Rays, if in, get OK for playoffs in 10K-seat stadium

The Tampa Bay Rays will play potential postseason games at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, setting up the possibility of a World Series staged in a minor league stadium with a capacity of 10,046.

The move came after discussion of potentially shifting postseason games to an alternate major league stadium, with Miami's LoanDepot Park among the sites considered. The Rays are playing their regular-season games this year at Steinbrenner Field, home of the Low-A Tampa Tarpons, after hurricane damage tore the roof off Tropicana Field and rendered it unfit for play in 2025.

The Rays occupy fourth place in the American League East at 50-47 but are just 1½ games behind the Seattle Mariners for the third wild-card spot in the AL.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday he anticipates the Rays will return to Tropicana Field, which is being refurbished, for the 2026 season.

By then, the Rays could be under new ownership. While an agreement has yet to be signed, the sale of the team for $1.7 billion to an ownership group led by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski continues to progress, sources told ESPN. The change of team control would not happen until after the postseason, sources said, though there could be a signed agreement in place prior to that.

The Rays would likely stay in the Tampa Bay area after being sold by Stu Sternberg, who bought the team in 2004 for $200 million.

Sternberg pursued a sale of the Rays in the wake of the team pulling out of a deal with St. Petersburg, where Tropicana Field is located, for a $1.3 billion stadium. The sides had agreed to the deal prior to Hurricanes Helene and Milton causing more than $50 million worth of damage to Tropicana Field.

The Pinellas County board of commissioners in October 2024 delayed a vote to fund its portion of the stadium. Less than a month later, the Rays said the delay would cause a one-year delay in the stadium's opening and cause cost overruns that would make the deal untenable without further government funding. In mid-March, Sternberg told St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch the team would back away from the stadium deal.

Where Zalupski and his partners -- mortgage broker Bill Cosgrove and Ken Babby, an owner of two minor league teams -- ultimately take the Rays remains a question central to MLB's future. Manfred has said he wants the stadium situations of the Rays and Athletics -- who plan to play in a minor league stadium in West Sacramento, California, until moving to Las Vegas before the 2028 season -- settled before MLB expands to 32 teams.

"If I had a brand new gleaming stadium to move [the Athletics] into, we would have done that," Manfred said. "Right now, it is my expectation that they will play in Sacramento until they move to Las Vegas."

Potential Twins sale: Manfred also addressed a potential sale of the Minnesota Twins, which had a "leader in the clubhouse" until earlier this summer. Billionaire Justin Ishbia turned away from the Twins, striking a deal to purchase the Chicago White Sox as early as 2029.

That left the Twins to look elsewhere.

"When it becomes clear there is a leader, everyone else backs away," Manfred said. "A big part of the delay was associated with them deciding to do something else."

The commissioner wouldn't give specifics but believes a deal to sell the Twins is moving in the right direction.

"I'm not prepared to tell you today," Manfred said. "There will be a transaction there and it will be consistent with the kind of pricing that has been taken [lately]. Just need to be patient there."

Television contracts: Manfred says the sport is in better position to reach national broadcasting agreements for 2026-28 following the Allen & Co. Conference of media and finance leaders in Idaho.

In February, ESPN said it was ending its agreement to broadcast Sunday night games, the All-Star Home Run Derby and the Wild Card Series after this season. MLB's other agreements, with Fox and TBS, run through the 2028 season, and MLB wants all its contracts to end at the same time.

"I had lot of conversations [in Idaho] that moved us significantly closer to a deal and I don't believe it's going to be long," Manfred said Tuesday.

Gambling integrity: Though another MLB player -- Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz -- is being investigated for issues related to gambling, the commissioner insists the system is working and that legalization has actually helped protect the sport.

"We constantly take a look at the integrity protections we have in place," Manfred said. "I believe the transparency and monitoring we have in place now is a result of the legalizations and the partnerships that we've made. [It] puts us in a better position to protect baseball than we were in before legalization."

Manfred is referencing gambling monitoring companies and the league's agreements with gambling entities that inform MLB if they find suspicious activity surrounding their players. That is what happened to Ortiz, sources close to the situation told ESPN.

ABS implementation: Though not all players have outwardly expressed a desire for the ABS challenge system to be implemented full time, Manfred believes he has taken their input on the subject.

On Monday, All-Star starting pitchers Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes were lukewarm on the idea -- at least for it being used in the All-Star Game.

"I don't plan on using them [challenges]," Skubal said. "I probably am not going to use them in the future."

Added Skenes: "I really do like the human element of the game. I think this is one of those things that you kind of think umpires are great until they're not. And so I could kind of care less, either way, to be honest."

Manfred insists the challenge system idea came via a compromise after talking to players.

"Where we are on ABS has been fundamentally influenced by player input," he said. "If two years ago, you asked me what do the owners want to do? They would have called every pitch with ABS as soon as possible.

"The players expressed a strong interest in the challenge system."

All-Star return to Atlanta: After pulling the All-Star Game from Atlanta in 2021 due to new voting laws, Manfred was asked why the return to the city and state.

"The reason to come back here is self-revealing," Manfred said. "You walk around here, the level of interest and excitement with a great facility, the support this market has given baseball, those are really good reasons to come back here."

Diversity Pipeline Program: Manfred was also asked about his decision to change wording on the league's website in relation to its Diversity Pipeline Program. He cited the changing times for the decision but stated the spirit of the programs still exist.

"Sometimes you have to look at how the world is changing around you and readjust to where you are," Manfred said. "There were certain aspects to some of our programs that were very explicitly race and/or gender based. We know people in Washington were aware of that. We felt it was important recast our programs in a way to make sure we could continue on with our programs and continue to pursue the values we've always adhered to without tripping what could be legal problems that could interfere with that process."

Immigration protections for players: As for new immigration enforcement policies since President Donald Trump's administration took over in Washington, Manfred said the government has lived up to its promises.

"We did have conversations with the administration," Manfred said. "They assured us there would be protections for our players. They told us that was going to happen and that's what's happened."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.