This story was excerpted from Adam Berry's Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TAMPA, Fla. -- This year is going to be different for the Rays. How could it not be?

After 27 seasons under Tropicana Field’s domed roof in St. Petersburg, the Rays will play their home games outdoors at Steinbrenner Field. They don’t currently know where they’ll be playing in 2026 and beyond.

It will be unusual. It might get uncomfortable at times. But the Rays don’t want it to be an obstacle as they look to get back in the playoffs after snapping a five-year postseason streak in 2024. If anything, president of baseball operations Erik Neander and manager Kevin Cash will encourage their group to embrace the uncertainty and lean into the opportunity ahead of them.

“I'm going to bet on our group. I'm going to bet on our guys that are going to embrace it,” Cash said. “We'll come together and do everything we can to make the most of it.”

Can the Rays make it into another winning season, their seventh in the last eight years? Can they outperform a cut-back payroll in a division full of bigger-spending behemoths? If they fall behind, how much will they continue to pare down the roster and look toward a future already promising the potential of the game’s top-ranked farm system?

Baseball is never easy to predict. This Rays season could be more difficult than most. But with a new year upon us, let’s take a look at the forecast for 2025.

1. One (realistic) free-agent target who would still be a perfect fit: INF Ha-Seong Kim
The Rays seem more likely at this point to bet on internal improvement, counting on better health and bounce-back candidates to upgrade their lineup (and keep spots warm for top prospects in the upper Minors) rather than going out and signing a free agent. But Kim is a potentially interesting fit, especially if the questions about his right shoulder injury (which will delay the start of his season) lead to him accepting a reasonably affordable one-year deal. The 29-year-old is an excellent middle-infield defender -- he was a Gold Glove-winning utility man in 2023 before serving as San Diego’s regular shortstop last season -- and he was a roughly league-average hitter for the Padres the past four years. Kim totaled 15.3 bWAR during his time in San Diego. It might not be that realistic, given the Rays’ appreciation for shortstop Taylor Walls’ elite defense and top prospect Carson Williams’ all-around potential, but it’s something to think about.

2. One player poised to have a breakout season: 3B Junior Caminero
Caminero was briefly the game’s top-ranked prospect last season before graduating from that status. Now, he’s poised to be the Rays’ everyday third baseman. He held his own in 43 games down the stretch, posting a 105 OPS+ with six homers and 18 RBIs, but he and Tampa Bay expect more. As Cash said, “Sky’s the limit.”

The 21-year-old offers elite bat speed and generates eye-popping exit velocities, leading to some highlight-reel home runs. If he puts it all together, he’ll be the all-around offensive “force” that Neander said he can be.

3. One prospect to watch in 2025: SS Carson Williams
The Rays have a sizable group of position-player prospects who will start the season with Triple-A Durham. It’ll be hard to keep your eyes off No. 10 prospect Tre’ Morgan when he’s hitting or No. 4 prospect Chandler Simpson when he’s running the bases, and the list goes on. But Williams is the Rays’ top prospect (and MLB Pipeline’s No. 4 overall) for a reason.

The 21-year-old has elite skills across the board: plus power and speed, a cannon of a throwing arm and no-doubt defensive ability at shortstop. There are still some questions about his strikeouts, but he’s continued to improve on that front. Given the Rays’ questions at shortstop and need for more offense overall, Williams is the one to watch.

4. One prediction for the new year: The Rays will have a franchise-record three players with 30-plus home runs
This might not sound like much, but consider: There have only been 18 individual 30-homer seasons in franchise history, and they’ve never had three in the same year. (They’ve had a pair of 30-homer hitters five times, most recently Brandon Lowe and Mike Zunino in 2021.) Last season, Lowe led the team with 21 homers despite only playing 107 games.

But it’s not hard to imagine Lowe and fellow lefty hitter Josh Lowe capitalizing on the move to Steinbrenner Field -- both the outdoor environment and the shorter right-field porch -- to provide a big jolt of left-handed power. And there’s no doubt Caminero has the ability to join them as a powerful presence in the middle of the lineup.