May 26-28, 2031: vs Seattle (3)
 

Game 1: Christian Little turned in one of his patented dominant performances and the offense scored just enough runs to beat Seattle 3-2 on Memorial Day at Publix Park. Little had it all working today and aside from a first inning homer he had Mariner batters in the palm of his hand, going 7 3 1 1 0 12 to improve to 7-0, 2.89. He closed with a flourish, striking out the side in a 1-2-3 7th inning. Jordan Diaz got a quick 8th and stayed on to face leadoff righty Evan White in the 9th but allowed a single. Jose Alvarado came in with a string of lefties due up but Seattle sent up last year's Rays flop Adley Rutschman to pinch-hit. Alvarado made the crowd happy by whiffing Rutschman but gave up a 2-out double to put men on 2nd and 3rd. He then wild-pitched the man on 3rd home but got a groundout to end the game (and Diaz's scoreless streak) and get save #8. The bats got 7 hits through the first 3 innings but could only plate two runs on RBI singles from Luis Corpus and Jasson Dominguez, however they got what turned out to be an important insurance run in the 8th off former Ray Steven Casey they'd file a claim against in the 9th when Nate Clark walked, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on Victor de Jesus's sac fly.

Game 2: Best Rays team yet? After today's 8-3 win over Seattle the Rays are now 40-7, have won five straight, 17 of their last 18 and 22 of their last 24. And we're only 27th out of 30 MLB teams in payroll. We'll see how the rest of the season goes but for now they're really on a roll. Today the big hero was Bobby Witt Jr., one of their hottest hitters of late. He blasted a 2-run HR (#4) in the 4th to make it 4-0 Rays, and after Seattle got within 4-3 in the top of the 6th his two-out, two-run double restored a healthy Rays lead. The Rays got 2 in the first on Jasson Dominguez's sac fly and a Rodolfo Rivas RBI single, and then after Witt drove in the next four, picked up two more in the 8th on a rare Rivas RBI triple and Connor Kirkley's run-scoring groundout. Alec Sachais started and was dominant early, striking out 8 Mariners in the first 4 innings and allowing only one hit. But he started losing it in the 5th, giving up a homer, and then in the 6th he allowed a leadoff double and a homer to Adley Rustchman of all people, finally doing something in Publix Park. After another double without still recording an out, Sachais was lifted for Brad Ballmann, who walked a man but then got a double play and a whiff to get out of the inning and stayed on for a scoreless 7th. Tim Siqueiros was filthy, striking out the side in the 8th, and Mike Mooney finished up with a clean 9th.

Game 3: Another day another win for the Rays as they scored 6 times in the 3rd to beat Seattle 6-3 and sweep the series. The Rays jumped all over Evan Fitterer in that 3rd with Nate Clark singling in a run, Victor de Jesus singling in two more and Jakob Runnels clearing the bases with a 3-RBI double. They didn't do much else offensively although they stole six bases off Adley Rustchman and various Mariner pitchers today with Ricky Widmar adding a pair to his MLB-leading total of 16. Jon Hayes was excellent, shutting out Seattle until the 6th, and then allowing the leadoff man to reach in the 8th before giving way to Evan Godwin who wasn't that good again, allowing Hayes' runner to score and one of his own to allow Seattle back into it. But Jose Alvarado put an end to the madness, getting the final out of the 8th and then striking out the side in the 9th for save #9. Hayes improves to 5-2, 4.06 as he bounces back from two subpar outings in his last three starts.

Team record: 41-7. Next up: A day off before a lengthy road trip begins in Baltimore for 3 this weekend. The Rays have an astounding 17-1 road record as 6 of their 7 losses this season have come at Publix Park in a bit of a reversal of last season.

May 30-June 1, 2031: at Baltimore (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays extended their latest winning streak to 7 games, hanging on to beat Baltimore at Camden Yards 4-3. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead which should have been more considering they only managed 2 runs against former teammate Steve Givens despite getting 6 hits off him and Givens issuing six walks, but a couple of double plays and a runner thrown at the plate kept their run total down. Still, Jasson Dominguez had an RBI single in the 1st and Nate Clark hit HR #15 before Dayle Jenkins launched a 2-run shot (#4) in the 6th off the Oriole bullpen. Marc Wagner was cruising despite sitting through a 63-minute rain delay in the 3rd before he was touched for a couple of runs on either side of a Druw Jones triple in the 6th. Wagner ended a still-excellent 6 5 2 2 0 10 and improved to 7-1, 3.69. Brad Ballmann gave up a Tim Steele homer in the 7th and gave up a single to start the 8th, but Jordan Diaz got him through the inning. And after Diaz allowed a leadoff double in the 9th, Jose Alvarado said "no problem" and retired the final three Orioles, two on strikes, to get save #10 and lower his ERA to 1.53. The win now makes them 18-1 on the road and 42-7 overall, meaning they've set the MLB record for best 50-game start regardless of what happens tomorrow as the old record was 41-9.

