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Sep 28, 2023, 08:00 AM ET

ON SEPT. 2, on one of those chilly Chicago evenings when it’s obvious that autumn is near, Miguel Cabrera played the best game he’s had in almost two years. In the top of the first inning, he doubled and passed George Brett for 17th on the all-time hit list. Cabrera then singled in the fourth, sixth and eighth inning. The last one was a chopper up the middle. The ball bounced off home plate, then over the pitcher’s mound toward White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa. Cabrera jogged, certain he’d be out; his game was never about running out infield hits.

Even as a kid, Cabrera wasn’t fast. When he was 17, barely learning English and playing for the Florida Complex League Marlins, a scouting report from his then-manager Kevin Boles noted the lone deficiency in Cabrera’s game was foot speed. “Has a chance to be a great player,” Boles wrote in his scouting report. “May develop into a huge offensive force.”

As Cabrera jogged on this September evening, 23 years later, the ball went past Sosa and the infield. Cabrera picked up his pace and made it safe to first base. Cabrera stood there, and the crowd — both Tigers and White Sox fans — clapped and cheered. One fan waved a Venezuelan flag. Another held a sign that read, “Bye #24 Miggy, thanks 4 the memories!!!”

Cabrera, an all-timer now relegated to a part-time role, mumbled something to himself, standing there on first base, breathing out his mouth in this otherwise forgettable late-season game between two teams with no playoff aspirations. Maybe it was a thank you. Or perhaps a few reaffirming words after thinking he’d finally found his rhythm at the tail end of his 21st and final season. Finding that or any semblance of his old self had been a constant search.

He then looked to the visitor’s dugout at Guaranteed Rate Field and walked off first, replaced by a pinch runner. And just like that, the moment was over. For the 49th time in his career he got four hits in a game, and it might be his last real moment of greatness on a baseball field.

“I’m telling you, Cabrera was one of those guys,” Boles said of the future Hall of Famer he once managed. “It didn’t matter who worked with him, nobody could screw this one up. It didn’t matter if anybody ever talked to him, he was going to be a star. That’s just how special he was.”

After that game, Cabrera wouldn’t play for another three days. Whatever rhythm he might have found that night in Chicago got lost while he sat and watched the Tigers play without him. But for that night, if only for that one night, his swing was there. Except for a few extra pounds and creases on his face, he looked like the younger version of himself.

A flashback of who he once was, in a season he hoped would go much different.

“IT WAS 1998” Louie Eljaua said of the first time he met Cabrera.

Back then, Eljaua was the Coordinator of Latin American Scouting for the Florida Marlins (he’s now the VP of International Scouting for the Chicago Cubs). For months, his scouts in Venezuela had told him there was a kid he had to see, a shortstop who looked like a seasoned pro when he swung the bat. He came from a baseball-playing family: His mother and three aunts played softball; an uncle, José Torres, played in Liga Paralela de Béisbol — a developmental professional league — and in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system.

Eljaua took a plane from Miami to Caracas, Venezuela, then drove two hours southwest to the Maracay neighborhood of La Pedrera. On a clear and sunny afternoon, Eljaua stood on an unkept, dirt baseball field full of rocks. He’d flown across the Caribbean Sea to see a 15-year-old everyone called Miguelito, and the kid still wasn’t at the field.

“He’s running a little late,” Gregoria, Miguelito’s mom, told him. The Cabreras lived next to the baseball field. So close that, when Miguelito was younger, he’d sneak away to that dusty baseball field instead of doing his chores.

“He just got off from school,” Gregoria continued. “He had an exam to take.”

“No problem,” Eljaua answered.

Some 15 minutes later, a tall and slender boy jumped over a 6-foot-high concrete fence in the outfield.

“Is that him?” Eljaua asked Miguel Garcia, one of his Venezuelan scouts.

“Yes,” Garcia answered.

Eljaua was impressed with how easily Miguelito jumped the wall. From that distance, he also looked like a grown man: He was 6-foot-1, with a big head, something the neighborhood kids teased him about, joking it was the size of a train. It wasn’t until Miguelito walked closer that Eljaua saw how truly young he was.

“If you looked at his face, he could have been nine or 10 years old,” Eljaua remembered.

Miguelito shook hands with everyone, making eye contact while apologizing for running late. Then he started swinging his bat. He took about 10 or 12 or 15 swings before Eljaua asked him how he felt.

“Hey, you want to take a break?”

“No,” Miguelito answered. “I’m just getting warmed up.”

“You are?” Eljaua asked. “Okay.”

Miguelito swung some more, first hitting hard line drives, peppering them all over the field, then pulling the ball. “Okay, I’m loose now,” Miguelito said. That’s when he started hitting balls out of the field, above surrounding houses and their clotheslines and mango trees.

“Holy s—,” Eljaua thought to himself. “I think I found him.”

“Him” was the kind of player scouts dream about, who can change a franchise, who make scouts question themselves, wondering if what they’re seeing is real. In the case of Miguelito, Eljaua immediately knew that even if he never hit a home run, he would turn out to be a great hitter. Of course, Miguelito also did have power. And that day when Eljaua first saw him, Cabrera swung his bat so well and hit the ball so long, the workout came to a sudden end.

“We had to stop,” Eljaua remembers. “We were running out of balls.”

Convinced he was their player, Eljaua visited Venezuela more often, scheduling trips around games he played. The more they saw him play, the more they wanted him. One year later, shortly after Miguelito turned 16, the Marlins signed him to a $1.8 million contract.

A quarter century later, Eljaua still remembers that day better than all the other scouting trips he’s made during this 30-year career, that day the kid jumped the fence and swung like that.

“Just imagine the same swing he’s had throughout his career,” Eljaua says. “Except, I’m watching it from a 15-year-old.”

ON A MARCH afternoon inside Miami’s LoanDepot Park, a few weeks before his last MLB season begins, Cabrera leans on a bat, almost using it like a cane. His 12-year-old son, Christopher, stands beside him. The Venezuelan flag flies on the jumbotron near center field, and Cabrera and his son watch the Venezuelan national team practice and prepare for the World Baseball Classic.

“This type of event is enjoyed more by sons and family,” Cabrera says.

Cabrera occasionally points and says a few words to Christopher that only the two of them can hear. Christopher also plays baseball, but Cabrera doesn’t talk much about that. He doesn’t want to add to whatever pressure already comes from being the son of one of the greatest Latino baseball players ever. “More than anything he’s my son and I’m his father,” Cabrera says. “Our relationship isn’t built on baseball.”

Since 2006, Cabrera has played in all five World Baseball Classics, the only player to do so. This will be the last time he participates, and his role will be very different. As Omar López, Venezuela’s manager, puts it: “Miguel’s role isn’t what he’s going to do, but what he’s already done.” López has known Cabrera since he was 16, back when he played in Venezuela’s professional league, and was a prodigy in a baseball-obsessed country. Miggy, as everyone calls him now, went on to become the best player his country has ever produced, and so he is on the team as a figurehead and for leadership, to mostly watch and maybe get a few at-bats on a team built around All-Stars Luis Arráez, José Altuve and Ronald Acuña Jr.

After his teammates have taken their swings, he steps in the batting cage. After four or five cuts, Cabrera steps out and returns to watch the team practice, leaning on his bat again.

The following day, in Venezuela’s win over the Dominican Republic, Cabrera doesn’t play. The day after that, against Puerto Rico, Cabrera does play. In his first at-bat, as the fans in the stands bang on drums and blow on horns, he strikes out swinging. In his second at-bat, on the fifth pitch, Cabrera lines a single to center field, his lone hit for the entire tournament.

