Last updated: November 2, 2026

The Tampa Rays schedule is easy to misread, and the mistakes are predictable. People see "Tampa" and head downtown. They see a game on the grid and assume the Rays sell the ticket. They grab the wrong year or the wrong spring or regular-season list. I sat down with the schedule on Sunday, October 4, 2026, which turned out to be a good day to learn it, because the schedule has a gap on exactly that date. This guide is about how the schedule is put together and how to read it, not about a night at the park.

The venue column is the trick

The team on the schedule is the Tampa Bay Rays, not a club named Tampa. The team calls its ballpark Tropicana Field, home of the Rays, at 1 Tropicana Drive, St. Petersburg, FL 33705. MLB's ballpark page for the club lists the same home venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.

So home games are in St. Petersburg. If the word Tampa sends you toward downtown Tampa, you are reading the nickname and skipping the venue column, and that column is the whole trick. If you are coming from the Tampa side, the Tampa to St. Petersburg guide covers the trip, and the Tropicana Field page covers the building. For team background, see the Tampa Bay Rays overview.

How to read a single game

The rule I use is simple. The venue is the park, and the home team is whoever is listed after the at-sign.

  • If the Rays are the home team, the game is at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, and the time the club gives is Eastern.
  • If the Rays are the away team, the venue is the other club's park, and the ticket warning below applies.

The team's public schedule separates home and away from the full-season view and notes that all times are Eastern unless otherwise noted, subject to change.

Away games: buy from the home club

This is the warning I wish more people read. If you have picked an away game, tickets are bought from the home club for that date. A game on the Rays schedule is not always a Rays ticket. Road games belong to whoever is hosting. Tickets follow the venue: home means St. Petersburg and the Trop, and away means you are buying from the other club. The Rays' own ticket page is the place for home dates.

Where to get the full schedule

I used MLB's full-season schedule for this club, because the team's own version does not show the whole year at once. The team also offers a downloadable schedule for CSV, home and away files, at the Rays downloadable schedule, with the same caveat on the schedule itself: dates, times and opponents can change. The main grid lives at the MLB Rays schedule page.

Reading the 2026 regular season without double-counting

The 2026 regular season on MLB's full-season view has 164 rows and 162 dates. That is not 164 games played, and the status column explains why.

  • 162 rows are final.
  • Two rows are still marked postponed, both for rain: May 9, 2026, Rays at Boston, and May 23, 2026, Rays at the Yankees.
  • Both were made up as split doubleheaders, which is why a single date can hold two games. July 17 at Fenway is the Boston makeup. September 22 at Yankee Stadium is the Yankees makeup, and MLB labels that first game "Makeup of 5/23 PPD."

If you count every line, you double-count two rainouts that are still sitting there after they were played. The postponed rows did not vanish from the schedule, which is exactly how a schedule snapshot misleads.

The final tally was 81 home games and 81 road games, and every one of the 81 home games was at Tropicana Field. The road games were at other parks.

MLB had the 2026 regular season opening March 26, Rays at the St. Louis Cardinals, at Busch Stadium. The last regular-season date was September 27, Rays at the Philadelphia Phillies, at Citizens Bank Park. There was no regular-season home game after that, so October baseball on this schedule is postseason only.

Spring training is a separate schedule

Spring training is its own schedule, and the team keeps it separate from the regular season. Anyone searching for the Tampa Rays baseball schedule in February or March needs this section.

  • The 2026 spring schedule ran from February 21 through March 24 and had 30 games.
  • The 13 home spring games I counted were at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, not at Tropicana Field.
  • The team thanked fans for joining them in Port Charlotte that spring and said they would be back the next spring.

So a "home" game in February is not a drive to St. Petersburg, and it is not a drive to Tampa either. Same team name, different park, different city. The spring box office at Charlotte Sports Park sells tickets only for the spring games played there, which is another way to end up with the wrong ticket if you mix up the two schedules.