Game 2: Every fifth game these days it's the Andy Aparicio show, and he didn't disappoint today coming within one inning of twirling his 3rd shutout of the year. He had to settle for 8 scoreless innings in a 4-0 win over Baltimore which improved to Rays to 43-7. His 8 6 0 0 1 6 outing on 117 pitches makes him 7-0 and lowers his already ridiculously-low ERA to 1.27 over his first 70.2 innings of the season. We left him in to try to get the shutout but he went full on Tim Steele to start the 9th and gave up a single and we didn't want Baltimore to mount a rally. Tim Siqueiros came on did his thing as well, getting an immediate double play and a strikeout to end the game. Dane Ayers got a start and came through again, blasting a 2-run first inning homer to give him 9 in only 89 at-bats this year. Jakob Runnels added an RBI double in the 4th and Connor Kirkley an RBI double in the 6th.

As befitting a team which went 25-3 in May, we take home the Batter and Pitcher of the Month awards:

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Game 3: Stop the presses! The Rays lost! And only for the second time this season on the road. Christian Little was tagged for 3 homers today in a 4-2 loss at Baltimore, a game in which we also did the Orioles a favor by resting Nate Clark and Joe Barker. Connor Kirkley's 10th HR of the year, a 2-run shot in the 4th, gave the Rays a brief 2-1 after Ed Howard had homered for Baltimore. But Oneil Cruz took Little deep in the bottom of the inning and Ramon Laureano broke the tie in the 6th with a 2-run blast, consigning Little (7-1) to his first loss of the season. When he wasn't serving up home runs Little pitched well as he ended up 6 5 4 4 1 12. Nate Thompson pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief. While Clark and Barker were missed, their replacements were a mixed bag. Mike Lammers got the start at DH and reached base 3 times, but Dane Ayers may be starting to regress as he went 0-5 in place of Clark in LF. Regulars Dayle Jenkins and Ricky Widmar and semi-regular Rodolfo Rivas also took the collar today as the team only managed 6 hits in total.

Team record: 43-8. Next up: We head out west to play 3 games in Anaheim.

June 2-4, 2031: at LA Angels (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays embodied the Michael Jordan "And I took that personally" meme today as after a rare loss they took their frustrations out out on the Angels, scoring 7 times in the first 2 innings on their way a 12-2 win. LA greatly aided them in a five-run first inning with an error, three walks from starter Keider Montero, and two Montero wild pitches. Nate Clark had a 2-run single, Jasson Dominguez singled in another, and two others scored on a wild pitch and a double play. Clark added an RBI double and Joe Barker an RBI single in the second to make it 7-0. Dominguez later had another RBI single and a solo shot (#10), while Ricky Widmar hit #9 with two men on in the 7th to complete the scoring. Alec Sachais was happy to get all this run support and pitched very well, going 7 6 2 2 1 9 to improve to 6-1, 3.52. Jon Whiteleather had a perfect 8th and with the game in hand Rodolfo Rivas saw his second mound action of the season, pitching a perfect 9th punctuated with a game-ending strikeout.

Game 2: The Rays took a 6-0 lead but had to hang on to a 6-5 win after a implosion from Tim Siqueiros. Dayle Jenkins hit HR #5 and Jasson Dominguez followed with a 2-run shot (#11) in the first inning to stake Jon Hayes to a 3-0 lead, and they added 3 more in the 5th on a Joe Barker sac fly, a Dominguez RBI double and Rodolfo Rivas' RBI single. Hayes cruised along despite another wild first inning (2 walks) until he gave up a 7th-inning solo homer to Alex Verdugo. He departed 7 5 1 1 2 6 and improves to 6-2, 3.78. Then things got interesting. Siqueiros took over in the 8th and the normally reliable righty didn't have it tonight. He walked a man and hit another, got a whiff, but then gave up an RBI double and a 3-run homer to Bobby Dalbec and suddenly 6-1 was 6-5. Jose Alvarado came in and once again calmed the waters, getting the final 5 outs on only 13 pitches including 2 strikeouts for save #11. All in a day's work for The Best Reliever in Baseball™.

