TORONTO — Tropicana Field was all fun for a 10-year-old Bo Bichette.
Sitting in the stands for a 2008 American League Championship Series game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, Bichette felt the full crowd. As cownose stingrays swam in the right field tank, cowbells rang out each time Carl Crawford or Evan Longoria reached base. But when Bichette first played at the Trop during his rookie season, 11 years later, it wasn’t the same.
“The vibe was different,” Bichette said. “Obviously there wasn’t a lot of fans, it was a little darker in there. It just didn’t feel much like a ballpark.”
For the Toronto Blue Jays, the different vibe of Tropicana Field spilled over onto the scoreboard. Since Bichette’s 2019 debut, the Blue Jays are 18-32 when visiting the Rays. Toronto’s franchise is 92-144 all-time at Tropicana Field, a winning percentage of just .390.
The Jays won’t have a shot to improve that record this season — and they’re not exactly heartbroken about it. Instead of another date at what’s been a house of horrors, the Blue Jays open a three-game set against the Rays on Friday across the bay at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Because Hurricane Milton tore the fiberglass roof membrane off Tropicana Field last October, the Rays are playing all home games at the New York Yankees’ spring training facility this year. With a season away from the stadium, and Tropicana’s long-term future uncertain, Blue Jays players reflected on what made the ballpark unique — and difficult.
“I don’t even know if there’s a word to describe it,” Daulton Varsho said. “It’s just … different.”
The cream-coloured roof tormented outfielders like Varsho. There are specific ground rules governing balls hit into catwalks below the ceiling, but the hardest part of fielding at the Trop is the baseball-toned facing. For Varsho, it’s like every fly ball is hit directly into the sun.
“I just remember a couple balls that went up into the ceiling,” Varsho said. “And you’re like ‘where did it go?’ And then you’re just running to a spot and hoping it comes out.”
The colour of the ceiling at Tropicana Field, pictured in 2023, frequently caused confusion on the field below. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
Chris Bassitt, who has made five career appearances at Tropicana, called it “playing in a tent.” He’s lost fly balls in the roof and scaffolding, but Bassitt’s real struggle with the Trop is the mound. Major League Baseball mounds are regularly measured and required to be a uniform height, exactly 10 inches tall, but Bassitt claims Tropicana Field’s pitching bump feels much taller. Other pitchers around the league have made similar observations.
If you know how to use it, Bassitt said, the higher mound enhances the spin on pitches. While Bassitt’s release point at Tropicana Field wasn’t higher than normal in 2024, two of the righty’s five highest spin pitches came at Tampa Bay.
Closer Jeff Hoffman agreed the Trop’s mound is “massive.” It’s his favorite pitching bump in baseball, he said, because it increases the induced vertical break on his four-seam fastball.
But it’s the consequences of that raised rubber Bassitt worries about, as he feels it temporarily messes up his pitching mechanics. Over the last three seasons, Bassitt has a 6.19 ERA in starts immediately after pitching in Tropicana Field. Kevin Gausman and José Berríos also have post-Trop ERAs over 5.00.
“The way that you’re pitching, the way you’re landing, where your body’s reacting,” Bassitt said, “is completely different than I would say normal. So, yeah, I think you definitely had a lot of ‘all right, I gotta figure out my mechanics again’ and make sure they’re lined up for a normal mound, so to speak.”
Tropicana Field is hard on the Blue Jays’ bats, too. During the previous five years, Toronto hit just .234 at Tampa Bay, with a .385 slugging percentage. At every other park, those marks were .256 and .423.
Multiple Toronto batters cited Tampa Bay’s consistently great pitching for those offensive struggles, but Bichette and Varsho also mentioned the ballpark’s dark lighting as another offensive roadblock. Per Baseball Savant’s park factors, pitchers at Tropicana have produced above-average strikeouts each of the last 18 years.
“You just didn’t see it as well,” Varsho said. “From a hitter’s perspective.”
Maybe Steinbrenner Field will be kinder, though there are aspects of Tropicana Field the Blue Jays will miss. Varsho praised the new turf installed before the 2024 season. Bichette enjoys playing at the venue, he said, as it’s close to home. Ernie Clement, who leads active Toronto hitters with a .281 average at the Trop, enjoys the stadium’s “relaxing vibe.” Clement also noted it was one of the best dirt infields in baseball — never a bad hop.
But the Blue Jays’ record there doesn’t lie: Tropicana Field isn’t their venue.
“I’m not too sad that it’s gone,” Bassitt said.
(Top photo of Tropicana Field on March, 28, 2024: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
