Starting this past Monday, the Minnesota Twins are playing seven out of ten games in minor league stadiums - and on opposite sides of the country - in one of the strangest schedule quirks in the team's history.
It starts in Tampa-St. Pete. The Rays are playing at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa for the 2025 season because Hurricane Milton severely damaged Tropicana Field, their home stadium in St. Petersburg.
The damage, which included ripping off portions of the roof, made it impossible for the Rays to play there, so they made arrangements to use Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees' spring training facility. The Twins lost Monday 7-2, and play there again Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.
Twins radio play-by-play voice Kris Atteberry told Tom Hauser on the WCCO Morning News Tuesday that the atmosphere in the minor league park was "awesome."
"It's a longer drive certainly, and it's weird to be in a minor league park," Atteberry said. "It felt like spring training, but they're making the best of a tough spot."
Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli says it is definitely a different environment.
"We play there in spring training though, so it's not like this is a place we haven't, seen before," Baldelli said. "I will try to not make too much of a big deal about it. We're going back to almost spring training weather, you know. It's gonna be 90 out and the guys will be sweating it out. I think it'll feel good and they'll enjoy that part of it."
From Florida it's off to - the Pacific Northwest? The Twins head to Seattle for three over the weekend at T-Mobile Park - yes, a Major League ballpark - but literally in the opposite corner of the country, something most MLB teams don't normally do.
That's because the Rays play outdoors and the league decided to swap home series between the Twins and Rays because playing outdoors in Florida in July comes with a high chance of rain, impossibly hot and humid weather to say the least. So what we originally a home series ended up in Florida and now that will send the Twins all the way across the country.
"The Rays are going on like a two-week road trip in July including, we were supposed to be here July 4th," Atteberry explains. "But because the league looked at it and was like, you'll never play those games. It's going to rain every day. It's going to be 105 degrees outside. No one's coming and the players are going to melt into puddles. They flipped the series with us. They flipped the series with the Angels too, to start the year."
After Seattle, the road trip then continues to Sacramento to play the Athletics. Of course the A's have left Oakland and are playing at Sutter Health Park as a temporary move due to their ongoing relocation plans to Las Vegas.
Their lease at the Oakland Coliseum ended after the 2024 season, and after several failed attempts to agree to a new lease or ballpark proposal in Oakland, the team explored relocation options. They signed a binding agreement to purchase land in Las Vegas, but the new stadium construction is still ongoing. That means a temporary stop, playing in Sacramento.
For Atteberry, it's a very different situation in Sacramento.
"Sacramento, they created their own mess, and I have a lot less patience for that," he told Hauser. "It's a nice ballpark, but again, these guys, they worked their whole lives to get to the big leagues and it's just crazy to me that we have minor league parks. I get the one in a disaster situation, but that we've allowed this, this Oakland thing to happen. It's asinine. It just makes no sense. It's not fair to players. It really isn't."
And to make things even more odd? These aren't even the "Sacramento" Athletics, or Oakland or Las Vegas for that matter. They are right now simply "The Athletics." A nomad club with a temporary home in a minor league park.
Minnesota Twins (29-24, third in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (27-26, second in the AL East)
Tampa, Florida; Tuesday, 6:05 p.m. Pregame 5:30 p.m. on 830 WCCO and the Audacy app (in-market restrictions apply)
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Joe Ryan (4-2, 2.68 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 67 strikeouts); Rays: Taj Bradley (4-3, 4.61 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 48 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Twins -123, Rays +104; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays, on a six-game home winning streak, host the Minnesota Twins.
Tampa Bay is 27-26 overall and 17-18 at home. The Rays have the eighth-ranked team on-base percentage in the AL at .309.
Minnesota is 11-16 on the road and 29-24 overall. The Twins have a 20-2 record in games when they scored five or more runs.
Tuesday's game is the second meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jonathan Aranda has a .302 batting average to lead the Rays, and has nine doubles and seven home runs. Chandler Simpson is 12 for 34 with five RBIs over the past 10 games.
Trevor Larnach has six doubles, a triple and seven home runs while hitting .247 for the Twins. Kody Clemens is 13 for 31 with three doubles, a triple and three home runs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 7-3, .248 batting average, 2.86 ERA, outscored opponents by 21 runs
Twins: 6-4, .234 batting average, 2.83 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs
INJURIES: Rays: Travis Jankowski: 10-Day IL (groin), Ha-Seong Kim: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Hunter Bigge: 15-Day IL (lat), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (tricep), Jake Mangum: 10-Day IL (groin), Jonny Deluca: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Richie Palacios: 10-Day IL (knee), Alex Faedo: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Kevin Kelly: 15-Day IL (glute), Nathan Lavender: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Twins: Luke Keaschall: 60-Day IL (forearm), Danny Coulombe: 15-Day IL (forearm), Byron Buxton: 7-Day IL (head), Michael Tonkin: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Matt Wallner: 10-Day IL (hamstring)