“Dale, todavia batea ese caballo,” a voice yells from the stand. That horse can still hit.

IN JUNE, THE Tigers go on an 1-11 stretch that extinguishes the small hope that 2023 would end their eight-year postseason drought. Cabrera isn’t playing much, even if, at $32 million, he’s the highest-paid player on the team. Tigers’ manager A.J. Hinch says he’d like to play him more, but the pitching matchup must be right, and it also depends on how Cabrera’s feeling that day.

His right knee has been hurting for years. In 2019, he consulted with four surgeons, including James Andrews. Each one gave Cabrera the same diagnosis: His knee didn’t need surgery since, more than anything, it’s just what happens when the body gets old. Cabrera tried easing the pain by losing weight. He reported to 2020 spring training about 25 pounds lighter, hoping to return to first base after being the designated hitter. And he did, for a bit, until he strained his calf or felt tightness in his back, or his knee felt sore again, then it was back to DH.

“Knee injuries, those are the toughest,” future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols says. If there’s anyone who understands what Cabrera is going through in his last season, it’s Pujols. He first made the majors in 2001, two years before Cabrera did, and retired in 2022. He and Cabrera are two of the three players in MLB history to eclipse 500 home runs, 600 doubles and 3,000 hits; Hank Aaron is the third. “He’s one of the best hitter’s that I have seen,” Pujols says of Cabrera.

Pujols also struggled physically during the end of his career. “As a hitter, when you have any problem with your knee, those are really concerning,” Pujols says. In his case, he put more pressure on his good knee to protect the one that hurt. Then the good knee started to bother him too. During his last season, his body hurt so much he had to get talked out of walking away right before the All-Star break, when he was batting about 80 points below his career average and had just six home runs. In the second half, he raised his average by 50 points and hit 18 home runs. He says he just needed to find his rhythm; he believed he could still play, even at 42.

There’s a thin line between confidence and delusion. Star players often blur the two. Generational talents sometimes can’t tell the difference at all. For someone like Cabrera, acknowledging any slippage is antithetical to how he sees himself, even if he’s hit below .300 for seven straight seasons. Another hot streak is one at bat away. He just needs more swings.

“When I get the opportunity, I’ll be ready,” Cabrera says.

At the 59-game mark, he’s played in 31 of them, batting .202, with no home runs. On those days he doesn’t play, he takes batting practice early, before anyone else.

Hoping the swing is still there.

“IT’S SOMETHING THAT’S been planned,” Cabrera says of his retirement.

He’s sitting in front of his locker in the Tigers’ clubhouse. Here, like out there, he’s impossible to ignore, his laugh and voice and jokes everywhere in the clubhouse. When an attendant comes to take away the boxes of new shoes stacked in front of his locker, Cabrera starts to wrestle him.

His final season hasn’t been easy. Cabrera will play two games, sometimes three, then rest a few. That cycle has created what feels like an unsolvable puzzle: He’s sure that if he had more at bats, he’d find a better rhythm and get more hits; if he was hitting better, he’d get more at-bats.

“It’s been difficult adapting to not playing every day,” Cabrera says.

He doesn’t talk often to the media. He sits there, in front of his locker in the corner of the clubhouse, and looks annoyed. Sometimes, instead of saying anything, he purses his lips, wrinkles his brow and shakes his head. The longest answer he gives explains why he isn’t talking much.

“I don’t like the same questions that reporters always ask,” he says. “Like you, you come and tell me, ‘I want to talk about where you started.’ My career is over 20 years long and I’ve talked about where I started.”

Cabrera also doesn’t want to talk about the political and socioeconomic issues plaguing Venezuela, where his home in Maracay has been especially hard hit. In the heavy silence, the sounds of ping pong being played a few feet away feels louder.

“Miggy, you playing today?” someone asks him about 45 minutes later as he stands on the field, near the Tigers’ dugout in Comerica Park. Cabrera answers with a head shake. He then takes photos and signs a few autographs for some young fans on the field.

“Hey, we have the same shoes,” Cabrera tells one of them; they’re both wearing the black Air Jordan 11’s. After autographs and photographs, Cabrera shakes the young fan’s hand and waves him goodbye. He then walks away, to get ready for a game he won’t play.

THE FOLLOWING DAY, Cabrera returns to the lineup. June 10 is Miggy Milestones Bobblehead Day. During the past few years, the largest crowds at Comerica Park appear whenever Cabrera is nearing a milestone or when there’ll be a celebration for him. This game is no different. This season, Tigers home games have an average attendance of about 20,600, one of the league’s lowest. The attendance for this game is 31,607.

Cabrera hit two doubles and with each one, the numbers in left field — above a sign that says “Miggy Milestones” — changes, from 3,108, to 3,109, to 3,110. To the left of those numbers is 507, his career home runs. That number still hasn’t changed all season. Finally, on June 14, 65 games into the 2023 season, Cabrera hits his first homer. A fastball that lands a few feet back of the first row of section 149 in left field, not far from where the “Miggy Milestone” numbers hang. As he rounds third, he smiles and screams to the Tigers’ dugout.

Every Tiger who hits a home run celebrates by carrying a pair of CCM hockey gloves, a hockey stick and putting on a Detroit Red Wings helmet. Cabrera does the same, and as he struts into the dugout, his teammates — some so young they wore diapers when Cabrera was a rookie — celebrate with him. They pat him on the shoulder and back. They smile. His knee might be hurting, but at that moment, his swing once again feels right.

CABRERA SITS BEHIND a table inside a conference room in Miami’s LoanDepot Park, almost five months since he watched his Venezuelan teammates prepare for the WBC. The morning before, a Thursday in late July, an email said there’d be a press conference the next day, and that it’d be the only time Cabrera would talk with the media. “Only” was written in bold. This is his last press conference in Miami, where he started his career, got called “The Kid,” by former manager Jack McKeon, then got traded during the 2007 winter meetings even though he didn’t want to leave.

Cabrera talks for about 15 minutes, about how special Miami is to him, about winning the World Series here as a rookie in 2003, about how he has two major regrets: He wishes he’d won a WBC for Venezuela and a World Series for Detroit. He says he now sympathizes with part-time players because it’s difficult to not play every day. He’s grateful for the reception he’s gotten during his final season. It’s been so positive it sometimes leaves him confused, because they are cheering for a player who is no longer great.

“I didn’t expect to get applause after striking out,” Cabrera says. “People don’t think I still want to hit, that I still want to compete, that I still want to take the field and win.” He then smiles and even laughs, admitting it feels good to get cheered even when he strikes out.

The following day, in an on-field ceremony, the three mayors of Miami-Dade County, Miami and Doral — where 35% of residents were born in Venezuela — proclaim July 29 as Miguel Cabrera Day. It was part of the Miami’s Venezuelan Heritage Day celebration. Almost 33,000 fans — the highest attendance the Marlins have had since 2017 — clapped and cheered one last time for their countryman.

“It’s something expected,” Patricia Andrade says of Cabrera’s final year, “but that doesn’t keep it from being sad.” She’s from Venezuela but has been in the United States for 36 years. Since January 2016, she’s run a program in Miami, Raíces Venezolanas, that helps recent migrants from her home nation. She’s also a baseball fanatic who was thrilled when the Venezuelan kid came to play for her local team. She bought his jersey and wore it often to Marlins games, where she’d waved a Venezuelan flag and yelled Cabrera’s name. She mourned when he got traded away. And now she celebrates him even though she doesn’t want to see him leave for good.

