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10/26 09:54 CDT Quirky Tropicana Field isn't a pretty ballpark, but the Rays love their home Quirky Tropicana Field isn't a pretty ballpark, but the Rays love their home By ROB MAADDI AP Sports Writer With its unappealing concrete exterior, massive, sloping dome and cavernous indoor atmosphere, Tropicana Field possesses little of the aesthetic beauty and charm associated with baseball's most celebrated stadiums. But the Tampa Bay Rays love their quirky ballpark, especially after being forced out for a season because of destruction from Hurricane Milton. A sellout crowd of more than 40,000 towel-waving, cowbell-ringing fans will welcome the Rays back for Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night after a pair of gut-wrenching, one-run losses in Milwaukee. The Brewers lead 2-0 and are two wins away from the franchise's first World Series title. The Rays need to win four of five games to secure their first championship in their 29th season. When Milton swept through downtown St. Petersburg on Oct. 9, 2024, shredding the roof and causing extensive damage to the Trop, there were concerns the Rays would never play again at the only place they had called home since the franchise's debut in 1998. Nearly $60 million was spent to replace the roof and rebuild the stadium before the Rays returned 18 1/2 months later to start this season. They played their 2025 home games across the bay in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. During the renovation, the Rays were sold to a group led by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski. The new ownership team spearheaded an agreement to build a 31,000-seat ballpark in Tampa near the home of the NFL's Buccaneers. In August, the Rays received county approval on a financing plan for the $2.3 billion project that features what they're calling their "forever home" within a mixed-use entertainment district. The new stadium is scheduled to open in 2029. The Rays and their fans are hoping a World Series banner will hang in the stadium. "We love playing at the Trop. We played so well at the Trop all year," second baseman Richie Palacios said Sunday. "It's going to be exciting to go out there and put on a show for our fans and hopefully bring them a couple more wins." The Rays and Brewers tied for the best home record in the regular season, going 55-26. Though Rays fans have often been criticized for not showing up --- the team finished 28th in attendance at 1.4 million --- they've rocked the Trop throughout the postseason and made sure to give the rival Yankees an earful in the AL Division Series when the crowd included plenty of New Yorkers. Large crowds also gathered at the Trop for watch parties during Games 1 and 2 while the Rays and Brewers played at American Family Field in Milwaukee. "These Milwaukee fans have been really loud. I know our fans are going to be really loud and excited to see us come back and kind of reset ourselves a little bit," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. Tropicana Field hosted only two World Series games in 2008 when the Rays split at home and then lost three in a row in Philadelphia. The 2020 World Series was played on a neutral field in Arlington, Texas, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Rays lost that series to the Dodgers in six games. One of the Trop's most distinctive features is its catwalk system, consisting of four circular steel rings suspended beneath the stadium's non-retractable, cable-supported roof that stabilize the structure. Sometimes the catwalks interfere with baseballs. It happened in Game 2 of the ALDS when Yankees rookie Spencer Jones hit a towering flyball off a catwalk that was caught by Victor Mesa Jr., who ran over to center field from right field to make the play. A batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks is a home run, per stadium ground rules. A batted ball that hits either of the two upper catwalks is in play. "It's very much a different place," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "It seems like a great place, and you have to make adjustments to it. That's part of being a big leaguer. You have to make adjustments to it." The Trop also is the only ballpark in the majors where fans can touch stingrays. Seven cownose stingrays that weathered Hurricane Milton returned to the stadium for opening day inside the "Cownose Clubhouse," a 10,000-gallon touch tank experience located just beyond the right-center-field fence. "They have stingrays in the outfield here? I didn't know that," Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby said. Second baseman Brice Turang asked if the stingrays can be touched. They can. "That's really cool," he said. If Milwaukee wins two of the next three, Turang and Ashby could pose for photos with the stingrays and the World Series trophy. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the 2020 World Series was played in Arlington, Texas, not San Diego. ___ See AP's full MLB coverage here

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