Rays help Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield with custom glove for thumb injury as World Series week continues

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

ST. PETERSBURG — With World Series preparations already underway, the Tampa Bay Rays found time for a concrete, in-the-moment crossover favour for another local Tampa Bay franchise. According to the club, when the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers made an unusual request involving quarterback Baker Mayfield’s right thumb, the Rays supported the request by creating and fitting a custom protective glove for the injury.

The glove was described as a receiver’s glove modified with help from Rays home clubhouse attendant Tyler Wall. With the added protection, Mayfield threw for a second-quarter touchdown in the Buccaneers’ 43-13 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the Rays said the glove enabled him to get back under centre after missing the previous three weeks.

Mayfield publicly thanked the Rays organization for its assistance, saying, “They’ve done an incredible job helping me out to get where I’m at,” earlier this week. The Rays framed the effort as a “Team Tampa Bay” work product, highlighting the collaboration involved in getting Mayfield a piece of equipment tailored to his need to play while managing the dislocated thumb.

The Rays’ involvement arrives as Tropicana Field gears up for baseball’s biggest stage. The ballpark is set to host its first World Series game since 2008 on Monday evening, with the 2020 Fall Classic having been played in Arlington, Texas, and with Tampa Bay trailing the Milwaukee Brewers two games to none as the series shifts venues.

While the Rays did not state any connection between the Mayfield glove and their own World Series preparation beyond the shared Tampa Bay sports calendar, the club used the moment to reinforce what it described as a longstanding relationship among area teams. The Rays pointed to the “Champa Bay” culture celebrated by the Buccaneers and the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning in recent years, including major championship parades and high-profile home events.

As context for that sports-city identity, the source noted that the Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in 2021, and that the Lightning hosted Stanley Cup home games in both 2021 and 2022, including a home-ice clincher in Game 5 of the 2021 Final. The Rays said these types of moments have helped make the region a place where high-profile events carry extra meaning for both players and fans.

Several Rays figures linked that broader community support to what they expect from the World Series week. Rays outfielder Jonny DeLuca said, “It’s going to be a great story — coming back and being able to play these next few games to get some momentum back,” while Rays shortstop Taylor Walls described the region’s competitive standard, saying, “Every team that’s there, they feel like they figure out ways to win right now.”

Walls also emphasized the sense of shared backing in the area, adding, “To come back and have that fan base, that entire area — the state of Florida, really — behind you, you can just feel they want it as bad as you do.” The Rays also provided an organization-level statement through CEO Ken Babby, who said, “We’re proud to work alongside several sports organizations in our community who have set a standard of excellence. We want to continue to earn our place alongside them.”

Babby’s comments expanded the description of that local sports network beyond the Rays, naming the Yankees and the University of South Florida among the broader group and characterizing the relationship as “a lot like leaning on your neighbors.” He also referenced earlier relocation context for the club, noting, “Just a year ago, the Rays were playing their home games at Steinbrenner Field,” and that the Yankees “stood up to make that a possibility for us.”

The source further tied the community connection to operational cooperation beyond game-day storytelling. It noted that the Rays’ relationship with their Tampa Bay counterparts extends past equipment assistance and past a temporary home arrangement following hurricane damage that destroyed the Tropicana Field roof in 2024.

Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said he and his teammates attend Buccaneers and Lightning games as often as possible and described it as a reciprocal arrangement, adding, “Anytime there’s an opportunity where we’re not playing and they are, we’re always there in some capacity.” The Rays said that familiar faces could appear in the stands on Monday as the World Series returns to Tropicana Field.

With the World Series set to continue in a ballpark environment shaped by fan experience, Rays manager Kevin Cash said the club wants to keep Tropicana Field consistently loud for the remainder of the Fall Classic. Cash said, “We love it there, and we love our fan support,” and that, “Our fan support has been second to none in this postseason run.” He added, “I think that we can get just as loud, if not louder, at our ballpark.”

Looking beyond this series, the Rays said the catwalks at Tropicana Field are expected to be removed in future planning and pointed to a longer-term shift for their home venue. The club described plans for a new 31,000-seat domed ballpark on the current Hillsborough Community College grounds in Tampa, Fla., scheduled to open in April 2029, while concluding that the Rays want to build on the Tampa Bay region’s reputation for celebration.

As Monday’s World Series game approaches, Rays CEO Babby and the players featured in the source framed the upcoming stretch as an opportunity for the Rays to bring the same kind of local intensity that has marked championship moments across other Tampa Bay teams. The Rays’ equipment support for Mayfield offered a vivid example of that shared identity, even as the organization balances game-day preparation, television operations, and the immediate goal of competing on baseball’s biggest stage at Tropicana Field.