“It’s a very demanding career and he deserves his rest,” Andrade says of Cabrera. “But that doesn’t keep it from hurting. We’re selfish. Humans are selfish, we don’t want him to leave.”

HERE’S A PARTIAL list of what teams gave Cabrera to honor his career during the last season he played.

In April, during the first full week of the season, the Astros gave Cabrera a black cowboy hat and a bottle from Dusty Baker’s wine label. The next week, the Blue Jays gave him framed photographs of the game, two years before, when he hit his 500th career home run against them.

In May, the Washington Nationals presented Cabrera with a rocking chair, a base signed by their players and a United States flag folded in a triangle. The St. Louis Cardinals gave Cabrera a framed photograph of him crossing home plate after hitting his 400th home run against them.

June is when the Texas Rangers gave Cabrera a horse saddle. The Phillies gave him a piece of the out-of-town scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park. Along with that, a much more personal gift. Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ President of Baseball Operations, gave him a framed photo collage of his family with Cabrera.

“I wanted to give him something from me and my family, because he knew them all,” Dombrowski says. He was Marlins general manager when the team signed him at 16, and later was Detroit’s GM when the Tigers shocked everyone, including themselves, by trading for Cabrera. For a few days until the deal got made, Dombrowski and his team locked themselves in a hotel room, afraid a rival team would find out and disrupt their plan to get Cabrera, who he calls, “the best positional player that I’ve been around.”

In July, the Mariners gave Cabrera a green colored Starbucks apron, a gift basket full of coffee and a $7,500 donation for his Miggy Foundation that helps young athletes and their communities. The next series, the Royals gave him framed photographs of the night, 11 years before, when he won the Triple Crown while playing against them.

In August, the Pirates gave Cabrera a painting of himself standing on the Roberto Clemente Bridge, next to the bridge’s namesake and two other Pirates greats, Honus Wagner and Paul Waner. All of them immortalized in the piece of art, presented to Cabrera as he stood close to Jim Leyland, his former manager in Detroit.

Leyland, now 78, says Barry Bonds — who he managed in Pittsburgh — might be the best player ever, and Cabrera is right there with him. “Two thousand twelve was the greatest individual season I’ve ever seen,” Leyland says of Cabrera’s Triple Crown season, the only one of the past 56 years. He earned the first of two consecutive MVPs that year. Leyland still watches Cabrera play; they remain close, even if they don’t talk as often as they once did. He knows Cabrera is a proud man. “The time has come for Miggy to probably hang it up,” Leyland says. “He knows that.”

In early September, the White Sox gave Cabrera a bench made of bases, baseballs and bats. It’s also when the Tigers started a hotline so fans could call or text MIGGY24 to (313) 471-2424 and leave a message thanking and congratulating Cabrera on his career.

“Hello, this is Miguel Cabrera,” the hotline’s recorded message said. “I’m sorry I missed your call. Leave the message after the beep.”

ON SEPT. 29, the Tigers will play the Guardians in a three-game series that in any other year would just be a formality before the long season ends. But this year, those three days will be called “Gracias Miggy.” The weekend-long celebration will include a drone show, a small museum of Cabrera’s accomplishments, music and fireworks. There will be drinks and food from El Rey de las Arepas, Cabrera’s favorite Venezuelan restaurant in the city.

“Cabrera is loved in Detroit,” says Joe Swierlik, who was named the Tigers’ biggest fan in a 2020 contest sponsored by Comerica Park. “For many, he’s the closest monumental player we will ever see.” Swierlik is 38, about a year too young to have been alive the last time Detroit won a World Series. For most of his childhood, he watched the Tigers play in what he calls, “one of the most brutal periods to watch.” Then, for most of his adult life, he watched Cabrera play for his favorite team. He remembers how close they got to winning it all in 2012. As a fan, that’s the one thing he regrets.

“Hall of Fame career,” he says of Cabrera, “but to not get a World Series with the Tigers, that’s the hardest part to bear.”

In recent Detroit history, Steve Yzerman, Justin Verlander, Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson stand out as the city’s other superstars. The last two left during their prime, within range of setting league records. Cabrera’s career is different; he didn’t leave much behind. The man who stands as one of this generation’s greatest hitter hasn’t played anything close to a full season since 2016. And now, in the coming days, he’ll have the last of his over 10,000 at-bats.

When he’s asked what comes next, he says, simply: “I don’t like to get too far ahead.” As he talks, you can still see parts of his youth in his eyes, the baby face, the hints of his mischievous smile. “I like to live day to day,” Cabrera continues. “I try to control what I can control today, and tomorrow, we’ll see what we can do.”

Though he’s mentioned it in the past, right now he’s certain he doesn’t want to coach. He says it’s too hard because when you play, you have some control over the game, but when you sit on the bench and watch, what little control you had is gone. Watching so often from the dugout this past year has only reinforced his thoughts.

Cabrera says he’s prepared himself for life after baseball, but still: He just wishes he could’ve played more in his last season. With more at bats, he’s certain he would’ve found his rhythm and hit more balls. He’s sure of it, because, when he was young, and people still called him Miguelito, he did that better than just about anyone else.

But now his body hurts. He spent his final season searching for the rhythm of his swing. He tried to find it before Detroit’s cold hit again. And now, as September gives way to October, he’ll try to find it again, one last time.

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NHL trade grades: Report cards for Smith to Knights, Dumoulin to Devils, other major deals

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March 6, 2025

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NHL trade grades: Report cards for Smith to Knights, Dumoulin to Devils, other major deals

  • Ryan S. Clark

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    Ryan S. Clark

    ESPN NHL reporter

      Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.

  • Greg Wyshynski

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    Greg Wyshynski

    Senior NHL writer

      Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.

Mar 6, 2025, 03:50 PM ET

The NHL trade deadline for the 2024-25 season is not until March 7, but teams have not waited until the last minute to make major moves.

For every significant trade that occurs during the season, you’ll find a grade for it here, the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks swapping goaltenders, Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues, Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken, the blockbuster deal sending Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas to the Avalanche, J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers, and the Canucks staying busy and getting Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

March 1 featured three big trades, with Ryan Lindgren headed to the Colorado Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild adding Gustav Nyquist, and Seth Jones joining the Florida Panthers. The middle of deadline week included a reunion for Yanni Gourde, heading back to the Tampa Bay Lightning along with Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Read on for grades from Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski, and check back the next time a big deal breaks.

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SEC spring football preview: Storylines and players to watch for all 16 teams

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March 6, 2025

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SEC spring football preview: Storylines and players to watch for all 16 teams

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  • Mark Schlabach

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    Mark Schlabach

    ESPN Senior Writer

    • Senior college football writer
    • Author of seven books on college football
    • Graduate of the University of Georgia

Mar 6, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

Spring ball is nearly here, and we’re breaking everything down in the SEC. Even though there has been an influx of teams canceling their spring games, that doesn’t mean the storylines and players are any less interesting.

How will Kalen DeBoer fare in Year 2 in Tuscaloosa? DeBoer led the Tide to a 9-4 record last season, but it wasn’t enough to reach the College Football Playoff, which will certainly be the expectation come this fall. Can Florida’s DJ Lagway find some dependable receivers? And of course, how will Arch Manning do as he takes over the Longhorns’ offense at QB1?

