As Rays are swept off the field, their empty seats hint at a much larger problem

Editor’s Note: This story is included in The Athletic’s Best of 2023. View the full list.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Less than three weeks before the Tampa Bay Rays were swept from the playoffs in front of the smallest postseason crowds in the past century, owner Stu Sternberg stood at field level on a celebratory day at Tropicana Field and made a bold proclamation.

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“Major League Baseball is here to stay,” he said. “Right here.”

This was supposed to be a time of celebration. The Rays had spent years shopping around for a new home in Tampa, seen by many as an ideal solution that would bring the ballpark and club closer to the largest population base in the area. But they never secured the financing so they looked elsewhere. Nashville was mentioned. Last year, MLB even rejected a Rays plan to play half of their home games in Montreal.

When push came to shove, the franchise stayed in St. Pete. And now, as Sternberg made this announcement of a $1.2 billion stadium that would be built just across the parking lots from the Trop, the team’s on-field product was as good as ever. Even with a small budget, the big-brain Rays were again chasing down the Orioles for first place, shooting for the milestone of 100 wins.

The Rays were at their apex, which means there was only one way to go from there.

Two and a half weeks later, the Rays were demolished by the Rangers in the AL Wild Card Series, losing 4-0 and 7-1 in a two-game sweep. Typically clean and punishing, the 99-win Rays committed four errors in Game 1. They made another error and stranded six runners in Game 2.

“We didn’t play a good, clean baseball game by any stretch,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We didn’t pitch, hit or defend.”

Worse than that, their quixotic effort to turn St. Petersburg into a baseball town was exposed on national television as cameras panned over the half-empty stadium.

When the Rays announced an attendance of 19,704 for Game 1, the conclusion was startling: It was the lowest attendance for a playoff game (excluding the 2020 COVID season) since Game 7 of the 1919 World Series, when Eddie Cicotte and the Black Sox were on their way to infamy.

“The (fans) that were there made it pretty loud,” shortstop Taylor Walls said after Tuesday’s game. “It’s always nice when the seats are full, but at the same time, I feel like the people that did come showed up and showed out.”

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Attendance-wise, Wednesday’s contest wasn’t much better with an announced crowd of 20,198. As the game took a familiar downward turn, ABC/ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough said, “Some boos coming down from the group — I’m not sure we can call it a crowd.”

Up in the stands of the odd dome they call The Trop, diehard Rays fans bristled at the emptiness around them.

In section 127, Jim Mickelson, a resident of St. Petersburg for the past 42 years, was clad in an Evan Longoria jersey. He waved his hand from left to right to highlight a line of empty seats.

“We had a better turnout on Opening Day, and we were just getting started,” Mickelson said. “Opening Day, everybody is tied. You’re 0-0. Now you’re in the playoffs one step closer to the World Series. And still, you look to your right, you look to your left, and it shouldn’t be (like this.)

“I don’t get it,” he continued. “It’s not like people do not have disposable income and cannot come to the games. I watched a game last night in Philadelphia. It’s packed. Minnesota, they haven’t won a playoff game in 18 years. Packed. Milwaukee, packed. I don’t know.”

Cameron Cordoves, a 24-year-old Rays fan who lives north of Tampa, said he has been to about 10 games this year. He made the drive of more than an hour across the Howard Frankland Bridge. He bought tickets to Games 1 and 2 and was ready to buy a ticket to Game 3 had the Rays made it that far.

Instead, he and a friend sat in Section 123, largely by themselves as the National Anthem played.

“Yesterday was bad,” Cordoves said. “It was wild. It was like a church in here. It was not good.”

High up above home plate, Tampa resident Sam Clark sat in the 300-level with no one in his vicinity. He stood as the Rays batted in the bottom of the first inning and waved the yellow rally towel the team handed out to fans before the game.

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“It’s embarrassing,” he said. “We’re on national television.”

Identifying the source of the Rays’ attendance woes, though, leads to a complicated diagnosis.

Make no mistake, there are people who love this team and take pride in the quirks of their much-maligned stadium.

“I have no problem with Tropicana,” said Linda Roberts, a St. Petersburg native attending the game with her mother. “I love Tropicana Field.”

Yet even when the Rays are winning — as they have plenty over the past five years — attendance has lacked. The Rays ranked 27th in average attendance this season, higher than only the Royals, Marlins and A’s. Their average of 17,781 was actually the organization’s highest for a non-COVID season since 2014.

Given that, some fans in attendance Wednesday pointed to the 3:08 p.m. ET start time as the culprit for the barren seats. The playoff opener had a lower attendance than 31 regular-season Rays games this year.

