Rays to play two exhibitions in Dominican Republic in ’24
ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays will be headed to the Dominican Republic in March for two exhibitions against the Boston Red Sox.
The games, part of the MLB World Tour program announced Wednesday by the league and players union, will be played March 9-10 at Estadio Quisqueya in the capital city of Santo Domingo.
The trip will be a homecoming for several Rays players, including Wander Franco, Manuel Margot, Jose Siri and Francisco Mejia; as well as coaches Rodney Linares and Tomas Francisco.
“It will be the honor of a lifetime to be part of a Major League Baseball exhibition game in my home country,” Linares, the Rays' bench coach, said in a statement. “It is an amazing opportunity to bring Rays baseball to our fans in the Dominican Republic and for our players to have such a memorable experience.”
Though the Dominican Republic produces more major-league players than any other country outside the United States, not many games have been played there. The Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers played an exhibition in 2020, and before that the most recent were exhibitions in 2000 between the Houston Astros and Red Sox, and 1999 between the then-Montreal Expos and N.Y. Mets.
Interest in the Rays-Red Sox games should be high. The 2020 game, according to mlb.com, sold out in about 24 hours, with a capacity of just under 15,000 at Estadio Quisqueya.
The Rays, like most teams, have a training academy in the Dominican and field teams of young prospects in the summer league.
The Rays made four previous international trips. In 2004, they went to Tokyo with the Yankees to play two regular season-opening games. They played exhibitions in Venezuela (vs. Atlanta Braves) in 2000, Mexico (vs. Pittsburgh Pirates) in 2001 and Cuba (vs. national team) in 2016.
Major League Baseball also announced plans for regular-season games next year in Korea (L.A. Dodgers-San Diego Padres), Mexico (Astros-Colorado Rockies) and England (Mets-Philadelphia Phillies).
Fox snub still unexplained
There was still no word from Fox Sports representatives explaining how Franco and Shane McClanahan were skipped during the introductions for Tuesday night's All-Star Game in Seattle. The Rays duo ran onto the field as scripted after the Seattle Mariners' reserves. But as the cameras stayed on the hometown players, announcer Joe Davis moved ahead to the Texas and Toronto representatives. Several emails to Fox officials have not been returned.