Eighteen months after Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off their ballpark, the Tampa Bay Rays are returning to Tropicana Field and bringing with them a reminder of the damage done.

The Rays announced on Thursday that their 2026 jerseys will include sponsored patches on the sleeves, and pieces of Tropicana Field’s old, destroyed roof will be stitched into the patches themselves.

“A message of resilience and strength and just how strong our community is,” chief executive officer Ken Babby said. Webull, online investment platform based in St. Petersburg, will sponsor the patches.

In October of 2024, Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc throughout the Tampa Bay area, and Tropicana Field’s destroyed roof became a symbol of the devastation. The Rays spent last season playing at Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees spring training ballpark in nearby Tampa, while Tropicana Field underwent significant renovation to repair the damage. The city of St. Petersburg spent more than $50 million to make Tropicana Field playable again, and among the expenses were new lights, new turf and — of course — a new roof.

Rays’ employees moved back into their Tropicana Field offices earlier this month, and the Rays will play their first home game on April 6.

Junion Caminero wears a jersey displaying the new patch on the arm (Courtesy of Tampa Bay Rays)

The team is returning to Tropicana Field even as ownership pursues an ambitious new stadium deal in Tampa, where it hopes to build a new ballpark in time for the 2029 season.

In the meantime, the Rays are honoring the stadium that hosted their inaugural season back in 1998. Tropicana Field had been the Rays’ home ballpark throughout the franchise’s existence until last year.

The team’s addition of a symbolic jersey patch is a new twist on a brand of corporate sponsorship that started when the latest collective bargaining agreement allowed sponsored jersey patches beginning in 2023. The San Diego Padres were the first team to announce such a partnership and by summer of 2023 even the New York Yankees had added a corporate logo to their iconic pinstripes. As of last season, nearly every team in baseball had a patch of some sort, and the Chicago White Sox previously announced a new jersey patch for 2026.

Now the Rays are doing the same, with a nod to the tumultuous year and a half that got them to this point.