Baltimore Orioles

Rays to play in Cuba this spring — if MLB finalizes plans

Published Nov. 14, 2015 9:44 a.m. ET

foxsports

NEW YORK -- The Tampa Bay Rays would be the team to make the trip if Major League Baseball returns to Cuba for an exhibition game during spring training.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred drew the Rays on Friday from a bin of teams that wanted to make the trip.

U.S. teams played spring training games in Cuba before Fidel Castro's revolution but none appeared there from March 1959 until the Baltimore Orioles faced Cuba's national team in Havana in March 1999. MLB has not returned since.

Manfred's selection of the Rays was first reported by The New York Times.