Game 3: The Angels hung a 4-3 loss on the Rays in the series finale today thanks to a key Bobby Witt Jr error and Marc Wagner's total failure to pitch around it. They took a 3-0 lead on RBI singles from Joe Barker and Rodolfo Rivas in the 1st and a Jasson Dominguez sac fly in the 3rd, but it all went wrong in the 6th. Up 3-0, the leadoff man reached on Witt's error and then Wagner walked a man but got a strikeout. The next batter hit into a fielder's choice but they couldn't turn the double play, so up stepped Bobby Dalbec, who nearly brought the Angels back with a 3-run homer last night. Well today he did bring them back with a 3-run homer to tie it, and Wagner came unglued, giving up a walk and two more singles for the go-ahead run before getting a whiff to end the inning. As a result all the runs against him were unearned, which shows how meaningless the earned/unearned runs distinction can be. So despite the loss his ERA fell to 3.38 off a 6 6 4 0 2 7 outing. Brad Ballmann was not the lucky comeback charm he's been even though he pitched a scoreless inning, as did Jon Whiteleather. Former Ray Jack Filby, last seen closing in the World Series against us for Columbus last year, signed with the Angels as a free agent over the winter and got the save today.

Team record: 45-9. Next up: Today was also the Amateur Draft, so I'll have a post on that next. And it's off to the Pacific Northwest for 4 games in Seattle.

The 2031 Amateur Draft
 

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A bit of a strange draft for us as it was the first time in recent memory we didn't have a supplemental pick (or two or five) for losing a big-name free agent. JDLC was the only free agent eligible for compensation and he wasn't getting the qualifying offer. Anyway here's the skinny on our top picks:

Hayes: Our first round pick has the nickname "The Dominator", so if he's as anywhere near as good as Dale Earnhardt or Dominik Hasek were in their respective sports I'll be thrilled. Tremendous raw power, excellent baserunner, has some positional versatility although one would like him to stay in center. Only drawback is his contact tool will be average at best. Our top scout Rob Metzler uses the "reliable hitter in the organization's grand scheme" line for him.

Willard: Willard's a 19-year-old starting pitcher who went to JuCo in Arizona for a year. He throws 100+ and is a groundballer so he keeps the ball in the park. He might ultimately be destined for the bullpen, but he's definitely intriguing. OSA says top of rotation potential, Metzler says back-end, which is probably more accurate.

Loya: Organizationally we need another 1B like we need a hole in the head, but Loya has a bit of a different profile. He's more contact than power with a potential 75 or 80 contact tool depending on whether you believe Metzler (who's always more bearish) or OSA. He's potential 50/55 on power so it's not like he's a pure singles hitter, but I like drafting tools that register as blue on the scale.

Whitmore: A high-school starter from Wisconsin, Whitmore projects to have above-average stuff with above-average control with the potential of being a #3 (OSA) or #5 (Metzler). I see a poor man's Alec Sachais here potentially.

Burnett: A high school hitter from Rhode Island, Burnett has the potential to be above-average in all the hitting tools if not elite in any of them. He also has decent speed and a decent outfield arm, and both Metzler and OSA like him in their scouting blurbs.

Gamez: Gamez is a high-schooler out of California who projects as a prototypical CF, high contact skills, marginal power, avoids Ks. His eye isn't projected to be great, and he's probably a fourth outfielder realistically but you never know.

June 5-8, 2031: at Seattle (4)
 

Game 1: The Rays' bats were quieter than normal but got loud at the right time as they took a 4-2 win over Seattle in 10 innings. Joe Barker's two-run homer in the extra frame (#10) was the game-winner after Nate Clark had doubled with two out. Jordan Diaz made it way too interesting in the bottom of the inning trying to save it. He walked the leadoff man but immediately erased him on a double play before loading the bases on two walks wrapped around a hit. With lefty slugger Jon Nelsen due, Jose Alvarado came in and got Nelsen looking to end the game and nab save #12. Mike Mooney, who had pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th, picked up his second win of the season in relief. For the second straight night a Rays starter came unglued after an error, tonight it was Andy Aparicio after Ricky Widmar's two-base miscue kept Seattle alive in the 4th. AA allowed a double to score one and then a single to score another. But that was all he'd allow, going 7 4 2 0 1 3, and with the two unearned runs his ERA continues to plummet at 1.16. They fought back from that two-run deficit on solo homers from Ricky Widmar (#10) in the 5th and Jasson Dominguez (#12) in the 6th but had a hard time getting anything else going until Clark and Barker came through in the 10th.

