Reflecting on the year gone by in Rays news!
At the start of every year, we like to take a look backward at the year gone by to see which moments resonated the most for Rays fans and our broader readership.
Here are the top-ten read articles at DRaysBay in 2025:
Honorable Mention — Rays Stadium Site Candidate: WestShore Plaza
This article went live in the evening on Dec. 30th and was already eleventh in our most viewed for 2025. Given the staying power of articles in the Stadium Saga, it’s reasonable to expect this would have creeped up into the top ten over the coming days had the new year not been rung in just 30 hours after publishing.
10. Rays change their mind, ask for Tropicana Field to be repaired
One of the more shocking moments in the Rays Stadium Saga was the sudden pivot by the Rays front office back to Tropicana Field, which was not actively being repaired when the team announced their intent to return to the stadium they had an active lease to use.
9. Rays continue false claim County delay approving bonds “broke” stadium contract
One of the final moments that destroyed the previous ownership group’s relationship with local politicians, facilitating a sale of the team to the Zalupski group that took over in late 2025. Here we discuss how Rays executives said Pinellas County “effectively broke” the team’s new stadium contract. This was, unfortunately, not a truthful statement.
8. 2025 Trade Deadline: Rays execute seven deals but keep their stars
The Rays completely overhauled the catching battery, but otherwise had a less dramatic — although no less busy — approach to the trade deadline this time around.
7. MLB draft 2025: Tampa Bay Rays draft tracker and signing board
This draft the Rays signed all but their final pick in the 20th round, and this article showed who signed, when they did, and for how much. Interestingly the Rays went over slot to secure their two second round picks, but were able to do so by saving $1.2 million in projected bonuses for their two first round picks.
6. What to know before you go to George M. Steinbrenner Field
A lot of people had a lot of questions about what to expect visiting GMS Field, so we compiled the various resources into a single location for reference. If you read it I hope you found it helpful!
5. Rating the prospects acquired in the Rays Holiday Haul
While there wasn’t a formal announcement on the front page, many of you might have noticed that we recently welcomed Ben Whitelaw to the site. In this article he provided a detailed breakdown of the prospects acquired to restock the Rays farm (more on that in the next article!).
4. The Rays rebuild has already backfired
The Rays front office claimed 2024’s fire sale of star players was definitely not a fire sale, but then came 2025’s underperformance both on the field in on the farm, leading to this article marking the moment as an inflection point. Will the team’s change in ownership and continued sale of veterans like Baz and Lowe cause things to trend in the right direction?
3. Orlando emerges as a potential destination for the Rays
Before the Rays new ownership group was decided late in the 2025 season, an ownership group arose in the Orlando area claiming to have $1 billion in private financing available to pursue a new ballpark for Central Florida’s baseball team, along with a site and some renderings. That main backer would later defect to join the winning ownership group.
Also popular was a lengthy follow-up we posted on how Orlando had the financial benefit of hotel taxes that could have buoyed the Rays voyage up I-4.
The top two articles were neck and neck for the most read last year, as these top top were far and away the most read last season.
2. The Leading Candidate for a New Rays Stadium: HCC Dale Mabry
The Rays new ownership group delivered a shocker in their opening press conference. It was expected that the team would pursue a new stadium as soon as humanly possible — the team purchased didn’t even have a stadium to play in when the transaction occurred — but the intent to find a site with 100 acres narrowed the search considerably to one obvious target: the same location the Rays played games in 2025.
1. Rays unveil rebranded Yankees stadium
The Rays extended an invite to the media, including our crew, to see the renovated GMS Field before the 2025 season began, and this article was chock full of pictures from Lizzie previewing the Rays work to rebrand a Yankees complex into a home for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Thank you for your continued readership of DRaysBay, please continue joining us in the comments, and here’s to a bright and better future for the Rays, starting with a return to Tropicana Field in April!
Category: General Sports