Here’s a look at the top storyline, a position of intrigue and a player to watch for every SEC team as spring camps get underway.

2024 record: 9-4

Spring storyline: After going 9-4 in Alabama’s first season without Nick Saban since 2006, there’s going to be tremendous pressure on coach Kalen DeBoer to get the Crimson Tide back to the College Football Playoff in his second year. The Tide should have one of the better defenses in the SEC, so all eyes will be on the offense, especially the quarterback position, this spring. The good news for DeBoer: Ryan Grubb, who helped him guide Washington to the CFP National Championship game at the end of the 2023 season, is back on his staff after spending last season with the Seattle Seahawks. Grubb will return to calling plays, while Nick Sheridan will move to quarterbacks coach.

Position of intrigue: With Jalen Milroe bypassing his senior season to enter the NFL draft, Ty Simpson is probably the favorite heading into spring practice. But Simpson will be pushed by Austin Mack, who originally signed with Washington, and freshman Keelon Russell, who enrolled early in January. Simpson, a junior, had 50 attempts with a touchdown the past three seasons. Russell, from Duncanville, Texas, was the No. 1 dual-threat passer in the 2025 ESPN 300 and is one of the highest-rated prospects to ever sign with the Tide. As a senior at Duncanville (Texas) High in 2024, Russell passed for 4,177 yards with 55 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Player to watch: Alabama’s offensive line cut its sacks allowed from 49 in 2023 to 24 in 2024. The Tide have some nice pieces coming back in left tackle Kadyn Proctor, center Parker Brailsford and right guard Jaeden Roberts. Wilkin Formby, a homegrown product of Northridge High in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is going to be asked to take over at right tackle. Elijah Pritchett, transferred to Nebraska after struggling mightily at the spot last season. — Mark Schlabach

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: After the Razorbacks lost six games or more for the third straight season in 2024, it seems like another big year for embattled coach Sam Pittman. It won’t be easy against one of the most difficult schedules in the FBS — road games at Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Texas and home contests against Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Auburn and Missouri. There was plenty of turnover on the roster, with 25 scholarship players leaving, including several key contributors. The Hogs’ focus this spring is finding their 22 best players and building depth behind them.

Position of intrigue: Pittman is an old-school offensive line coach at heart, and he knows Arkansas is going to have do a better job protecting quarterback Taylen Green, who was sacked 32 times in 2024. The Hogs gave up 36 overall, which ranked 114th in the FBS. The Razorbacks brought in five FBS transfers and another lineman from junior college. Tackles JacQawn McRoy (Oregon) and Corey Robinson II (Georgia Tech) might be the biggest additions. McRoy is nicknamed “Shaq” because of his towering 6-foot-8, 375-pound frame.

Player to watch: The Razorbacks need help at wide receiver after Andrew Armstrong departed for the NFL and Isaiah Sategna transferred to Oklahoma. Arkansas added four transfer receivers, and former UAB standout Kam Shanks led the FBS with 329 punt return yards and two punt return touchdowns in 2024. He also added a team-high 62 receptions for 656 yards and six scores. The Hogs will also get their first looks at receivers Courtney Crutchfield (Missouri), Raylen Sharpe (Fresno State) and O’Mega Blake (Charlotte) this spring. — Schlabach

2024 record: 5-7

Spring storyline: After the Tigers posted a losing record in consecutive seasons under coach Hugh Freeze, things are getting a bit restless (again) on the Plains. With 15 FBS transfers joining the team through the portal, some are projecting Auburn to be one of the most improved teams in the FBS in 2025. For that to happen, however, Auburn’s offense will have to be much better, especially at quarterback. The Tigers averaged only 13.3 points in their seven losses in 2024. The Tigers will play another challenging schedule, including early road games at Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

Position of intrigue: Quarterback transfer Jackson Arnold will be under the microscope this spring after he transferred to Auburn from Oklahoma. The No. 3 overall prospect in the 2023 ESPN 300, Arnold lost his starting job for three games at OU last season. He reclaimed it and started the final five regular-season contests. Arnold completed 62.6% of his passes for 1,421 yards with 15 total touchdowns in 2024. He ranked 15th among SEC quarterbacks in total QBR (47.8). The Tigers signed Deuce Knight, the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the ESPN 300, and Ashton Daniels, who will arrive from Stanford this summer.

Player to watch: Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr. was one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal. He caught 104 passes for 1,468 yards and scored 10 touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Yellow Jackets and averaged 12.8 yards per touch as a receiver, rusher and returner in 2024. With Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons returning, and former Wake Forest receiver Horatio Fields transferring to Auburn, the Tigers should be loaded at receiver. — Schlabach

2024 record: 8-5

Spring storyline: Embattled Gators coach Billy Napier completely flipped the narrative on his future at Florida by guiding his team to four straight victories to finish with an 8-5 record in 2024. That winning streak included upsets of then-No. 22 LSU and then-No. 9 Ole Miss. Much of the optimism is because of quarterback DJ Lagway, who was 6-1 as the starter as a freshman, and a veteran offensive line. Lagway threw for 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Florida will play another brutal schedule in 2025 with road games at LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Ole Miss and a neutral-site contest against Georgia.

Position of intrigue: Finding Lagway dependable targets on the perimeter will be a focus this spring. Top receivers Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike departed for the NFL, and Eugene Wilson III is coming back from season-ending hip surgery. Receivers Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and Naeshaun Montgomery were three of Florida’s highest-ranked signees, and J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA) was one of the top pass catchers in the portal.

Player to watch: Florida’s strength coach called linebacker Aaron Chiles an “alien” before his freshman season, because of his exceptional work in the weight room. With Shemar James leaving for the NFL draft, Chiles and Myles Graham will have a chance to make an impact on defense this season. Graham had 30 tackles and one sack in 2024; Chiles had 23 tackles with one sack. — Schlabach

2024 record: 11-3

Spring storyline: Much of Georgia’s focus this spring will be focused on its offense, which struggled to catch the ball and run it when it mattered in 2024. The Bulldogs went 11-3, won an SEC championship and reached the CFP last season. But Georgia’s offensive production slipped mightily — it scored 31.5 points per game (after averaging 40.1 in 2023) and ranked next-to-last in the SEC with 124.4 rushing yards. Georgia will be breaking in four new starting offensive linemen and a new quarterback. Newcomers will also be counted on to improve an inconsistent receiver corps.

Position of intrigue: Georgia’s offensive line was expected to be one of the best units in the FBS in 2024, but it struggled to create holes in the running game and protect the quarterback. Four starters are gone, including center Jared Wilson and All-American guard Tate Ratledge. Earnest Greene III and Monroe Freeling have a lot of experience at tackle, and Micah Morris has been a mainstay at guard. Drew Bobo and Daniel Calhoun are the favorites to take over at center and right guard, respectively.

Player to watch: No position on the team was criticized more in 2024 than Georgia’s receivers. The Bulldogs led Power 4 conference teams in dropped passes, and top receivers Arian Smith and Dominic Lovett left for the NFL. Georgia brought in two high-profile transfers, Zachariah Branch (USC) and Noah Thomas (Texas A&M), and Talyn Taylor and C.J. Wiley are two highly regarded freshman receivers. Branch had 1,863 all-purpose yards during his two seasons with the Trojans, including two kicks returned for touchdowns in 2023. He caught 78 passes for 823 yards and three scores. — Schlabach

2024 record: 4-8

Spring storyline: After the Wildcats limped to a 4-8 record and won only one SEC game in 2024, which ended the program’s eight-year streak of competing in a bowl game, coach Mark Stoops is stressing a return to its blue-collar culture. Entering his 13th season at Kentucky, Stoops wants his team to play physically on both sides of the ball and cut down the mistakes that plagued it last season. The Wildcats brought in 20 players from the transfer portal, and many of them will be counted on to shore up the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. Rebuilding the receiver corps will also be a priority in the spring.