“It’s tough giving a team with known attendance issues such a tough time slot,” Cordoves said. “I know a lot of people are at work. I know about 10 people that would have made it to the game if the game was at 6 o’clock instead of 3.”

Tropicana Field’s location, too, could be a deterrent. Tampa is more populous (an estimated 387,050 people) than its sister city of St. Petersburg (258,201). Traffic throughout the area and across the Howard Frankland Bridge is notoriously bad. The area around Tropicana Field is relatively undeveloped.

“I know the Tampa people should be over here because we go to Tampa to see the Lightning and the Bucs,” Mickelson said. “I do that as well. I can’t say, ‘Well, there’s a logistics problem.’ I don’t believe in that. I’ve been to New York, I’ve been to Chicago games, the Cubs. Try parking over there. You got to plan half a day just to see the game.”

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In the 300 level, 20-something fans Tyler Adler and Brennan Cross stood in line for beer. They had both taken paid time off to make this game and seemed glad to be watching postseason baseball.

Still, they are among the people who wonder whether a new ballpark would be more successful if it were located in Tampa rather than St. Petersburg.

“I wished they knocked down the Fairgrounds and put it over there,” Adler said.

“Yeah,” Cross said, “it would be nice if it were on the other side. But it’ll be cool. We’ll still go.”

Debate aside, the Rays’ planned new ballpark is set to be constructed on the same 86-acre tract of land where Tropicana Field now sits. Plans are still pending civic approval, but they call for the old ballpark to be demolished and the new stadium to be ready for Opening Day in 2028.

The planning for the new venue involves building a full-fledged entertainment district around the stadium. It would feature more than 8 million square feet of space intended for mixed development. Plans include more than 6,000 apartments and condos, office space, retail space and a Black history museum.

Such multi-purpose developments have become trendy in recent years. The Battery in Atlanta sets a high bar. Other developments such as Texas Live! in Arlington reinforce the idea that having more than just a stadium — bars, restaurants, hotels, music and more — will help draw fans to games.

“I think it will help a lot, personally, because I’ve seen how it’s worked for Atlanta,” Cordoves said. “The Battery in Atlanta is amazing, and it’s far out from downtown Atlanta. … This area, it’s kind of the ballpark and that’s it. But what they’re planning on doing with apartments and concert halls, stuff like that, anything to build up around it will give people a lot more incentive to come out. I think attendance will go up.”

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Above home plate with a birds-eye view of the turfed field, Clark cheered his team on when Wednesday’s game was still a scoreless tie.

“We’ve got the stadium,” Clark said. “Now we need the people.”

For the fans who did show up, they could take solace in one thing: At least the Rays aren’t leaving the area entirely.

“I think it would benefit being on the other side of the bay where more of the population is. One-hundred percent,” Cordoves said. “But I want my team to stay in Tampa (Bay) rather than move. … If that was the only option, I’m OK with that.”

Even on the field, the Rays may be stuck in Sisyphean circumstances.

They are hailed as one of baseball’s most intelligent organizations. Other clubs fear making trades with them. They are adept at scouting and developing talent.

But for all their success, they have still never won a World Series in their short 25-year existence. The Rays won the AL pennant in the truncated 2020 season but were bounced in the ALDS the next year. They lost in the Wild Card round each of the past two seasons, scoring only two runs over four postseason games. This year’s Rays started 27-7, the best stretch to begin a season since the 1984 Tigers. But injuries riddled their pitching staff and star shortstop Wander Franco was placed on administrative leave after allegations of a relationship with an underage girl.

So despite all the Rays’ accomplishments, they remain stuck with a frustrating label: Overachievers.

“I don’t know if I have a good answer right now,” Cash, a two-time American League manager of the year, said after Wednesday’s loss. “We’re going to continue to work hard. I don’t know if it’s a fluke or not. I think the guys that we had out there were able to do better than we did today. We’d like to continue playing, but I can’t put my finger on one specific thing, why we’ve been eliminated pretty quickly.”

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As Cordoves, the 24-year-old Rays fan, praised the success of The Battery in Atlanta and expressed hope for the future of baseball in St. Petersburg, he raised another interesting point. If people aren’t coming to see the Rays now, what will happen one day when they are not in the postseason?

“I don’t know what it would be like if the Rays start losing again,” Cordoves said. “People don’t want to make the drive out here.”

Wednesday morning, an Uber driver turned right onto 16th Street, and Tropicana Field came into view.

The new ballpark popped into mind.

“They’re putting it in the same spot?” the driver said. “The same spot. That’s crazy.”

(Top photo from the 3rd inning of Game 2: AP Photo / John Raoux)