Sunday Night Baseball at the Trop

Sunday Night Baseball returns to the Trop in May for the first time in nine years.

The Rays play host to the Red Sox on May 10.

The last time the Rays played a Sunday night game at home – well the last time the Rays played a Sunday night game at the Trop was Game 7 of the ALCS against the same Red Sox – but the last time they played a regular season game on a Sunday night at the Trop was April 9, 2000 against the Indians.

It was a day the Rays hoped to forget sometime during the fourth inning, which was the second time the Indians batted around that night.

Cleveland won 17-4 with the help of a five-run second and a five-run fourth and a bunch of other innings in which they scored.

The Rays used six pitchers, most of whom weren’t effective.

After the game, a member of the Rays PR staff shook his head and said, “ESPN will never come back here again.”

He was wrong, of course.

The ESPN crew were regulars last season, but it took a historic worst-to-first run by the eventual AL champs to bring them back.