Position of intrigue: The Wildcats have been at their best under Stoops when they’ve controlled the line of scrimmage with a strong offensive line. The “Big Blue Wall” wasn’t as effective in 2024, as the Wildcats ranked 111th in the FBS in sacks allowed (35) and 81st in rushing (145.6 yards). Kentucky added five transfer offensive linemen, including projected starting left tackle Shiyazh Pete (New Mexico State), right tackle Alex Wollschlaeger (Bowling Green) and center Evan Wibberley (Western Kentucky).

Player to watch: Kentucky’s passing game wasn’t much of a threat in 2024, as it ranked 112th in the FBS in passing (184.8) and threw more interceptions (17) than touchdowns (15). The Wildcats are hoping they’ll get more from sixth-year senior Zach Calzada, who previously played at Texas A&M, Auburn and FCS program Incarnate Word. Last season, he passed for 3,744 yards with 40 total touchdowns. — Schlabach

2024 record: 9-4

Spring storyline: When quarterback Garrett Nussmeier opted to return to LSU after throwing for 4,052 yards with 29 touchdowns in 2024, the Tigers became an SEC title and CFP contender. Coach Brian Kelly’s mission this offseason became clear: surround Nussmeier with proven playmakers and improve a defense that held his team back in his first three seasons. The Tigers added receivers Nic Anderson (Oklahoma) and Barion Brown (Kentucky) and a couple of key offensive line transfers. On defense, pass rushers Patrick Payton (Florida State) and Jack Pyburn (Florida) and defensive backs Mansoor Delane (Virginia Tech) and Tamarcus Cooley (NC State) were key additions.

Position of intrigue: Nussmeier played behind one of the SEC’s best offensive lines in 2024, and now the Tigers will have to replace four starters, including star tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. It won’t be easy. The Tigers added former Northwestern guard Josh Thompson and Virginia Tech center Braelin Moore to fill holes. Tyree Adams and Weston Davis will probably get the first opportunities at the tackle spots.

Player to watch: The Tigers lost top edge rushers Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones, who combined for 13 sacks in 2024. LSU invested heavily in bringing in Payton, Pyburn and Jimari Butler (Nebraska). Payton was the 2022 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and had 31½ tackles for loss and 16 sacks in three seasons with the Seminoles. His production dropped off dramatically on a bad FSU team in 2024. He had four sacks — three came in one game against California. — Schlabach

2024 record: 2-10

Spring storyline: The Bulldogs went 2-10 and didn’t win an SEC contest in coach Jeff Lebby’s first season, so there’s plenty of work to do in Starkville, Mississippi, this spring. The Bulldogs have to figure out a way to improve their porous defense, which ranked 118th in scoring (34.1 points), 130th against the run (216.9 yards), 105th in passing defense (239.5 yards) and 126th in total defense (456.4). The offense also took some heavy portal losses, including quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. (LSU) and receivers Kevin Coleman Jr. (Missouri) and Mario Craver (Texas A&M).

Position of intrigue: The Bulldogs’ problems on defense started up front, and that’s the reason Lebby and his staff added seven defensive linemen in the portal. State’s defense generated only 10 sacks in 2024, second fewest in the FBS. Red Hibbler had 6½ sacks at NC State in 2023, then redshirted after four games last season. Will Whitson had 8½ tackles for loss and five sacks in two seasons at Coastal Carolina, and Malick Sylla had four sacks in three seasons at Texas A&M.

Player to watch: Quarterback Blake Shapen returned to Mississippi State after missing the final eight games with a shoulder injury. In four starts in 2024, he threw for 974 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception. After Van Buren transferred to LSU, the Bulldogs signed former FSU backup Luke Kromenhoek, who started two games in 2024. — Schlabach

2024 record: 10-3

Spring storyline: As Eliah Drinkwitz heads into his sixth season as coach at Missouri, the question is now: Can the Tigers take that next step (a big one) and make the playoff after winning at least 10 games each of the past two seasons? Drinkwitz doesn’t get enough credit for the job he has done in steadying the program and will be breaking in a new quarterback in 2025. Beau Pribula, a transfer from Penn State, is the favorite to replace Brady Cook. Pribula is one of several key transfers the Tigers will be counting on to make big impacts.

Position of intrigue: The Tigers will have to retool their offensive line after losing three starters, including projected first-round NFL draft pick Armand Membou at right tackle. The interior of Mizzou’s offensive line could be elite with Connor Tollison returning at center after injuring his knee at the end of last season and Cayden Green at left guard. Drinkwitz thinks the Tollison-Green interior combo could be the best in the country. Johnny Williams IV (West Virginia) and Keagen Trost (Wake Forest) are portal additions the Tigers hope can step in at the tackle positions.

Player to watch: Running back Ahmad Hardy comes over from ULM after putting together a terrific freshman season in the Group of 5 ranks. He rushed for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns and was especially effective after contact. Hardy and returnee Jamal Roberts should complement each other well in Drinkwitz’s offense. — Chris Low

2024 record: 6-7

Spring storyline: The Sooners finished next to last in the SEC in scoring offense last season (24 points per game), and their offense produced 20 points or fewer in all nine of their games against power conference opponents. It’s obviously a critical season for coach Brent Venables as he enters Year 4, and he hired Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to run the offense. Arbuckle brought with him quarterback John Mateer, who passed for more than 3,100 yards and rushed for more than 800 yards last season. The big change on defense is that Venables will take over playcalling duties.

Position of intrigue: The receiver position was ravaged with injuries last season. The good news is that redshirt senior Deion Burks is back after playing in only five games a year ago. Oklahoma scoured the portal for receivers and brought in four, including JaVonnie Gibson from Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Gibson had 70 catches for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns last season. The Sooners also hope Jayden Gibson can bounce back after missing all of last season with a knee injury.

Player to watch: Some of the best news of the offseason was defensive end R Mason Thomas announcing he would return for his senior season. He led OU with 12.5 tackles for loss, 9 quarterback sacks and 11 hurries last season. Thomas’ return gives Venables a core of talented defenders returning. The defense is what kept the Sooners in games a year ago. — Low

2024 record: 10-3

Spring storyline: There was a playoff-or-bust feel to the Rebels’ season a year ago, and while they certainly looked like a playoff team at times, they were unable to recover from a home loss to Kentucky and then a road loss to Florida after beating Georgia soundly two weeks earlier. Lane Kiffin has elevated the program to top-10 status with at least 10 wins in three of the past four seasons. He’s called the “Portal King” for a reason, and the Rebels will again have to successfully plug in several new faces at key positions if they’re going to break through this season and make the playoff.

Position of intrigue: The defensive line a year ago was one of the best in the country. The Rebels finished second nationally in scoring defense and rushing defense and third in sacks. The bulk of that production up front is gone, including potential NFL first-round pick Walter Nolen at tackle and veteran pass rusher Princely Umanmielen. But sack machine Suntarine Perkins returns after recording 10.5 sacks a year ago, while 6-foot-7, 320-pound Zxavian Harris is poised to be the next dominant tackle in the SEC.

