We passed the one-third mark with two more baseball parks visited this week, our 10th and 11th of the trip: Tampa and Miami.

Game #10: Astros versus Rays at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, May 19

Imagine your vacation house survived a hurricane and a neighbor who you don’t even like needed to rent it for the summer after his house was severely damaged by the hurricane. That’s the Tampa Bay Rays situation for 2025 (and beyond?). Hurricane Milton damaged the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg last year, rendering the stadium unusable. In April the city agreed to spend $22.5 million to fix the roof. For this year the Rays made a deal with the Yankees to use Steinbrenner Field in Tampa – the spring training home of the Bronx Bombers.

Spill one out for The Mick. Photos by Trepiak unless otherwise noted.

At the start of this season, much of the Yankee signage remained, creating what one usher called “a house divided.” Fans walked into the stadium with a prominent “NY” logo just above the “Home of the Rays” sign. Fortunately, that’s all been cleaned up but the Yankee plaques honoring all the retired numbers remain outside the main stadium entrance. Can it really feel like you’re at home with the Yankees of the past watching your every move? Maybe that’s why the Rays have a losing record at home.

Game atmosphere: Positive

Steinbrenner Field was designed to give Yankee fans a great spring training experience. The dimensions of the park are the same as Yankee Stadium, and the seats are up close and personal. You can see inside the dugout from the Field Box Seats. “You’re closer to the action,” said Ryan Rondeau, a member of the Rays Tech Team. “There is not a bad seat in the house. Of course, the heat sucks in Florida. And we’ve had two rain delays this season.” The heat and rain were non-factors in Tropicana Field where the retractable roof kept the field dry and the temperature a cozy 72 degrees.

It was 87 degrees at first pitch with humidity at 65 percent. “It’s too hot for anything right now except for sitting on the couch,” said one fan. A local newscaster gave the game forecast on the big scoreboard just before game time. “There is not much of a cooling influence,” he said, noting it would stay in the 80s the entire game. But we can’t fault the Rays for the hand they’ve been dealt. (Hurry up and fix that roof!) Steinbrenner Field has a Major League feel, albeit a Mini-Me version of an MLB park.

The Rays make good and frequent use of the fireworks feature of the scoreboard, blasting them twice during the national anthem and after home runs by Rays players. … Raymond the mascot is more active than most of the mascots we’ve seen so far – no small challenge with the heat and humidity. He roamed the stands for fan selfies, participated in an on-field race with two others mascots between innings, and performed various antics from the top of the dugout.

Fans cheered their Rays at every opportunity, but truly came to life every time Jose Altuve of the Astros came to the plate. Or, as he should be called in Tampa, Jose Al-BOO-ve. It seems the Rays fans are still ticked off about the whole 2017 cheating episode that enabled the Astros to steal a World Championship. Their loud displeasure was especially interesting since the Rays did not even make the playoffs that year. Altuve is the only position player still on the Astros from the 2017 team. The boos turned to cheers every time as Altuve went oh-for-four. The Astros got plenty of cheers, too, as about 20 percent of the crowd were Houston fans.

Ballpark cuisine: Neutral

The food at Steinbrenner Field is served hot and tastes good. There just isn’t anything beyond normal baseball fare. No specialty items. The closest thing to a specialty item is the Burst Burger (known as the Aaron Judge 99 Burger during spring training). It’s a half pound of beef with all the fixings for a filling experience. A local pizza place, Colony Grill Pizza, has been around since 1935 and dishes up high quality thin-crust slices with its signature “hot oil” topping. And there is the usual assortment of sausages, hot dogs, chicken tenders, nachos, burgers, sliders, tacos and barbecue sandwiches. The right field and left field corners each feature an air-conditioned area where food and drink can be purchased. Or in the Field Box Seats, for $200 or more per ticket, you can fetch the inclusive food and drink in a private area underneath the stands or have it brought to you. And you have a place to retreat to if there is a pesky rain delay.

Club hospitality: Positive

Hurray for people who want to help! We felt like we had family working in the Rays Communication Department. At first there was a misfire because the person in charge of credentials in 2024 is longer with the team. But then we were assigned to Tabitha Labrato who took great care of us, providing credentials good for being on the field during batting practice, and issuing great game seats – 11 rows up from the field just off home plate on the first base side.

Game details: Astros win 4-3. Attendance 10,046. Time of game: 2:32.

Helpful tips: No outside food or beverages, but they do allow you to bring in empty plastic bottles that can be filled at the (tepid) water stations throughout the park. (It’s almost 90 degrees – how about some refrigeration units for the water stations?) Bags must be clear, and they say no purse bigger than 5”x7” but aren’t sticklers about it like other parks.

You don’t see that every day: The lineup for the Astros featured their three outfielders batting 7-8-9. The outfield position used to be where most of the team’s power hitters played. Think Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. or Barry Bonds.

Game #11: Cubs versus Marlins at LoanDepot Park in Miami, May 21

Miami is at the bottom of the National League East standings. Same for 2024. Somehow they managed to finish third in 2023 and make the playoffs as a wild card team. Then the Marlins made some administrative changes and have been free-falling ever since. Low attendance has plagued them after the 2023 season. They are averaging less than 14,000 fans per game this year, and had just over 14,000 fans per game last year. It is trending in the wrong direction!

