ST. PETERSBURG, FL (WFTS) —
The Tampa Bay Rays open the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd, bringing together two familiar AL East rivals and two fan bases battling to make themselves heard.
For longtime Rays fan Dennis Gagnon, the anticipation surrounding the team is unlike anything he can remember.
Watch report from Erik Waxler
“Obviously the team is moving to Tampa, but I’m a Pinellas County guy, St. Pete, so yeah this is personal to me. I’ll be hysterically crying if this team wins the whole thing.”
The Rays finished the regular season 98-64, winning the American League East and earning home-field advantage in the division series. They were particularly tough at Tropicana Field, going 55-26 at home.
The success came during the Rays' first season back at the Trop after spending the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa because of damage caused by Hurricane Milton.
Gagnon said that makes this postseason run particularly meaningful.
“Given the situation with the hurricane a couple of years ago. My mother lost her house. So just all that stuff, yeah.”
The Yankees stand in the Rays' way, and New York's large Tampa Bay-area fan base could make Saturday night's game feel very different from a typical Rays home game.
Rich Daddario is one of those Yankees fans. He already has tickets to Games 1 and 2.
“I expect there to be a lot of Yankee fans here. First of all, I think it’s cheaper to come to a game here than go to Yankee Stadium.”
The Rays averaged 17,469 fans per home game during the regular season, drawing about 1.4 million fans to Tropicana Field. Saturday's sellout will put considerably more people inside the stadium, with the upper deck open and tickets on the secondary market going for more than $200 in some sections.
Rays fan Tanner Oar expects the difference to be noticeable.
“We’ve had some good crowds on Saturdays where they fill the upper deck a little bit, but it’s going to be a lot different though because they are going all the way to full capacity, so I think it will be pretty loud.”
The Rays and Yankees have played hundreds of regular-season games against each other, but their postseason history is surprisingly limited.
Their only previous playoff meeting came in the 2020 AL Division Series. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that series was played at a neutral site at Petco Park in San Diego without the teams' usual home crowds.
The Rays won that series in five games.
That means Saturday will mark the first time the Yankees have ever played a postseason game at Tropicana Field.
The teams saw plenty of each other during the 2026 regular season.
Tampa Bay won seven of the 13 meetings, including five of seven games played at Tropicana Field.
The Rays swept the Yankees in a three-game series at the Trop in April. When New York returned in July, the teams split four games.
New York finished the regular season 93-68 and advanced to the ALDS by sweeping the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series.
Now Yankees fans are hoping to make their presence felt in St. Petersburg.
On the Boomer and Gio Show in New York this week, the hosts predicted the atmosphere could resemble a Yankees home game and estimated the crowd could favor New York.
“Of course it is. At the very least, 50-50, and I would say more along the lines of 70-30 Yankee fans. They haven’t cared about that team ever in that place, host Gregg Giannotti said on his show.
Rays fans will have their chance to prove otherwise when the gates open Saturday.
And for Gagnon, the breakdown between Rays and Yankees fans ultimately matters much less than what happens on the field.
“That type of stuff doesn’t really matter at the end of the day as long as they take care of business and win; that’s all that matters to me.”
Game 1 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Tropicana Field. Game 2 will also be played in St. Petersburg on Monday before the best-of-five series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3.
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