Game 2: The Rays took leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 5-2 and Seattle kept coming back to tie it up but the fourth time was the charm as Rodolfo Rivas's 2-run HR (#5) in the 7th sent the Rays to a 7-5 win in Seattle. Jasson Dominguez and Joe Barker had RBI singles to put the Rays up early and with Christian Little on the mound it looked like a big 5th would be enough when Barker led off with HR #11 to dead center and later in the inning Connor Kirkley also hit #11 with a man on. But Little didn't have his best stuff tonight and in the 6th yielded a 3-run homer to the light-hitting Nomar Urdaneta (who had come in .236-1-9 in 174 at-bats), the second time Urdaneta got to him after an earlier RBI single. Little finished the inning and ended 6 8 5 5 3 7 but still picked up the win thanks to the Rivas homer and is now 8-1, 3.49. Brad Ballmann pitched a couple of scoreless innings and Jose Alvarado finished things out in the 9th in order, whiffing Adley Rustchman and Andrew Benintendi to finish the game and get save #13. Nate Clark doubled in the 6th to extend his hitting streak to 18 games.

Game 3: Just like last night the Rays took the lead three times only for Seattle to come back, but this time they didn't take the lead for a fourth time as the Mariners came away with an 8-6 win. Alec Sachais had his worst game of the season against his old club, going 3.1 7 6 6 2 3 and surrendering leads of 1-0, 4-1 and 5-4. Nate Thompson went the final 4 2/3, allowing 2 runs that turned out to be the difference but the Rays were losing 6-5 when he came in. Joe Barker had an RBI single in the 1st, Dayle Jenkins had a 2-run triple in the 3rd and Nate Clark singled in a run (hitting in his 19th straight game) to make it 4-1. After Seattle tied it off Sachais in the bottom of the 3rd, Connor Kirkley homered again (#12) to give the Rays their last lead. Jasson Dominguez hit #13 in the 5th to get them back within 7-6 but that would be the end of their scoring on the night. In the 3rd Sachais hit Adley Rutschman on the hand with a pitch and the former Ray suffered a broken finger which will sideline him for 6-7 weeks.

Game 4: The Rays launched five homers as they bounced back from last night's loss with a 7-2 win over Seattle. Nate Clark wasted no time in extending his hitting streak to 20 games by blasting HR #16 in the 1st inning to put the Rays on the board, and Victor de Jesus, who has cooled after a hot start to the season, homered for the first time since May 13 for #9 of the year to make it 2-0 in the 3rd. Like the last few days, Seattle came back to tie it up but Bobby Witt Jr. broke the deadlock for good in the 5th with his 5th of the year and then Rodolfo Rivas hit #6 in the 7th to make it 4-2. They continued to rally in the inning with Dane Ayers singling in a run and in the 8th Joe Barker homered for third time in four days (#12) with a man on to make it 7-2. Jon Hayes started and struggled throughout but got big outs when he needed them, ending 6 8 2 2 2 8 to go to 7-2, 3.72. Tim Siqueiros got a hold with a 2K 1-2-3 7th, and Evan Godwin shook off the cobwebs after sitting for 11 days and threw two perfect innings with four whiffs to finish out the game.

Team record: 48-10. Next up: An off-day then back home to face the Angels for 3 games.

June 10-12, 2031: vs LA Angels (3)
 

Game 1: It seems like there's nothing this team can't do, and today they came back from a 7-0 deficit to walk off the Angels 8-7 on Jasson Dominguez's 14th homer of the year in the bottom of the 10th. The win was their biggest comeback since the famous Game 162 of the 2011 season. It all started poorly enough, of course, as Marc Wagner was batting practice for Angels hitters. After two scoreless innings, Wagner lost it in the 3rd and 4th, ending up 3.2 7 7 7 1 4. Brad Ballmann took over and typically allowed his inherited runner to score but blanked LA over the next two innings as did a parade of relievers after that with Jon Whiteleather, Mike Mooney, Rodolfo Rivas (with two whiffs!) and finally Jordan Diaz in the 10th, who picked up his first win of the season, with a scoreless inning each. This bought the Rays time to chip away, which they did with mostly the longball. In the 5th Connor Kirkley took a 3-0 Tim Rutherford pitch into the LF stands (#13) to make it 7-2, Nate Clark made it 21 straight with a hit with HR #17 in the 6th and in the 7th Victor de Jesus went deep for #10 before Ricky Widmar singled in two more later in the inning to cut it to 7-6. And in the 9th they got to old friend Jack Filby. After Kirkley walked to lead off the inning the next two batters were retired but Widmar singled Kirkley to 2nd and Dayle Jenkins singled Kirkley home to tie the game, setting things up for Dominguez to be the hero in the 10th.

