LOS ANGELES – Major League Baseball hopes to know by Christmas whether Tropicana Field will be playable to start the 2025 season after its roof was torn off by Hurricane Milton earlier this month.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series that the process to determine whether timely repairs to the Tampa Bay Rays stadium are feasible is ongoing.

“They are still assessing the damage,” Manfred said. “They’re trying to figure out the extent of the damage that needs to be done, and it clearly wasn’t just the roof.”

Manfred indicated that there are several options available if Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, is not ready for opening day. They will play at a minor league or spring facility, among other places, with one source saying Tampa, Dunedin and Clearwater are among possible nearby cities.

The New York Yankees’ Single-A team, the Tampa Tarpons, plays in Tampa, but it is unknown if that would be the likely home for the Rays. There are also several other minor league teams in the area.

Wherever the Rays play, the field and/or stadium would likely have to be modified to accommodate two big league teams.

“It starts with the playing surface and the safety of the ballpark itself,” Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, said Friday before Game 1 of the Series. “Making sure you can get the job done that you need to get done and that the surface is reflective, and reflects the ballpark, to Major League standards.”

The league is already in the process of adapting another minor league park, in Sacramento, California, to house the athletic club while their new stadium is built in Las Vegas. The league is laying a turf for safer conditions due to the summer heat.

As for the Rays, it’s also possible that the MLB or Minor League Baseball schedule will need to be adjusted slightly to accommodate a move to another park, but the league has yet to decide on a course of action. That should happen before the new year.

“There was also internal damage, and we won’t know exactly what’s going to happen until they complete that process,” Manfred said.