The Tampa Bay Rays are set for a trip of a lifetime.

The Rays will represent Major League Baseball and the United States in an exhibition game against the Cuban National Team on Tuesday at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana.

The team departs Tampa on Sunday for the historic visit, which includes only the second exhibition game played by an MLB team in the last 57 years.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity for all of us,” Rays outfielder Mikie Mahtook said. 

“It’s kind of unprecedented.  We haven’t had a team go over there and play in a long time.

“And the history in Cuba baseball wise is extremely rich.  It’s going to be an awesome experience.”

The Rays are the first MLB team to play on Cuban soil since the Baltimore Orioles also faced the Cuban National Team in 1999.

Bright House Sports Network, Bay News 9, and News 13 will have live reports and complete coverage of the historic trip throughout Monday and Tuesday.

The visit comes at a time when President Barack Obama and the United States government is loosening restrictions on the trade embargo with Cuba.

President Obama is the first sitting United States president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

Several other steps have recently been taken by the Obama administration to improve diplomatic relations with the Communist nation, including measures that could make it possible for Cuban baseball players to sign with major league teams without defecting.

“I think it’s something that we really won’t understand the scope of right now,” Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said.

“But one day we’ll look back and realize what the scope of how important this trip and these couple days in Cuba was both from the historic perspective, but also for us personally and for our team.”

The Rays will take part in a press conference Monday morning before working out at Estadio Latinoamericano.

Most of the team will then tour Havana Monday afternoon.

Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer and most of the coaching staff will join baseball legends like Derek Jeter, Joe Torre, and Cuba's own Luis Tiant to share their knowledge of baseball with young Cuban players at Desa Baseball Field Monday.

“We’re going to show them how we play, and they’re going to show us how they play,” Rays infielder Steve Pearce said. 

“And it’s going to be big for the future of baseball.  So this is definitely the next step that’s necessary to be taken.”

The Rays have the rest of the night to enjoy the city before getting set for Tuesday’s game.

President Obama will be in attendance and possibly could throw out the first pitch.

The game will be televised on ESPN and is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.

“It’s going to be cool to see baseball from their perspective,” Mahtook said.  “Their passion, they’re energy, and the way they treat it there.

“And I know they’re all die-hard baseball fans.  To be able to go there and play and have a packed house, I know it’s going to be pretty energetic and crazy.”

“It means a lot- especially with the passion they have for baseball,” Rays first baseman James Loney said. 

“They’re expecting over 50,000 people.  So I feel like it’s going to be like a playoff atmosphere type game.”

Rays minor league outfielder Dayron Varona will return to his homeland for the first time since leaving Cuba on a boat with his mother in 2013.

He’s hoping to spend time with family members he had to leave behind.

The Rays tell us that his schedule is jam-packed with requests for his time during the short visit.

Archer and Longoria lobbied the Rays to include Varona on the trip in spite of the fact that he’s not part of the major league roster.

“It’s a unique opportunity for him,” Longoria said.  “Most of the Cuban guys I’ve known have come in on not the greatest terms and rough conditions.  And they’ve had to endure some things that none of us, thankfully being born in the United States, have ever had to subject ourselves to.

“So I think for him, it’d be very special to go back to see his family and to see the people that he grew up playing in front of.  And hopefully, the situation for him is a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.”

Most of the other Rays players and coaches have never set foot in Cuba.

Thirty-four players will make the trip, and 28 of them will be active for the game.

“I think it’s definitely a lot more than baseball with this trip,” Loney said.  “Just for a lot of the guys to have that feel.

“You’re out of your comfort zone and you’re in a different country.  Just something that not a lot of people get to do.”

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will also make the trip, as will MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark and his special assistant, Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.

The Rays were selected to be MLB’s representative when they won a lottery against other interested teams on November 13.