Game 2: The Rays improved to the nice round numbers of 50-10 with a 5-1 win over the Angels behind yet another great performance from Andy Aparicio, who could be the next Rays pitcher to win a Cy Young. He went 7 4 1 1 2 10, which actually raised his ERA from 1.14 to 1.17 as he upped his record to 8-0. Jose Alvarado and Tim Siqueiros followed with clean innings to finish the game. Jasson Dominguez got them on the board in the 1st with an RBI single and in the 3rd Nate Clark extended his hitting streak to 22 with an RBI double that gave the Rays the lead to stay. Connor Kirkley led off the 7th with HR #14, his second in as many days, and Dayle Jenkins singled in Ricky Widmar who had tripled later in the inning. They added a 5th run on a wild pitch in the 8th. The 50-10 start is the best 60-game start in MLB history, eclipsing the 1912 Giants who went 48-11-1.

Game 3: Christian Little was dominant and so were the bats in an 11-3 rout of the Angels to sweep the series. Little was 6 4 1 1 1 11 to go to 9-1, 3.35, while Evan Godwin gave up a 2-run homer to Mike Trout in his 2nd inning of relief before Jon Whiteleather struck out the side in the 9th to finish the game. Meanwhile the bats pounded out 19 hits and scored 11 runs without the benefit of a homer. Dayle Jenkins led the hit parade, going 4-6 with two doubles and four RBI, Nate Clark made it 23 straight games with a hit by going 3-5 and driving in a run and Joe Barker was 2-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBI as every starter had at least one hit and all starters except Bobby Witt Jr and Jakob Runnels drove in runs.

Team record: 51-10. Next up: The White Sox visit for 3 over the weekend.

June 13-15, 2031: vs Chicago White Sox (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays suffered a 5-3 loss tonight at the hands of the White Sox as they got to Alec Sachais for four runs in six innings and Chicago pitching kept the Rays off the board except for three solo homers. Sachais wasn't bad, but he gave up hits to the wrong batters at the wrong times, including a 2-run AJ Austin homer in the 2nd as he finished 6 7 4 3 1 10 with the unearned run scoring due to a Luis Corpus passed ball. Mike Mooney allowed a run in his two innings of work while Nate Thompson had a perfect 9th. As mentioned the offense came exclusively via the solo homer with Connor Kirkley (#15, his 3rd in 4 days), Corpus (#4 and his first since April 17), and Nate Clark (#18 in the 8th, extending his hitting streak to 24 in his final at-bat) going deep.

Game 2: The Rays took a 6-2 lead into the final three innings today but had to survive same bad bullpen work to hang on to win 7-6. Jon Hayes gave up a 2-run homer to Amed Rosario in the 1st but the Rays battled back with a Joe Barker RBI double in the first and five more in the 4th with the key hit a 3-run blast from Luis Corpus (#5 and his 2nd in as many days). Nate Clark had an RBI single in that 4th inning as his hitting streak reaches 25 games and Barker added a sac fly. Hayes got into a groove after the first and finished 6 6 2 2 2 7 to improve to 8-2, 3.67, but no thanks to his bullpen. It started with Jon Whiteleather, who failed to retire all 4 batters he faced with two of them scoring, only getting an out when Miguel Andujar tried to take 3rd on his double and Dayle Jenkins threw him out. Rodolfo Rivas doubled in the bottom of the 7th and Bobby Witt Jr singled him home, with what proved to be a very important run. That's because Brad Ballmann, who finished the 7th for Whiteleather, got into trouble in the 8th and left with men on 2nd and 3rd. Jordan Diaz came on and gave up a 2-run single to Rosario to make it 7-6 but got out of the inning and Jose Alvarado entered for the save in the 9th and made things interesting himself, giving up a hit and a walk before finally getting three outs to nab save #14.

Game 3: Marc Wagner was outstanding and the offense did just enough in a 3-0 win over Chicago to take the series from the White Sox. Wagner had a 2-hitter with 2 out in the 8th before giving up a double and single to put men on 1st and 3rd and bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Amed Rosario. He gave way to Jordan Diaz, who whiffed Rosario and got a 1-2-3 9th to nail down save #10, while Wagner improves to 8-2, 3.68 after going 7.2 4 0 0 1 10. Had he not allowed those two hits in the 8th Wagner would have gotten a shot at a shutout as his pitch count was in the mid-80s and he ended up throwing only 94. Several regulars (Widmar, Barker, Witt, Corpus) got the day off and the 3 runs, all scored in the 4th inning, came from the bench. Mike Lammers had a sac fly and Dane Ayers followed a couple of batters later with a 2-run single. The one damper on the day, though, was that Nate Clark went 0-4 ending his hitting streak at 25 games.

Team record: 53-11. Next up: Interleague play as Washington comes to town for a pair of games before we head to the nation's capital to play them up there for a pair.

