Tampa Bay gets the small-market stadium win Oakland A’s fans dreamt about

For years, the A’s and Tampa Bay Rays franchises were kindred spirits, doing more with less better than anyone else in baseball.

The Rays are once again defying the odds and back in the wild-card hunt after a mid-season slump. The A’s won’t make the postseason, but have been one of the hottest and most entertaining teams in the majors since July 1.

But there is something different about the Rays heading into their final visit to Oakland: They have a new stadium on the way that will keep them in the only home they have ever known.

The A’s, unless you missed it, are moving to Sacramento after this season and, presumably then to Las Vegas because a stadium agreement could not be reached in Oakland. The A’s, according to reports, are closing in on finalizing their stadium deal on The Strip, but that might still be another four months away.

Both teams have been plagued by stadium issues over the years, and for much of the past decade the Rays seemed like the most likely team in the majors to be relocated. A bid for a waterfront ballpark in St. Petersburg was struck down. A plan was even floated for the franchise to split home games between Florida and Montreal.

Both fan bases have seen their team’s best players traded off to keep down payroll for years. But Rays fans got their golden ticket last month. The team is staying put after city and county officials approved funding for a $1.3 billion stadium on the same site as Tropicana Field.

It was the kind of announcement – and resolution – A’s fans dreamed would happen in Oakland.

“Any other vote today, other than the outcome we had, would have said that this community made a mistake 30 years ago. And I don’t believe that for a second,” Pinellas County commissioner Brian Scott told reporters last month. “The Rays are part of the fabric and culture, not only in St. Pete, but also the Tampa Bay region.

“I think we’re going to look back in 20, 25, 30 years from now and say this was an incredible thing.”

The Rays’ new stadium is scheduled to open in 2028, the same season the A’s hope to begin play at their proposed new home on the Las Vegas Strip.

No matter what happens by then, it’ll be a new world for a pair of franchises that have defied the odds for more than a decade.

The A’s and Rays have each reached the postseason six times over the past 12 seasons. Only the Dodgers and Yankees have reached the postseason more often.

There have been just three postseasons since 2011 that haven’t included at least the A’s or the Rays. Three times they both reached the playoffs in the same season, including for the epic 2019 A.L. wild-card game at the Coliseum that drew 54,005 fans – a wild-card game record that will never be broken.

The Rays’ final visit to the Coliseum likely won’t draw that many fans for the entire four-game series that begins Monday night, but both teams are playing some of their best baseball of the season.

The A’s are 23-15 since July 1 and are coming off an emotional Bay Bridge Series finale against the Giants. Oakland split the series that drew more than 70,000 fans for the two games.

After this homestand, which includes the Milwaukee Brewers through the weekend, the A’s have just two more homestands remaining before they move to Sacramento.

The Rays swept the previously red-hot Arizona Diamondbacks, including two walk-off wins over the weekend. It was their first series sweep since May.

Tampa is 6 1/2 games out of the final AL wild-card spot.