2027 is already posted

The 2027 regular-season schedule was released July 16, 2026, per the team's MLB press release. It opens March 25–27, 2027, against the Orioles at Tropicana Field. Game times were to be announced later, and the schedule is subject to change.

The 2027 spring training schedule is also out. In October it is easy to grab the schedule a year forward and think you are still looking at the current month. Check the year in the header before you plan anything.

The October 2026 stretch: ALDS against the Yankees

On the day I looked, the current stretch was the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees. MLB listed five games, and none of them was October 4. That Sunday was an off day.

| Game | Date | Matchup | Venue | Status when checked | First pitch (Eastern) | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Sat, Oct 3 | Yankees at Rays | Tropicana Field | Final | 6:30 p.m. | | 2 | Mon, Oct 5 | Yankees at Rays | Tropicana Field | Scheduled | 8:00 p.m. | | 3 | Wed, Oct 7 | Rays at Yankees | Yankee Stadium | Scheduled | 8:00 p.m. | | 4 | Thu, Oct 8 | Rays at Yankees | Yankee Stadium | Scheduled | 8:00 p.m. | | 5 | Sat, Oct 10 | Yankees at Rays | Tropicana Field | Scheduled | 8:00 p.m. |

Home games in this series are at the Trop. Road games are in the Bronx. There is no Tampa venue in the series.

Why a five-game list does not mean five games

A five-game list can look like all five will be played. MLB says the Division Series is a best-of-five in a 2-2-1 format, with home-field advantage to the higher seed. The Rays schedule matches the home side of that shape: Games 1, 2 and 5 at their park, Games 3 and 4 at the other park.

Because it is a best-of-five, a series can end before the last date. The schedule does not mark Games 4 and 5 as optional. It marks them scheduled. If I were buying for October 8 or October 10, I would treat those games as listed, not promised.

MLB's postseason format explains why the series exists. There are twelve teams, six per league. The top two seeds get a bye into the Division Series. The Wild Card round is a best-of-three, all at the higher seed's park, and teams are not reseeded after that. I did not look at standings for this note, so I am not assigning the Rays a seed.

Is there a Rays game today?

On October 4, 2026, no. The question "is there a Tampa Rays game today" is the one that gets you in the car, so check the dates before you go. The club's postseason ticket offer listed three home dates for the ALDS, October 3, October 5 and October 10, and October 4 was not one of them. MLB's schedule from late September through mid-October showed the same dates and nothing on the 4th. It was an off day in the middle of a series.

On that off day, here is what the schedule showed:

  • Game 1 had been played the night before at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and was final, Rays 1, Yankees 0.
  • The next home game was Monday, October 5, at 8:00 p.m., Game 2, Yankees at Tropicana Field. Tickets were still on sale when I looked. Parking for that game was already sold out.
  • Postseason parking at Tropicana Field is prepaid only, not drive-up. Once the Rays lots are gone, you are in downtown St. Petersburg overflow lots the club does not control.

Naming differences on the later dates

The team labels October 10 at 8:00 p.m. as ALDS Home Game 3, while MLB calls it Game 5, the if-necessary game. Both can be true: it is the third game in St. Petersburg and the fifth game of the series. Read the date before you buy anything that only says "game 3."

The team also offered American League Championship Series home dates of October 12, October 13, October 19 and October 20, with tickets and parking on offer but no first-pitch time and no opponent listed. World Series tickets were on offer with no dates at all. I am not filling those in.

Watch parties on road nights

The team advertised official Rays watch parties at Tropicana Field's Hall of Fame Bar & Grill for the road games. Game 3 was Wednesday, October 7, at 8 p.m., with doors at 7 p.m. Game 4, if necessary, was Thursday, October 8, at 8 p.m., with doors at 7 p.m. These are events at the ballpark on nights the team is in New York. They are not the game.

Tickets and gate basics for a home date

Because most people reading a schedule are really planning to attend, here is what the team's fan guide says for home games at Tropicana Field.