Player to watch: As quarterback Jaxson Dart quickly rises up NFL teams’ draft boards, the anticipation in Oxford is to see how well his successor, Austin Simmons, plays in his first season as the Rebels’ starter. Simmons was terrific when he filled in for a series against Georgia and led Ole Miss to a touchdown. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound sophomore is a perfect fit for Kiffin’s system. — Low

2024 record: 9-4

Spring storyline: Shane Beamer became only the second coach at South Carolina in the past 40 years to win nine regular-season games last season. (Steve Spurrier was the other.) The Gamecocks played their best football down the stretch and were a couple of plays and questionable calls away from making the playoff. They return two of the best young players in the country in redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers and sophomore edge rusher Dylan Stewart, but the key to the season will be how well the other players around those two stars develop.

Position of intrigue: Even with All-America defensive end Kyle Kennard headed to the NFL, South Carolina’s defensive front seven should again be stout. The Gamecocks finished in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense, yards per play and rushing defense. Stewart’s ability to get to the passer will be a major part of the 2025 defense, but Bryan Thomas Jr. also had 4.5 sacks last season. Transfers Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy at tackle (Texas A&M), Jaylen Brown at end (Missouri) and Justin Okoronkwo (Alabama) and Shawn Murphy (Florida State) at linebacker are on their way.

Player to watch: Being able to run the ball last season made a huge difference for South Carolina, and Sellers was a big part of that running game. But with Rocket Sanders gone, the Gamecocks needed a go-to running back, which is where Utah State transfer Rahsul Faison fits in. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Faison rushed for 1,109 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry last season. — Low

2024 record: 11-3

Spring storyline: The Vols have knocked down several barriers under Josh Heupel. They’ve beaten Alabama twice and Florida twice in the past three seasons and made their first playoff appearance a year ago. The defense was the backbone of Tennessee’s run to the playoff, and several key pieces from that unit are gone and need to be replaced. Keeping defensive coordinator Tim Banks was a priority for Heupel. One of the big challenges for the Vols in Year 5 under Heupel will be playing better on the road, particularly in night games in hostile environments.

Position of intrigue: The young talent in Tennessee’s secondary is promising, and keeping safety Boo Carter from transferring was important. Carter may also play some offense in 2025. But at cornerback, it could be dicey. Jermod McCoy had an All-SEC season in 2024 after transferring from Oregon State. He tore his ACL in January, though, and is working toward getting back in time for the season open. And just recently, reports surfaced that the Vols’ other starting cornerback, Rickey Gibson III, plans to enter the spring transfer portal. If Gibson doesn’t change his mind, the Vols will be looking hard in the portal for cornerbacks.

Player to watch: Nico Iamaleava has been the most closely watched player at Tennessee since his first season in 2023 when he arrived with a reported $8 million NIL deal. Now in his third season on campus and second as starting quarterback, Iamaleava would seem poised to have a breakout year. He was solid a year ago in leading the Vols to the playoff. He needs to provide more firepower in the downfield passing game if they’re going to get back to the playoff in 2025. — Low

2024 record: 13-3

Spring storyline: It’s Arch Manning time on the Forty Acres, as the youngest of the First Family of Quarterbacks takes over for Quinn Ewers as QB1 for the Longhorns. Manning has as much upside as any quarterback in the country, but he has only started in two games. This spring gives the Longhorns the chance to fully incorporate him into the offense and build the offense around what he does best. Manning should be used to the glare of the spotlight, and it will only get brighter the rest of the way, but his exposure will be limited this spring because the Longhorns won’t be playing a spring game.

Position of intrigue: Texas’ offensive line will have a new look to it in 2025, but that doesn’t mean the Longhorns will be lacking in talent. They’ve recruited well up front, and even though senior guard DJ Campbell is the only returning starter, there’s still some experience. Senior guard Cole Hutson has played and is versatile enough to slide over to center. Former five-star recruit Brandon Baker is probably the favorite at left tackle, and the Longhorns were excited about what they saw from Trevor Goosby when he was forced into action at both left and right tackle last year in the postseason.

Player to watch: The Longhorns will be loaded with talent at the edge rusher positions, and sophomore Colin Simmons has a chance to be one of most dynamic defenders in the country after racking up nine sacks and forcing three fumbles last season as a true freshman. There are very few ready-made players when they step onto campus for the first time. Simmons was one of those players. — Low

2024 record: 8-5

Spring storyline: Last impressions always seem to count for more in college football, and Texas A&M in its first season under Mike Elko lost four of its last five games a year ago. It was a disappointing close to the season after the Aggies won seven straight heading into November and were seemingly in position to make a playoff run. Look for Elko to take on a heavier role on defense. He wasn’t pleased with the way the Aggies played down the stretch a year ago and brought in several newcomers on the defensive line, which is losing three of its top players to the NFL.

Position of intrigue: The Aggies are set to return all five starters in their offensive line, a unit that could use a boost from the running backs staying healthy this season. Despite knee injuries to both Rueben Owens and Le’Veon Moss last season, Texas A&M still finished second in the SEC in rushing with an average of 195.5 yards per game. Owens didn’t play until the last two games of the season after being injured in preseason camp, and Moss missed the last month of the season. Amari Daniels also returns at running back, meaning the Aggies’ running game could flourish in 2025.

Player to watch: This will be Marcel Reed‘s third year on campus, and the redshirt sophomore is Texas A&M’s future at quarterback. He had his ups and downs a year ago after shuffling between backup and starter, but played big on some big stages. Reed has said he wants to be more of a leader on this team, which makes this spring even more important for him. — Low

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: There’s a reason the coaches voted Clark Lea SEC Coach of the Year last season. He led the Commodores to their best season (7-6) in more than a decade, took them to their first bowl game since 2018 and beat No. 1 Alabama for the first time since 1984, all this coming off a 2-10 season in 2023. The challenge now is building off such a solid season, creating more depth on the roster and continuing to develop players, which has been Lea’s strength. Some of the best news is that most of the key players are back, and there should be good carry-over with Lea calling defensive plays for the second straight year.

Position of intrigue: With Diego Pavia back at quarterback, he’ll also have his favorite receiving target back. Eli Stowers, an All-SEC selection at tight end a year ago and the Commodores’ top receiver, bypassed the NFL draft to return for another season in Nashville. Stowers will need some pass-catching help on the outside from receivers. It’s a big opportunity for Junior Sherrill to have a breakthrough season, while Trent Hudson reunites with Pavia after spending last season at Mississippi State. Hudson and Pavia played together at New Mexico State in 2023, and Hudson had 10 touchdowns.

Player to watch: Who else but Pavia, who sparked Vanderbilt’s revival last season and electrified the SEC with his fearless play at quarterback. He gets another shot at SEC defenses after passing for 2,293 yards and rushing for 801 yards last season. Pavia, who’s seemingly never out of a play, accounted for 28 touchdowns (20 passing and eight rushing). — Low

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Sports

Passan: Two major league teams, two minor league ballparks — and what it says about the sport

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March 6, 2025

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Passan: Two major league teams, two minor league ballparks -- and what it says about the sport

THE SLOW, PROTRACTED death of the Oakland A’s played out over two decades, offering a fresh blueprint of how to torpedo a professional sports franchise. The slow, protracted march of the Tampa Bay Rays toward a similar outcome is playing out in real time. And both serve as warnings to the rest of the sport that when it comes to the pursuit of new stadiums, major league dreams can end up in minor league parks.