June 16-17, 2031: vs Washington (2)
 

Game 1: The Rays faced a team they could be seeing in the World Series should they get that far, the 37-25 NL East-leading Washington Nationals, and they aced the first test against them with a 12-1 thrashing at Publix Park. Rodolfo Rivas had a career game and for Andy Aparicio it was Monday as the two led the way. With his team trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 4th, Rivas stepped up and drilled a 3-run homer (#7) to straightaway center, then in the 6th he made it 5-1 with a 2-run double which sent the Rays on to 4 more runs to blow the game open at 9-1, and in a 3-run 7th he added another RBI double to give him a career-high 6-RBI day. Bobby Witt Jr also wielded a hot bat, going 3-4 with a HR (#6) and 3 RBI. Connor Kirkley drove in a pair and Nate Clark rebounded from losing his 25-game hitting streak to go 3-4 with a walk and score 3 runs. On the mound Aparicio was dominant as usual, going 7 5 1 1 0 11 and only touched for a Drew Mendoza homer in the 4th. Once again the run allowed in 7 increased his ERA, ballooning from 1.17 to 1.18 as he is now 9-0 on the season. Evan Godwin went 1 1/3 before having to leave with minor back spasms so Jon Whiteleather got the final two outs.

Game 2: For the second straight night the Nats were more like gnats to the Rays as they swatted them away in another rout, 10-1. Christian Little picked up where Andy Aparicio left off last night and Rodolfo Rivas picked up where he left off. Little was his classic self, 6 3 0 0 2 11 to go to 10-1, 3.12 while Rivas, coming off a career 6-RBI night the game before, led off the bottom of the 2nd in his first at-bat of the game with another HR (#8). That turned out to be the first of four dingers the Rays hit, with Luis Corpus staying hot as well with HR #6, a 2-run shot in the same inning, Joe Barker hitting a 2-run blast in the 3rd (#13) and Ricky Widmar putting the icing on the cake with a 3-run homer (#11) in the 8th. Nate Clark (2-3 and up to .350-18-58) and Bobby Witt Jr had the other RBI. Brad Ballmann tried to finish out the game for a 3-inning save but ran into trouble in the 9th, allowing a run and 3 hits, so Tim Siqueiros came in for the final two outs. Little becomes the first pitcher in MLB this year to reach 10 wins. Also a couple of mid-2020s Rays were back in Tampa Bay with the Nationals today, as Aaron Ashby had 2 scoreless innings in relief and Hunter Bishop had a couple of hits as the DH.

Team record: 55-11. Next up: Off to DC to play these guys in a pair of games at their place.

June 18-19, 2031: at Washington (2)
 

Game 1: Turnabout is fair play and it was the Nationals who routed the Rays in their own park after being blown out twice in Tampa. The Nats got a 12-6 win that saw them pull ahead 8-2, the Rays get within 8-6 and then Washington scored 4 times in the 8th to put the game away. Alec Sachais started and was flat-out terrible, tagged for a 3.2 8 8 8 3 4 outing which included a runner thrown out at the plate. The Rays' last three losses have all been with Sachais on the mound as he's allowed 17 runs in his last 13 innings over those three starts. Nate Thompson pitched admirably in long relief, although he did allow the 8th run charged to Sachais to score. Thompson went 4 4 1 1 0 5 into the 8th when Mike Mooney came in and crapped the bed, brought in with one on and two out to get a lefty and proceeded to give up three straight hits, capped by a Josh Ellis 3-run homer. The Rays hit a few long balls of their own, with Victor de Jesus (#11) and Bobby Witt Jr (#7) going solo, and Jasson Dominguez (#15) hitting a 3-run blast in the top of the 8th which briefly brought them back within two.

June 19: Signed IF Rylan Bannon to a minor league contract, assigned him to AAA Durham.

Remember him? He was our righty-hitting backup IF, part-time DH on the first Rays World Series winners in 2023, then spent several years with the White Sox after we traded him there for Dean Christidis (whom we later traded to the Dodgers and is still in their bullpen). Anyway, we signed him to play 3B for Durham as Osmy Gregorio (another prodigal son who returned to the organization) is out 5 weeks with a groin. Virtually no chance he joins the big club with Dane Ayers and Mike Lammers on the team backing up Witt and Kirkley, but never say never.

