Tampa Bay Rays Chicago Cubs Opening Day Tropicana Field MLB

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays performed a baseball sport Monday at Tropicana Field for the primary time in additional than 560 days, beating the Chicago Cubs, 6-4, of their 2026 house opener.

The Rays returned to the Trop after spending the 2025 common season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, which turned essential when Hurricane Milton ripped off the stadium’s roof and triggered flooding in October 2024.

From an possession change to a repaired Trop to an up to date TV contract, there’s loads of “new” to go round with the Rays this season, and that was on full show Monday.

A sellout crowd of 25,114 was handled to pregame ceremonies that included first pitches by St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, and a nationwide anthem efficiency from nation music star Eric Church.

Rays followers roared when Shane McClanahan’s first pitch was referred to as a strike, cheered even louder when Cedric Mullins hit a two-run house run within the second inning that tied the sport at 2, and eleven extra when a Yandy Diaz double gave them a 3-2 lead in the identical inning.

“Incredible work by all the people that worked on the stadium and all the people that, everyone that had a part in the process for this all to come together,” stated Rays fan Donnie Mestas. “It’s great.”

Early arriving followers toured the concourse, concession stands and staff retailer on the Rays house since its inaugural season in 1998.

“It blew my mind, honestly,” stated fan Joey Murphy. “I mean, since I’m local, I drove by the Trop all the time and just seeing the progress that it got made, I mean, congratulations to all the construction workers and everybody that did everything for these projects. I mean, it turned out amazing.”

The Trop’s new roof was formally put in place in November, and new turf, infield and warning monitor have been put in as nicely. The air con, which followers certainly missed final summer time through the outside video games at Steinbrenner Field, has been reactivated. New drywall needed to be hung, adopted by contemporary paint, new carpeting and flooring, in addition to clubhouse enhancements.

“It’s one of my favorite stadiums. Glad it’s back,” Mestas stated.

The Rays will play three seasons within the Trop. Past that, their future stays unsure. Talks are underway about shifting into a brand new $2.3 billion stadium in Tampa, on the Hillsborough College campus.

Fans are divided.

“I hope they keep it here. Not in Tampa,” stated Debra Kraus, who lives in Tampa. “That’s an excessive amount of chaos proper by the Bucs stadium and every part. And they already had points final yr with the site visitors circulate over there between the 2 video games.”

Keaton Johnson additionally lives in Tampa and stated it could be superior to have a Rays stadium there.

“It’s obviously very expensive, but I think it’ll bring a lot of money in from, you know, tourism dollars and all the development around it,” he said. “Hopefully there’ll be a lot of affordable housing right there. So I think it’ll be a net good for the community.”

As for Monday’s sport, the Rays pitching workers held the Cubs to only 4 hits. Diaz and Chandler Simpson had two hits every.

A sellout crowd of 25,114 welcomed the Rays again to Tropicana Field. (Spectrum News/Josh Rojas)

McClanahan, pitching in a daily season sport for the primary time since 2023, put up 4 innings with two runs allowed.

The lefty underwent his second Tommy John surgical procedure in August 2023 after which missed your complete 2025 season because of an infected nerve in his left triceps.

Kevin Kelly (1-1) pitched an ideal fifth to earn the win and Bryan Baker completed for his first save, yielding Matt Shaw’s solo shot within the ninth.

Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda additionally homered for the Rays.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.