Joe Maddon will be back under the Tropicana Field roof on Monday night, returning to the ballpark where he helped turn the Rays from a perennial last-place club into an American League champion. The former Tampa Bay manager is set to deliver the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series against the Brewers.
First pitch for Game 3 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, with the game airing on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One. It will mark the first World Series contest at Tropicana Field since 2008, when Maddon was in the Rays’ dugout for the franchise’s first trip to the Fall Classic.
A familiar face from the Rays’ first October run
Tampa Bay fell to the Phillies in five games in the 2008 World Series, but its Game 2 victory remains the last World Series win played at The Trop. On Oct. 23, 2008, the Rays earned a 4-2 decision behind starter James Shields and closer David Price.
B.J. Upton, Carlos Peña, Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria drove in the runs that night, a lineup of familiar names from the club’s dramatic worst-to-first rise. Maddon managed that group through the breakthrough season, guiding a franchise that had spent years near the bottom of the standings into the sport’s biggest series.
His nine seasons in Tampa Bay included 754 victories and four postseason appearances. Only current manager Kevin Cash has surpassed both marks for the Rays, with 994 wins and six playoff trips.
The manager who changed the clubhouse
Maddon’s impact went beyond the standings. He embraced lineup platoons, defensive shifts and other forward-looking ideas while giving the clubhouse its own personality. Formal dress expectations disappeared, themed travel outfits became part of the routine, and the manager occasionally brought animals or entertainment acts into the room.
The results followed. After the 2008 pennant, the Rays won the AL East in 2010, captured a Wild Card spot in the final game of the 2011 regular season and returned to the postseason in 2013.
Maddon left after the 2014 campaign to manage the Cubs. Chicago reached the playoffs in his first year, then won the 2016 World Series to end a 108-year title drought. He spent five seasons with the Cubs before taking over the Angels, whom he managed from 2020 through 2022.
Back in the Tampa Bay orbit
The 72-year-old has returned to Tropicana Field in uniform since leaving the Rays. His Cubs played there on Sept. 19-20, 2017, and his Angels visited in June 2021. He also remains connected to the Tampa Bay area and addressed the club’s search for a permanent ballpark in a guest column last June.
The Rays offered a broad hint of Monday’s ceremony during the World Series travel day, sharing an image of Maddon’s recognizable black-rimmed glasses. Maddon had already suggested he would be part of the occasion during a recent WDAE radio interview.
“All I’ll tell you is that I will be there,” Maddon said.
For a World Series returning to Tampa Bay after nearly two decades, the pregame moment will bring back the manager most closely tied to the franchise’s first October breakthrough.
