Gabriel Moreno – C
Richie Palacios – 2B
Nolan Arenado – 3B
Jonny DeLuca – RF
Max Kepler – LF
Cedric Mullins – CF
Pavin Smith – 1B
Taylor Walls – SS
Hunter Feduccia – C
Zac Gallen – RHP
Nick Martinez – RHP
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