  • Mobile only. All tickets and parking passes are mobile only, through the MLB Ballpark app.
  • Help at the gates. Box office staff are at Gates 1 and 4 on game days for mobile-ticket help, starting 90 minutes before first pitch.
  • Gate times. Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch for Monday through Friday home games, and two hours before on Opening Day and on Saturday and Sunday home games. The postseason offer did not repeat a gate time, so confirm that with the team.
  • Kids. Once a child reaches their second birthday, they need a game ticket.
  • Bags. One clear single-compartment bag, no larger than 12 by 12 by 6 inches, and/or one non-clear fanny pack or clutch no larger than 5 by 7. Backpacks stay out.
  • Food and drink. Outside food and drink are out, except one sealed water bottle of 20 ounces or less per ticketed fan. No metal, ceramic or glass bottles.
  • Strollers. Allowed if they fit under the seat. Otherwise they are checked at the First or Third Base Food Hall under the escalator.
  • Payments. The building is cash-free. There is a Republic Bank ATM in the Republic Bank Draft Room, plus reverse ATMs across from the Gate 3 guest services desk and in the 3rd Base Food Hall.
  • Alcohol. None brought in or taken out, 21 with ID, two per person per purchase, and sales stop in the middle of the 8th.
  • Smoking. Banned on the property, inside and outside.

Parking and getting there

Prepaid parking, while it lasts, is in Lots 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7. ADA spots are in Lots 1 and 7, and charging is in Lots 1, 5 and 7, first come. Tailgating is allowed once the lots are open, with no big tents, open flames, charcoal or large commercial grills.

The guide is not consistent on a few points, so confirm these with the team on the day you go:

  • Rideshare. The fan guide says Gate 1 guests go to Lot 8, and ADA guests plus Gates 4 and 5 use Trop Drive on 16th Street. The parking instructions say drop off at Gate 4.
  • The baseball shuttle. One line says it operates during the 2026 season, and another line says 2024.
  • Street name. The team gives the address as both 1 Tropicana Dr and 1 Tropicana Field Drive. Both are St. Petersburg, FL 33705, and the venue is Tropicana Field either way.

The SunRunner is described as every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and every 30 minutes from 8 p.m. to midnight. The Tampa to St. Petersburg guide helps with the drive from the Tampa side.

What is not on the Rays schedule

These questions sit right next to this one, but none of them belongs to the Rays schedule:

  • Buccaneers dates are at Raymond James Stadium, 4201 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. On Sunday, October 4 the Packers were at the Buccaneers at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. That is football, in Tampa, in a different building from the Trop.
  • Lightning nights, concerts and shows each have their own venue and their own ticket source.
  • Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa is at 5223 Orient Road. It is a hotel, dining and concert destination, not a Rays ticket.

For the broader calendar, the Tampa events hub collects what is happening around the city.

A note on the old Tampa stadium information

Some older team information still refers to seeing a Rays game at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The team's story about its return says Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field in October 2024, after Hurricane Helene, and that the club spent a season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa before coming back. For 2026, home games were at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The team also mentions a proposed plan in Tampa, but I did not find a new building to send anyone to. If an old page puts a game in Tampa, check the date on it.

FAQ

Do the Rays play in Tampa?

The team is the Tampa Bay Rays, but home games are at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The 2026 schedule had 81 home games, all at that venue.

Where do I buy tickets for a Rays away game?

From the home club for that date. The Rays do not sell tickets for road games.

Is spring training at Tropicana Field?

No. The 2026 home spring games I counted, 13 of them, were at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte. Spring training is a separate schedule from the regular season.

When does the 2027 Rays season start?

The 2027 regular season opens March 25–27, 2027, against the Orioles at Tropicana Field. Game times were still to be announced, and the schedule is subject to change.

What time zone are the game times in?

Eastern, unless otherwise noted on MLB's schedule.