Why aren't the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays playing on Saturday?

Major League Baseball's scheduling gurus always prioritize weekend games. Fans and families are significantly more willing to stay out late at the stadium on the weekend, especially early and late in the season when school is in session for kids. Therefore, scheduled off days on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays are exceedingly rare in the sport.

However, the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays will take a break in the middle of their series on Saturday.

Cardinals-Rays game booted in deference to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason game against the Buffalo Bills

MLB is one of the world's most popular sports leagues. From Japan to the Dominican Republic to Cuba, baseball is one of the most-watched sports in the world. Nevertheless, America's pastime still plays second fiddle to football.

The National Football League's preseason games started two weeks ago in early August. These exhibition games are similar to MLB's spring training: They allow players to get ready for the regular season.

While preseason NFL games are often sparsely attended, they can still draw fan totals in the ten-to-twenty-thousand range while some games can reach even higher heights. TV viewership is also strong amongst football loyalists.

The weekend of August 23rd is the final week of preseason games for the NFL, so it's expected to have high attendance and viewership rates.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who play just one mile from the Tampa Bay Rays' temporary location of George M. Steinbrenner Field, have a preseason game scheduled to kick off at 6:30 P.M. local time. This interfered with the Cardinals-Rays game.

The Cardinals and Rays originally had first pitch scheduled for 7:05 P.M. local time, but that game was moved to this past Thursday at 7:35 P.M. This game was moved to avoid a conflict with the Bucs' preseason game against the Bills just across the street.

The Rays are playing the 2025 season at the New York Yankees' spring training site due to damage at Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton in October 2024. The Trop is under reconstruction at the moment, so the Yankees lent their spring training facility to the Rays for the year. Steinbrenner Field can hold just over 11,000 fans, a drop in the bucket compared to Raymond James Stadium's 75,000 fan capacity.

While neither the Cardinals nor the Rays are jostling for a playoff spot, an MLB regular-season game should take precedence over an NFL preseason game. Seeing baseball take a back seat to football before the latter's regular season even starts shows how powerful the NFL is as a business.

The Rays also had a game against the Boston Red Sox moved. The two clubs were scheduled to play on Sunday, September 21st at 12:10 P.M., but the game was moved to an evening affair due to the Bucs' scheduled game at 1:00 P.M. against the New York Jets.

The Cardinals beat the Rays in Thursday's match 7-4 thanks to many errors by the Rays and a multi-hit game by Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Gorman. After dropping Friday night's game to the Rays, the Cardinals will look to take the series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 P.M. local time.