Rain in Florida leads Tigers to cancel their first spring home game since 2016; 4 others canceled

By Canadian Press on February 24, 2025.

A rainy Monday in Florida led the Detroit Tigers to cancel their first home spring training game since 2016, followed by the cancellation of four other Grapefruit League games.

There were seven spring training games scheduled in Florida on Monday. The only game played as originally planned was in Jupiter, where St. Louis won 7-4 at home against the New York Mets.

A New York Yankees squad traveled to Fort Myers for a game against Boston that was preemptively altered in hopes of playing later in the afternoon.

Because of the forecast for rain that mostly proved accurate, there were two schedule changes announced Sunday. The first pitch for the Yankees-Red Sox game and Atlanta’s game against Baltimore in Sarasota were both pushed back three hours to 4:05 p.m. EST.

The Orioles ended up announcing the cancellation of their game against Atlanta on Monday around 1:05 p.m., which had been the game’s original start time.

Detroit was supposed to play Toronto in Lakeland, Florida, but the game was called off several hours before the scheduled first pitch at 1:05 p.m. EST.

Other games canceled Monday because of inclement weather were Miami and Houston in West Palm Beach; Pittsburgh against Philadelphia in Clearwater; and Minnesota against Tampa Bay in Port Charlotte.

None of the canceled games will be made up.

Weather issues during spring training are a reminder to the Tampa Bay Rays of what they may have to deal with when playing their regular-season home games outside this year.

The Rays will play their games this season at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field, the spring training base of the Yankees. Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field on Oct. 9, leaving the Rays’ usual home stadium unusable for at least 2025.

Steinbrenner Field, which has about 11,000 seats, is exposed to weather, unlike the Trop. Florida summers are known for thunderstorms in the afternoon and early evening, and that even happens sometimes during spring training.

Major League Baseball in November switched a pair of series involving the Rays in the first two months of the season in an attempt to avoid summer rain at their temporary home.

Tampa Bay is scheduled to play 19 of its first 22 games at home and 37 of 54 through May 28, then 64 of its last 108 games on the road. The Rays are home for eight games each in July and August, when weeknight games will start later in an effort to avoid potential weather issues.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The Associated Press

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