The A’s quest to secure a new stadium in the Bay Area repeatedly ended in failure. They eventually gave up and pivoted their attention to Las Vegas, where they plan to move for the 2028 season. In the meantime, they are asking to be called, simply, the A’s, even though they’ll spend the next three years squatting in West Sacramento, California.

While the destruction of Tropicana Field’s roof in October by Hurricane Milton forced the Rays to seek refuge for 2025 at a minor league stadium across the bay in Tampa, Florida, many of the same issues — chief among them a relationship with local politicians drowned by distrust — have left the Rays with a deal for a new stadium they could abandon any day and a future defined by its uncertainty.

For now, the teams find themselves in the same purgatory, caught between the stadiums they yearned to desert and the gleaming, billion-dollar palaces about which they fantasize. The A’s and Rays will spend the 2025 season playing in minor league ballparks about one-third the size of a standard Major League Baseball stadium.

Earlier this spring, commissioner Rob Manfred called the minor league parks “intimate” and “charming,” real estate euphemisms instantly recognizable to anyone who has looked at too-small houses and apartments. It’s not just the size of the ballparks, either. Temperatures in Sacramento regularly climb into the triple digits in the summer, and Sutter Health Park lacks the roof of big league parks in other scorching cities. In lieu of playing at the Trop, the Rays will spend 2025 at the open-air Steinbrenner Field and contend with summer rains that threaten to destabilize their schedule.

The A’s and Rays are cautionary tales of what happens when big, complicated challenges are met with half-measures and inaction — and reminders to teams with unsettled stadium issues in places like Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, that the longer they take to reach resolution, the messier these situations get. With every city council meeting that ends with no deal, every local voting result that kicks the can down the road to the next election, every ballpark rendering torn up before a shovel ever enters the dirt, the likelihood of best-laid plans being replaced by worst-case scenarios multiplies.

For the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals — two teams angling for public money to help finance new stadiums — there are countless lessons to learn about the fragility of deals and their capacity to go sideways. Already there has been resistance to the White Sox’s request of $1 billion to help build a new stadium in the South Loop, and voters in Kansas City last year rejected a sales-tax extension that would have helped fund a downtown ballpark. Public cynicism over using tax dollars to fund billionaire owners’ real estate plays has made turning visions of a new stadium into reality that much more difficult and the ramifications of letting a potentially volatile situation decay that much greater.

The upshot of stadium volatility goes beyond the teams and extends to the league. While Manfred has said he wants the league to expand from 30 to 32 teams before his planned retirement in January 2029, the instability of the A’s and Rays has prompted MLB to pause laying out any expansion timeline.

For all the good in the game in Manfred’s time as commissioner — the generation of notable stars, the success of the pitch clock, the excellent early returns on the automated ball-strike challenge system — the sight of two big league teams existing in small stadiums is rich with subtext. And with a labor negotiation expected to threaten games in 2027, a widespread dissatisfaction among fans about MLB’s competitive balance and a local-television landscape in need of overhaul, the challenges in Manfred’s final four years as commissioner go well beyond the perception that comes with shrunken stadiums.

Teams have weathered minor league ballparks before. The Toronto Blue Jays called Buffalo, New York, home in the 2020 and 2021 seasons because of COVID restrictions. The Montreal Expos spent about a quarter of their games in 2003 and 2004 in Puerto Rico before moving to Washington, D.C. The A’s played six games in Las Vegas in 1996 because of unfinished renovations at the Coliseum. Never, though, have two teams simultaneously endeavored to make big league ball work without big league stadiums. When the Rays and A’s play their home openers in temporary residences later this month, it will mark uncharted territory for the sport.

FROM THE PERCH of I-175 just south of downtown St. Petersburg, Tropicana Field looks like a relic, a building whose inevitable fate is condemnation. Milton shredded 18 of the 24 fiberglass panels that comprised the structure’s roof, and the beams that once supported them jut into the city’s skyline. The Trop opened in 1990, and the hallmarks of its antiquity remain, highlighted by the lettering spelling out TROPICANA FIELD in Hobo typeface on the side of the stadium: a bygone font for a bygone edifice.

Three months before Milton and Hurricane Helene devastated the Tampa Bay area, the Rays finally believed that after 17 years of searching for a new stadium, they had found their future home: right where they’d been all along. On July 31, Rays officials and a group of local luminaries — including St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch — gathered to announce a deal for a new $1.3 billion stadium on the same site as the Trop.

The franchise would finally have a home befitting of a club that has won more games than any team except the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees since that search began in 2008. Between the gleaming 30,000-seat stadium and the mixed-use development around the ballpark, the team would mimic the approach of the Atlanta Braves: leveraging baseball into a financial windfall from ownership of the surrounding land and businesses.

Optimism gushed from a news conference in which the parties celebrated a deal that would complement the Rays’ $700 million investment with $600 million in public funds for a stadium to open by 2028. All of the failed efforts — the $450 million waterfront plan in St. Petersburg hatched in 2007, the $900 million stadium in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood that held up for barely a month in 2018, the ill-fated efforts to spend half the season in Tampa and the other half in Montreal — were moot.

“We know the baseball team is going to be here,” Rays president Matt Silverman said that day, “and it’s going to be here forever.”

Forever didn’t even last a year. Today, the stadium is on the precipice of falling apart. The Rays have until March 31 to offer proof of their $700 million or abandon the deal. The latter would send the franchise into the sort of limbo not even the A’s have faced. Following a delay in approving bonds and a subsequent public fight with county politicians, the Rays said the stadium’s cost had increased significantly and requested additional public money to bridge the funding gap. Welch, the mayor who has been the foremost proponent of keeping the team in St. Petersburg, has said if the deal falls apart, the city will not revisit another. If that happens, there is no clear path to a stadium being built in Tampa. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg could sell the team. But Manfred has been vociferous in saying he does not want MLB to abandon the Tampa Bay area, even if the status quo is untenable.

Compounding the lack of clarity is the state of the Trop. The city’s agreement with the Rays calls for it to replace the stadium’s roof. Repairs are estimated to cost more than $50 million. The city said work could be done in time for the 2026 season, a notion the Rays contested before reversing course. Already the team’s deal with the city for the Trop has been altered because of a clause that extends the contract by a year for every season the team doesn’t play at the stadium. If it is not repaired by 2026, the agreement could run through 2029.

The specter of further ugliness — litigation if the team walks away from the deal and the potential slowdown of Tropicana Field repairs — leave the Rays a literal team without a home. Their executives are working out of rented office space in St. Petersburg. The Yankees retrofitting Steinbrenner Field for an AL East rival and moving their Single-A team, the Tampa Tarpons, to the complex’s backfields is a one-year-only favor. Rays players, already on alert due to the team’s propensity to trade those nearing free agency, wonder aloud what the lack of a home for 2026 and beyond means for their future.

With no obvious solution, multiple prominent Tampa-area businesspeople have started to put together ownership groups intent on attempting to buy the team, though no deal is close, sources told ESPN. The groups’ belief, according to sources, is that Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, would be more amenable to offering public funding for a new stadium to a local ownership group. (Sternberg lives on the outskirts of New York City.) The 2025 season could serve as a proof of concept, with the Rays expecting to pack the 11,026-seat stadium far more often than they did the Trop, which typically holds games with more of its 42,735 seats empty than filled.

