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NEW YORK (AP) -- Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously Monday to approve the sale of the Tampa Bay Rays to group headed by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski, allowing the transfer from Stu Sternberg's group to close.
The Rays said on Sept. 17 they expected the sale to close within two weeks.
Sternberg took control of the team from founding owner Vince Naimoli in November 2005 and rebranded it the Rays from the Devil Rays after the 2007 season. The Rays won AL East titles in 2008, 2010, 2020 and 2021, and twice reached the World Series, losing to Philadelphia in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.
The Rays in March withdrew from a $1.3 billion project to construct a new ballpark adjacent to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, citing a hurricane and delays that likely drove up the proposal's cost. The team said in June it had started talks about a potential sale.
Because of damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton last October, the Rays played home games this season across the bay at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. The Rays went 41-40 for their ninth straight winning record at home.
Playing home games in an open-air ballpark for the first time, the Rays experienced 17 rains delays over 16 games for a total of 17 hours, 47 minutes.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that he expects under Zalupski the Rays will start a new search for a new ballpark site in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area.