Twins, Rays Swap Dates for 2025 Holiday Series

[Brandon Glick]

In what could yet be the most important Twins trade all offseason, the team announced they’re swapping more than just players with the Rays.

Image courtesy of © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

There’s a new-school adage in baseball: don’t trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. They routinely fleece teams and, as a developmental powerhouse, make a living out of turning other teams' trash into their own treasure trove. Thus, it’s fair if you recoiled when first hearing that the outwardly frugal Twins completed a trade with their American League rivals on Monday.

However, this deal isn’t exactly a classic player-for-player swap. In fact, it looks like more than just a fair deal—it’s almost certainly a bona fide win-win.

For those who are out of the loop with what’s been going on in Florida over the last month: the state was ravaged by Hurricane Milton. The Greater Tampa Bay area was one of the places hit the hardest by the tropical storm, and the damage caused to Tropicana Field, the home of the Rays (located in St. Petersburg), meant that the viability of the stadium for the 2025 season was up in the air.

Recently, the team officially decided that “The Trop" will be unplayable next year, unveiling a repair plan that should restore the park by 2026. However, that means the Rays will need a home for next season, and a home they have found. The Rays will actually play in Tampa next season, as they reached an agreement with the New York Yankees to play at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is the spring training venue of the Bronx Bombers.

Beyond the fact that they’re downgrading to a literal spring training stadium, though, this temporary home poses another problem for the Rays, who play an outdoor summer sport in Central Florida: Steinbrenner Field isn’t a domed structure. Without a roof, they’ll be subject to the elements of nature all season.

Average Hourly Temperature in Tampa (by Month)

Probability of Precipitation in Tampa (by Month)

Note: All weather data courtesy of WeatherSpark.com

As the year progresses deeper into the summer months, the chances of unbearable heat or baseball-delaying rain storms increase in Tampa. As such, the league is making numerous efforts to move the team’s home games to different parts of the MLB calendar.

So, to recap, the Twins are “trading” the right to host the Rays on Memorial Day (Monday, May 26) and the ensuing two games of the series, but in return, they get to be home for July 4. That series will start on a Friday and conclude on Sunday, giving the team the entire holiday weekend to celebrate. In addition, the team will remain in Minnesota for Memorial Day Weekend, as they’ll be hosting the Kansas City Royals for a four-game series from May 23-26.

The official team calendar has already been updated to reflect this change. This is all a bizarre set of events, but the damage caused by Hurricane Milton made it necessary. The rest of the Twins’ 2025 schedule should be otherwise unaffected by any logistical hurdles. They win pretty big in this trade, even if the hope is more that it will benefit all involved. 

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[Jocko87]

Does this trade go on Falveys business or baseball ledger?

Don't be forgetting this in future trade retrospectives!

[theBOMisthebomb]

"...the team will remain in Minnesota for Memorial Day Weekend, as they’ll be hosting the Kansas City Royals for a four-game series from May 23-26."

This is wrong, the Twins play the Rays on May 26 and the Royals move on to play the Reds on May 26.

I don't like the change as I already had Twins tickets to Target Field on Memorial Day holiday (May 26) and was looking forward to spending the holiday at Target Field. I'm out of town 4th of July.

I know it's not all about me. 

[Parfigliano]

Glad we knocked Tropicana of the stadium list last year.

[tony&rodney]

Yes, it gets hot in Florida in the summer but it isn't that bad. The rain is usually all done by around 7 pm and the evenings are quite lovely with a breeze. I lived in the Tampa Bay (Clearwater) area in the 80s and 90s and played a ton of games in the heat. It is far better than playing in cold weather. 

[Doctor Wu]

This will go down as one of those rare win-win trades! Hopefully, it doesn't end up being the only deal the Twins make all winter. 

[Original_JB]

You know, the more I think about this, the more I dislike it; not exactly sure why, though I think it is due to the 'set up the schedule so that northern (cold climate) teams play early March/April games in traditionally warm climates to improve the chances of nice weather' idea, that has been repeatedly hammered down for all kinds of reasons over the years. So, how (and why) is this any different? Or is the 'purist' view that baseball should be played "outdoors" going by the wayside? People complained about the 'dome, and yet here we have brand new "indoors on purpose" stadiums being built in warm weather cities. Don't get me wrong, when I was a STH, I loved having the dome on those drizzly, 38 deg days in March, or those 80+ deg days with dewpoints in the 70s in August. I don't know, I don't like setting the precedent this way. Depending on the when/if they actually move forward with a new ballpark or relocation, this could go on for a couple seasons. Don't forget, the A's are due to put down some earnest money here shortly for the Vegas park that may or may not happen. Might have two teams dancing around schedule swapping.