Rays won’t post sign about Montreal in TB

The Rays have dropped plans to post a sign at Tropicana Field during the postseason that would tout their proposal to split future seasons between Tampa Bay and Montreal.

Principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the change on Tuesday’s Rays radio pre-game show, apologizing to the fans for making “a big mistake” with the idea to put a sign on the back wall to serve a “visible symbol” of the sharing plan.

“I’m really here to speak directly to our fans today,” Sternberg said. “And to apologize, quite frankly. I’ve always said that baseball is meant to be fun and engaging and exciting. Brings a community together.

“I made a big mistake, a real mistake, in trying to promote our sister-city plan with a sign right now in our home ballpark. I absolutely should have known better. And really, I’m sorry for that. I’m here to tell ... the fans that the sign is not going to go up.”

A major part of the negative reaction to the sign plan, which the Rays made public Saturday and said was designed to get media coverage for the split-city concept, was that it would take attention away from the team competing in the playoffs.