Interesting can be both good and bad
For the 2025 season, there will be two Major League teams that will be playing in Minor League ballparks. The Philadelphia Kansas City Oakland just Athletics have moved cities for a third time, and soon a fourth time. Before they land in their (planned) eventual destination of Las Vegas, they’ll play the next three years in West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, home of the AAA level Sacramento River Cats. Meanwhile on the otherside of the country, the Tampa Bay Rays won’t be able to play in Tropicana Field in St Petersburg for the foreseeable future, due to damage from Hurricane Milton. Instead for the 2025 season, they’ll be playing at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. As the name implies, that is the Yankees Spring Training and Class A Minor League Ball affiliate’s Tampa Tarpons ballpark. Having two Major League teams move to two Minor League ballparks will affect the game on the field, so let’s break down the two biggest ways it will impact the game
The Weather
The Rays going from an indoor stadium to an open air stadium definitely will be an improvement to the aesthetics of the game, but it does expose them to the whims of mother nature. That’s a problem when you’re playing in a city that averages about 30 inches of rain from June to September i.e. the majority of the playing season, It’s almost guaranteed that we’ll be seeing frequent rain delays and postponement in Tampa this season. Even if the rain isn’t a factor, the notoriously hot, humid weather of Florida will be a factor. Players who are overheated and dehydrated are more likely to make errors in the field and more likely to get injured.
The Athletics face the same issues with the heat and humidity in Sacramento, but they’ll try to avoid that by scheduling 60 of their 81 home games at night. Those remaining 19 day games at home though will have to reckon with the heat and humidity.
The Ballpark Dimensions
Sutter Health Park’s dimensions (330ft LF, 403ft CF, 325ft RF) are slightly smaller than the Oakland Coliseum’s (330ft LF 400ft CF, 330ft RF), with the exception of center field being a few feet deeper at Sutter Health Park. That ignores the gigantic foul territory and bullpen mounds out in the open in the Coliseum. Despite being in the hitter friendly PCL, the home of the Sacramento River Cats is not a particularly hitter friendly ballpark either. The biggest effect the change in ballparks will have for As batters is an increase in batting averages and a reduction in popouts in foul territory. They’re not quite moving to a hitter friendly ballpark, but it might feel like it at times avoiding all those easy outs.
George Steinbrenner Field’s playing dimensions (318 ft LF 408 CF 314 RF, identical to Yankee Stadium) are similar to Tropicana Field’s dimensions (315 ft LF 404 ft CF 322 RF), with the exception of that right field wall being eight feet closer and three foot shorter. Tropicana Field has consistently been one of the most extreme pitcher’s parks in MLB. Steinbrenner Field and Yankee Stadium are both hitter friendly ballparks, but not for everyone. If you’re a right handed batting Ray, there won’t be much of a difference with an 86 HR park factor for right handed hitters, meaning HRs are reduced by 86%. Left handed batters however should be jumping for joy with the 128 HR park factor. I’d actually expect Steinbrenner Field to play as an even more hitter friendly version of Yankee Stadium, just from the warmer weather
The Fan Factor
There is one major aspect I’ve ignored so far and that’s the fans. Minor League Ballparks are much smaller than Major League parks. In a sparsely attended game, the players can hear every heckle, cheer, and taunt in the Ballpark. Considering how sparsely attended Rays games at the Trop have been in the past, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see during a getaway weekday game. That shouldn’t be a problem for the Athletics, however, as tickets have actually been selling well so far, surprisingly.
Final Thoughts
It’ll be interesting to see how all of the above plays out in the 2025 season. It’ll also be interesting seeing what happens with the Rays after that, considering their most recent stadium deal just fell apart, putting their future in question. The Athletics future in Vegas is not 100% set in stone either, but I’m going to just ignore that massive elephant in the room for now.