Column: Rays' sister-city plan a really, really dumb idea

There have been plenty of hair-brained ideas down through the years.

New Coke. Hair in a Can. The Godfather Part III. Auto-Tune. The Ford Pinto.

Well, it's time to add another one to the Hall of Shame:

The Tampa Bay Rays’ nonsensical scheme to play half their home games in one city, the other half in another city some 1,500 miles away.

In two different countries, for that matter.

Strangely, a franchise that does pretty much everything right on the field — the low-budget team made it to the World Series last season and is heading back to the playoffs with the best record in the American League — keeps messing things up away from the diamond.

Plagued by dismal attendance despite their success, the Rays have been trying for years to come up with a replacement for Tropicana Field, a monstrosity of a domed stadium located in sleepy St. Petersburg, far away from much of their potential fan base.

Having been thwarted at every turn, the Rays came up with a plan that you'd swear was a joke if they didn't keep saying it with a straight face.

Taking a page from the old Kansas City-Omaha Kings — look it up, kids — the Rays are pushing to play spring training and roughly the first half of the season in Tampa, then shift north to Montreal to play the rest of their home games.

Oh, Canada, what are they thinking?

Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman gave an incredulous look when asked about Tampa Bay's so-called “Sister City” proposition.

“Having two homes, people with families, people with kids in school, I think that's quite a bit to ask," Freeman said. "There's no other way to put it. That would be a lot."

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed a similar sentiment.

“The season is hard enough as it is,” he said....

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Column-Rays-sister-city-plan-a-really-really-16502889.php