Game 2: Jon Hayes was excellent and the Rays took a 6-2 win in Washington to take three out of four in their season series with the Nationals. Hayes was touched for 3 hits and a run in the 2nd but gave the Nats next to nothing outside of that, finishing 7 5 1 1 0 6 and is now 9-2, 3.48. Jordan Diaz came on with the score 4-1 in the 8th and gave up a homer, but they scored 2 more in the 9th and Diaz stayed in for a 2-inning save, #11 for him. The offense jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead on a Nate Clark RBI single and a 2-run knock from Rodolfo Rivas, Bobby Witt Jr. hit the first of his two doubles to score a run in the 6th and Dayle Jenkins had an RBI single and Clark an RBI double in the 9th to make it comfortable at the end. Three more hits from Clark today have his BA up to .352.

Team record: 56-12. Next up: The road trip resumes with AL opposition in Cleveland for three this weekend.

June 20-22, 2031: at Cleveland (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays trailed 4-0 (later 4-1) and were being shut down by Cleveland starter Edwin Flores into the 7th. But a 3-run rally with 2 out in the inning tied it up, and Luis Corpus blasted a 2-run homer (#7) off Cleveland closer Jackson Baumeister in the 9th to give the Rays a 6-4 comeback win. Marc Wagner started and had a rough 2nd inning which was extended by a Connor Kirkley error. Although the runs were unearned, it was mostly Wagner's fault as he gave up an RBI single and then a 3-run homer to the light-hitting Tsung Che-Cheng to make it 4-0 Cleveland. He did pitch well from there, and ended the night 6.1 5 4 0 1 9, lowering his ERA to 3.41. Victor de Jesus got the Rays on the board in the 5th with his 12th homer, but the real action started in the 7th. With a man on second Flores got a pair of Rays to whiff but suddenly lost the plate, walking his first two men of the night to load 'em up. Ricky Widmar hit a 2-run single to make it 4-3 and Dayle Jenkins singled to tie it up. This set the stage for Corpus to come through in the 9th with the biggest hit of his young Rays career. Evan Godwin got Wagner out of the 7th but put two on in the 8th and Jose Alvarado got him out of that pickle, stranding the go-ahead run at 3rd with a grounder at the drawn-in infield and a whiff. He stayed on to save his own win in the 9th, his first of the year.

Game 2: The Rays jumped out to a big early lead and coasted to a 7-4 win over Cleveland. Joe Barker had two big hits, an RBI single in the 1st to get them on the board and another one in the 3rd to make it 3-1 Rays after Nate Clark singled in a run. Rodolfo Rivas then unloaded a 3-run shot later in the 3rd (#9) to make it 6-1 and Victor de Jesus added an RBI triple in the 7th. Andy Aparicio started and wasn't quite his normal dominating self but gutted through it to go 6 7 2 2 2 4 and join teammate Christian Little on 10 wins at 10-0. The ERA jumped about 11 points to 1.29 so Bob Gibson is safe for now. Brad Ballmann wasn't very good again in relief in the 7th, giving up a couple of runs even they were unearned due to a Rivas error. But Tim Siqueiros was sharp in the 8th with a pair of whiffs and Jordan Diaz got save #12 with three groundball outs from the three men he faced. Jasson Dominguez had to leave the game with a hip flexor strain in the 3rd, and although it's a minimal day-to-day injury it's going to last for two weeks so we'll just go ahead and put him on the 10-day IL in an abundance of caution.

June 22: Placed OF Jasson Dominguez on the 10-day IL with a hip flexor strain, recalled OF Alex Buitrago from AAA Durham.

My knee-jerk reaction was to bring up D'Andre Hodges again, and lord knows he deserves it having gone 319/396/551 at Durham this year after being up briefly early in the season. But Buitrago deserves a shot, and unlike Hodges he's a real CF with 60 defense. And he went 310/363/552 with 19 HR and 88 RBI at Durham last year so he doesn't much left to prove there either, despite being down this year at 251/330/433. His real skill is somewhere between those two but he's a legit MLB CF who's probably going to end up traded because top-5 prospect Omar Rodriguez is right behind him at AA Montgomery, but we're going to give him a shot while J-Dom is out.