“If not for Steinbrenner Field and the Yankees, I don’t know what we would have done,” Silverman told ESPN. “The quick yes from Hal Steinbrenner gave us peace of mind when we really needed it. I think there’s real excitement for outdoor baseball in Tampa. The whole region is talking about it.”

Tampa, long regarded as a better fit to draw fans in the Tampa Bay area, will see 42 of the team’s first 65 games at home (a schedule stacking intended to avoid July and August, when rain regularly pelts the city). But it’s tempered by the potential for the team’s exodus from the region. In addition to a possible local ownership transfer, multiple groups weighing expansion bids have entertained the possibility of trying to buy the Rays from Sternberg, sources said. Doing so would allow a group to purchase a major league franchise for less than the expansion fee that Manfred estimated in 2021 at $2.2 billion. At the same time, it would require approval from MLB owners, a scenario fraught with potential peril on account of Manfred’s dictate to keep baseball in the Tampa Bay area.

For all the hope that the coming weeks and months will offer a well-defined path for the Rays to follow, it’s never that easy. One need only look at the tortuous journey of the A’s to see why.

IN EARLY JANUARY, A’s manager Mark Kotsay and four of the team’s core players trekked to Sacramento for a look at their future home. They scarfed down a five-course meal at a local restaurant, visited a local coffee shop, meandered around a park, took in a double-overtime win by their NBA brethren Kings and toured Sutter Health Park to see firsthand how their next three years would look.

While at the Kings game, one of the players, designated hitter Brent Rooker, finalized a five-year, $60 million contract extension, the third-largest deal ever given out by the A’s. The confluence of the visit and Rooker’s signing was the latest sign that the not-Oakland A’s planned to operate differently than the team that had caused such consternation with its abandonment of Oakland.

In the near-quarter-century since the A’s first looked to move from a decaying Oakland stadium whose disrepair regularly made national news, the combination of miserly ownership and politicians unwilling to meet the team’s demands led to what was once unthinkable: the A’s following the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas. The A’s final season in Oakland had a funereal air, with fans alternating between celebrating the rich history of the team’s half-century in the city and regaling owner John Fisher with expletives and boos over his handling of MLB’s first franchise relocation since the Montreal Expos absconded to D.C. in 2005.

Extending Rooker and handing the largest contract in franchise history to free agent right-hander Luis Severino — a three-year, $67 million deal that helped fulfill the team’s need to guarantee revenue-sharing money through increased spending — signaled a shift toward normalcy for an organization that had brought the plot of “Major League” to life, only without the happy ending. After the A’s agreed to a stadium deal in Las Vegas in 2023 amid simultaneous negotiations with Oakland — whose mayor, Sheng Thao, was later indicted on unrelated federal bribery and conspiracy charges — they focused on Sacramento, home of the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, as a temporary stopgap.

Rather than agree to a $97 million extension fee that would have allowed the A’s to stay at the Coliseum before moving to Las Vegas, they opted for Sacramento, which allowed the team to keep the majority of its $67 million-a-year local television contract. The A’s have sold 6,500 season tickets — including a three-year commitment for premium tickets — and expect to have plenty of sellouts in a stadium with 10,624 seats and a capacity of 14,014, including a standing-room option on the grass berms in left and right field.

Still, there are constant reminders that Sutter Health Park is a minor league ballpark cosplaying a major league stadium. MLB and the MLB Players Association mandated improvements throughout the park, including upgraded clubhouses, lighting, trainer’s rooms, weight rooms, a new batter’s eye and the installation of a grass field. Beyond the playing surface, the ballpark has features that wouldn’t normally fly in the majors, such as the clubhouses, batting cages and weight rooms — places where players often spend time during the game — being located past the outfield walls instead of attached to the dugout.

Even so, the A’s are focused on being adaptable to their new home. Kotsay, who spent four of his 17 big league seasons with the A’s and is entering his fourth season as manager, grew to love the Coliseum in spite of its flaws and hopes to do the same in Sacramento.

“Whether it was 3,000 or 7,000 in a midweek game, the energy was still great,” Kotsay said. “That’s the one thing that I can honestly say I’ll miss, because even though there may not have been a lot of fans in the stands, the passion that they brought for us through the years was incredible. But I’m excited about Sacramento. I don’t know really what to expect. I do know that we’ve sold the place out and that energy in itself will be awesome to witness.”

With the contract extension securing his future, Rooker bought a house in Sacramento. In his three years at Mississippi State, Rooker played at the Bulldogs’ Dudy Noble Stadium and LSU’s Alex Box Stadium and Arkansas’ Baum-Walker Stadium, all with capacities between 10,000 and 15,000, and lauded them for their atmosphere. It’s an environment he hopes the A’s — whose young core could keep them in contention in a wide-open American League West division — experience at their new home.

“It’s going to be obviously a unique environment, a different environment than we’re used to playing Major League Baseball games in,” Rooker said. “But we think it’s going to be people who are excited to be there and are there to support a new team … so, we’re looking forward to it.”

GROUND STILL HASN’T been broken on the A’s new stadium in Las Vegas, and if there’s a lesson to be taken from their trials and travails as well as the Rays’, it’s that nothing is done until shovels hit the dirt. Manfred said Fisher told him the stadium — whose cost has ballooned from $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion, with $380 million coming from the state of Nevada — is still scheduled to open in 2028.

Skepticism about the project persists. The nine-acre plot on the former site of the Tropicana hotel would be the smallest footprint for any major league stadium. Renderings of the stadium are missing a bullpen for the visiting team. The A’s intend to offer around 2,500 parking spaces — one-third of what Clark County code mandates, with one space for every four seats in the planned 30,000-seat stadium.

Flaws and all, the team is surging forward and expects to start construction over the summer on a futuristic-looking building that plans to feature seats closer to the field than any other MLB stadium. Not only would a groundbreaking constitute a triumph for Fisher’s maligned ownership, but it would also serve notice to other owners that the appeal of baseball remains strong enough to close a stadium deal, regardless of the ruin in its wake. At the same time, the cost to do so is profound. The A’s attempt to secure a stadium is a case study in dysfunction. The Rays face years of ugliness ahead. The White Sox and Royals have already encountered roadblocks in their efforts.

Manfred remains undaunted, arguing that “the reality of today’s economics is that either building or renovating a stadium almost by definition has to be a public-private partnership.” The Diamondbacks found success in doing so. Last week, the Arizona House of Representatives passed a bill to divert $200 million in tax money to help a $500 million-plus renovation of Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks have a lease that runs out in 2027.

Other teams simply opted to stay where they are. The Los Angeles Angels, who play in the fourth-oldest ballpark in baseball, renewed their lease of Angel Stadium through 2032, with a pair of options that can extend it to 2038. The Angels had sought to buy the land surrounding the stadium to potentially build a new one, but an FBI investigation revealed Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu had funneled confidential information to the team in hopes of receiving $1 million in campaign contributions. He later pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Manfred’s predecessor, Bud Selig, reinvigorated baseball throughout the 1990s and 2000s by encouraging what became a stadium boom. Those days are over, with the lessons of Oakland and Tampa Bay reminding teams of the manifold land mines around which they must tiptoe.

In almost everything it does, MLB moves at a languid pace. With the pitch clock and ABS, this behooved the league. With the collapse of the regional-sports-network model that provided billions of dollars annually for teams’ local television rights, it left the league compromised. With new stadiums, it’s clear: The longer the idea of one festers without closure, the likelier it is to see something major devolve into minor.

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