Rays, Pirates stare down different medium-term uncertainties

TAMPA - Josh Lowe watched from the couch of his offseason home in Orlando as gusts from Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off his workplace, Tropicana Field, last October.

A few weeks later, he traveled to see the damage in person. Shreds of the translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass roof were strewn across the lower bowl and field. The open sky was an unfamiliar sight.

"Surreal," he said.

The Rays would have to find a new home in the near term. And with team owner Stuart Sternberg recently withdrawing from an agreement to build a new ballpark in St. Petersburg, the club might also need a new long-term location.

The Rays are thankful to work out a deal with the Yankees to use Steinbrenner Field, New York's spring training and High-A affiliate home, as temporary quarters.

With their season opener in Tampa on Friday, the Rays joined the A's, who are Airbnb-ing in Sacramento, as a second major-league team playing in a minor-league park this campaign.

"We could be in a cornfield in Missouri, or wherever the hell there are cornfields, and it's still a Major League Baseball game," Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan said.

Even with upgraded facilities, a minor-league ballpark might not seem an ideal home. But it'll be an interesting venue for a few reasons and could have far-reaching consequences.

For starters, after playing in pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field, the team figures to play in an offensive-friendly park now.

Steinbrenner Field features nearly the same dimensions as Yankee Stadium, which ranked third in MLB in park factors for home runs last year. The Trop ranked 24th.

And unlike New York, the temperatures will be warm all season.

Will a left-handed hitter like Lowe try to tailor his swing to the ballpark?

"I'm not going to change my approach to the short porch," Lowe told theScore earlier this spring. He wound up leaving Friday's opener with an apparent oblique injury.

Rays manager Kevin Cash is curious to see if the park plays as offensively friendly as many suspect. He noted that the wind direction and humidity won't be the same as at Yankee Stadium.

"When the sun goes down, some say the ball doesn't carry as much as other times here," Cash said. "We'll find out a lot in the next couple of weeks."

What's also interesting is the typically platoon-heavy Rays might feature a more static lineup.

In its season opener against Rockies left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland on Friday, the club had lefty bats Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe in the lineup.

Another aspect of the venue change is that it'll more often appear packed even when fewer fans attend. Steinbrenner Field has a capacity of just over 11,000. The Rays averaged 16,515 at The Trop last season, but it always seemed empty. That could change the home-field vibe.

"Any park that is sold out - that has fans in the seats - is fun to go out and play for. We'll see if that plays," Josh Lowe said.

Lastly, the central Tampa location is ideal for Rays fans.

Most of the region's population resides to the east and north of St. Petersburg. Traveling to a Rays game can be a logistical nightmare. There are only a couple of routes that span Tampa Bay to reach it.

If Steinbrenner Field is packed this season, could it spark new plans for a project to keep the club in the area but nearer Tampa? MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wants to keep the team in the region.

Maybe a Tampa address doesn't have to be temporary.

Are the Pirates wasting their golden ticket?

Thursday's opener might be an all-too-common script for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Paul Skenes, the club's ace and reigning NL Rookie of the Year, left the game with the lead Thursday. However, miscues by the Pirates in the field - including a misread on a fly ball by inexperienced center fielder Oneil Cruz - and a blow-up by the bullpen wasted the effort in a loss to the lowly Miami Marlins.

Andrew McCutchen is the one player in the clubhouse who played for the Pirates' last playoff team in 2015.

During the 2013-15 stretch, when Pittsburgh made three straight playoff appearances, it had Gerrit Cole, a No. 1 overall pick, just like Skenes.

Those Pirates had a wealth of young pitching behind Cole - Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon - just as these do in Jared Jones (currently on the IL), Bubba Chandler, and Thomas Harrington.

"If you have it, use it," McCutchen said earlier this spring.

But by 2016, fans were frustrated by the ownership's lack of investment in the club, which could have extended the competitive window.

Fans are still frustrated. The Pirates ranked 26th in free-agent spending this winter. Their biggest trade acquisition was adding Spencer Horwitz from the Blue Jays.

"I do not know how they (the former management) felt, but I felt, 'Let's capitalize. Let's keep going. Let's make a move,'" McCutchen said. "We're right there coming off 98 wins (in 2015). A few other teams were a little better than us, but I felt that team was capable of winning it all. … Obviously, I don't know the other side of it. But it's like, 'Let's build.'

"It was there, and then it wasn't. It goes to show you that's baseball," McCutchen said. "It's there one day, and it's gone the next."

The Pirates have Skenes under club control for five more seasons. He qualified for a full campaign of service time by winning Rookie of the Year in 2024. After the 2017 season, the Pirates traded Cole two years before he reached free agency.

The clock is already ticking in Pittsburgh.

Opening Day jitters

Day 1 could have gone better for Major League Baseball and its fans.

For starters, during this transition from cable to streaming platforms for live broadcasts, MLB's streaming app crashed right after games began at 3 p.m. ET. Service for many customers was out for an hour.

In some markets where regional sports networks suffered disruptions, final announcements for broadcast distribution on traditional cable TV weren't made until Thursday.

It was difficult to access games, and when they resumed, there was so much at once. Rather than spreading contests out throughout the day, most began at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., with no earlier first pitches.

It was odd scheduling, made even more curious, with the campaign starting during the same period as the men's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.

MLB's expanded postseason keeps encroaching upon the regular season, pushing regular-season games into late March. Although there was no incredibly poor weather Thursday, it's risky to have teams based in the Midwest and Northeast open at home (Yankees, Reds, Royals).

Fourteen clubs play in southern or western locations or under a retractable dome. The Brewers should be hosting a team and not traveling to play in New York in March.

The league should ponder some scheduling changes to help its annual entrance feel like a de facto national holiday.

Travis Sawchik is theScore's senior baseball writer.