Game atmosphere: Neutral

This game was the oddest one so far. LoanDepot seats 37,000 but there were less than 7,500 in attendance. Of those 7,500 – more than 75 percent were Cubs fans. Any attempt to get Marlin fan involvement going through videos, music, mascots or PA announcements fell flat because all the Cubs fans ignored it. The game itself was a good one – tied at 1-1 after the first inning. It stayed that way - with plenty of good pitching and defense - until the Cubs scored in the eighth inning. … The PA system was LOUD between innings with music hitting the 82.7 decibel level. Maybe because there weren’t many fans to absorb the sound? … There were at least six Marlin fans at the game, seated two rows behind us. Six boys around 19 years old, one with a booming voice and five that snickered through the game, egging him on with his occasional loud exclamation about nothing. I know the decibel level of the music because I downloaded an app during the game to measure the decibel level of the loud-mouthed fan (80 decibels!). His shouted comments weren’t particularly witty and usually had nothing to do with baseball. It seems there is a fine line between wit and nitwit. For instance, when Michael Busch of the Cubs was batting, Mr. Loud Mouth shouted, “Your dad wasn’t a very good president.” Then, after a pause, “Neither was your grandfather!” About midway through the game, we finally figured out there were about 30,000 empty seats to choose from to move away from the bombastic boor.

The crowd came to life with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. That’s when all the Cubs fans stood up and cheered, anticipating the final out of the game. … The stadium has a retractable roof so the Florida heat was not an issue. … Clear panels cover much of the left field side of the field, showcasing a view of the downtown Miami skyline. … They have drinking fountains but no drink stations.

Ballpark cuisine: Neutral

It is mostly standard baseball fare with a couple of exceptions. CAO Bakery & Café offers Cuban food with Fritas (Cuban cheeseburgers), Croquetas (ham and cheese sandwiches) and Arroz Con Pollo Bites (shredded chicken in a rice ball stuffed with mozzarella cheese). Of the three, only the Pollo Bites truly satisfied with its tasty combination. Beis Bowl is a food cart where you build your own bowl with a variety of grains and protein to choose from- similar to what you would find at Chipotle. There is also a Kosher Grill serving up mostly hot dogs. Pepsi sponsors a great family value package for Wednesday and Sunday games called “4 for $44.” Forty-four dollars gets you four tickets to the game, four hot dogs, four sodas and four small popcorns. The seats our way out in the Home Run Porch hinterland, but a great value nonetheless. … There is also an all-you-can eat section (Legends Level in Sections 201-204) with unlimited hot dogs, chili dogs, nachos with cheese, chili nachos, cheeseburgers, popcorn, peanuts, cookies and non-alcoholic drinks. All for $66 per person. To buy these tickets you have to navigate the Single Game Ticket Offers on the team website, find the All-You-Can-Eat Seats under Value Offers, then click “Buy Now” for the game of your choice.

Club hospitality: Positive

The team provided parking and tickets between home plate and the first base dugout.

Game details: Cubs win 2-1. Attendance 7,482. Time of game: 2:36.

Helpful tips: Only clear bags are permitted besides a small purse (6”x 8” maximum). Unopened plastic water bottles are allowed. Musical instruments are not only allowed but encouraged as the team tries to manifest a “fiesta” atmosphere – although we didn’t see any instruments and heard only one cowbell in the stands. Several parking garages are nearby for as little as $15.

You don’t see that every day: A bobblehead “museum” representing all 30 teams is featured in a large glass-enclosed, two-sided display case in the outfield plaza area. There are more than 600 bobbleheads featuring players, mascots and broadcasters.

Bonus: New Orleans

No MLB park. No National Park. But New Orleans is between Texas and Florida so it was definitely worth a visit. We had our best experience of New Orleans (pronounced New-OR-lins by locals, as if it’s one word) before we got there. We stayed with friends in Louisiana west of New Orleans and enjoyed a Crawfish Boil, homemade pralines, beignets and Boudin before we headed east on Interstate-10.

Dat dere’s a mess o’ CRAW-feeee-ish.

A quick tour of Cajun cuisine: You need about five pounds of crawfish per person for a crawfish boil, since each crawfish yields only its tail for meat – about the size of the tip of a child’s pinky. Getting to that tail-meat is an art by itself. … Beignets (pronounced ben-yayz) are a French-style, deep-fried pastry. … Pralines (pronounced praa-leenz) are a nut confection made with pecans or almonds coated with caramelized sugar. … Boudin (pronounced boo-da, with the “da” like “dan” without the “n”) is a sausage link, sometimes with smoked pork and pepper jack cheese.

New Orleans, still in recovery-mode since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in spite of that continues to feature a robust music, culinary and party scene. Driving and parking in New Orleans is a challenge, so instead park for free near the edge of the city limits by the streetcar line. The streetcar will take you right to the French Quarter. It’s only $3 for an all-day pass on the streetcar – 80 cents for seniors. The culinary-party connections are everywhere, including restaurants such as “Voodoo Chicken and Daquiris” and another one promoting its pizza and daquiris. One passerby summed up the scene with, “It’s always happy hour in New Orleans.” The restaurant where we dined featured live music (a horn-playing soul singer) where we enjoyed the gumbo and fried shrimp po’boy.

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Tom Trepiak is the former sports information director at Humboldt State and a member of the Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics Hall of Fame.