Game 3: A makeshift lineup couldn't generate much offense and Cleveland finally got to Christian Little in the 7th to break a 2-2 tie as the Rays dropped the final game of this series 4-2. With Nate Clark and Dayle Jenkins both fatigued, and Jasson Dominguez on the IL, the Rays could only manage 4 hits against Cleveland pitching with all of their offense coming against Cleveland opener Hayden Durke, who gave up a Connor Kirkley homer (#16) in the first and was charged with the second run when Rodolfo Rivas reached on his wild pitch strikeout and scored when Dane Ayers singled off Luke Weaver. But that was all the Rays could muster against the 37-year-old veteran, who held them to 7.2 3 0 0 1 4 on 89 pitches before leaving after giving up a 2-out single to Victor de Jesus in the 9th. Cleveland closer Jackson Baumeister bounced back from losing the first game of the series by whiffing Joe Barker to end the game. Little had a rough first inning, allowing 2 runs, but settled in after that until he ran out of gas in the 7th and the first two reached, were sacrificed over and then that man Tsung Che-Cheng came through again with a 2-run single through the drawn-in infield. Little went 6.1 7 4 4 1 8 and dropped to 10-2. Mike Mooney pitched better than last time, getting the final 5 outs, but it didn't matter in the end. Alex Buitrago made his MLB debut starting in CF, even though he too was fatigued. He nearly had a sac fly on his first MLB at-bat but former Rays property Jordan Evangelista gunned down Mike Lammers at home, and he ended up 0-3. He'll rest tomorrow given his fatigue but will likely start after that while J-Dom is out.

Team record: 58-13. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Toronto.

June 23-25, 2031: vs Toronto (3)
 

Game 1: Alec Sachais was in a serious slump, having lost his last 3 starts and having allowed 17 ER in his last 13 IP, but he more than broke out of it tonight with a 4-hit shutout that saw him walk none and whiff 13 as the Rays won 5-0. He was dominant from the get-go, striking out the first 6 Jays he faced and 8 of the first 9. He was only in trouble in the 7th when he gave up a double to Heliot Ramos and a single, but Nate Clark threw Ramos out at home. He was running on fumes at the end and finished with 119 pitches but got three fly balls in the 9th to complete the shutout, the first of his career and only his second complete game. He's now 7-4, having lost as many regular season games this year as he did each of the last two, and his ERA is still an unsightly (for him) 4.35 but it did drop nearly half a run after tonight. The offense all came in the first two innings with Ricky Widmar the hero, leading off the game with a homer and then hitting another one with a man on in the 2nd to give him 13. Connor Kirkley had an RBI groundout and another run scored on a wild pitch.

Game 2: It might surprise you that the Blue Jays hit Jon Hayes for 5 runs on 7 hits in the 1st inning. It might not surprise you that the Rays came back from that 5-0 deficit and went on to win 12-6. Hayes came out with nothing, giving up a 2-run homer then a string of hits that seemed like they would never end before Alex Buitrago made a diving catch in CF for the third out. That was all Hayes needed to refocus and get things turned around as he allowed the Jays only 2 hits after that over the next 6 innings, finishing 7 9 5 5 0 4 and picking up his 10th win, the third Rays starter to do so this year. The comeback started quickly with Nate Clark blasting a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning and the big rally of the game came in the 4th when they scored 4 times to take the lead. Connor Kirkley and Ricky Widmar had RBI singles but so did Buitrago with his first MLB hit. Victor de Jesus singled in another run in the 5th to make it 7-5 and that's where it stayed until the 8th when Tim Siqueiros came on. The Rays power righty was greeted by a Nestor Ramirez homer, his 2nd of the game to cut the lead to 7-6 and then Siqueiros put two more on before Jose Alvarado doused the fire by whiffing pinch-hitter Skyler Messinger. In the bottom of the frame the Rays broke it open with a 3-run homer from Luis Corpus (#8) and Clark's 2nd homer of the game, a 2-run shot (#20). Jon Whiteleather had a 1-2-3 9th with 2 whiffs to wrap it up.

Game 3: The nicest thing we can say for the Blue Jays today is that they led 1-0 in the top of the 1st and the game was tied 1-1 in the 4th but that's about it as the Rays crushed them 11-3. Marc Wagner recovered from that first inning to finish 7 5 1 1 1 12 and is now 9-2, 3.26 and on a roll, allowing 1 run in his last 21 innings with 3 walks and 31 whiffs. The offense was led by AL MVP frontrunner Nate Clark, who had an RBI single in the 1st to tie the game and a grand slam in the 6th (#21) to blow it open. Clark is hitting 346/411/643 with 21 HR and 70 RBI in 68 games and leads the AL in WAR at 4.1. Also having big days were Victor de Jesus (3-5, RBI), Dayle Jenkins (3-4, walk, steal, 3 runs scored) and Dane Ayers (2-5, HR #10, RBI). Connor Kirkley added a 2-run double as well. The only negative was Brad Ballmann, who continues to struggle of late and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits in 1 1/3 innings. Jon Whiteleather had to come in and immediately induced a double play grounder from the only batter he faced to end the game.

Team record: 61-13. Next up: An off-day at home followed by a visit from Boston for the weekend.

June 27-29, 2031: vs Boston (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays came into tonight's matchup 36 games better than Boston but as the saying goes "you can't predict baseball" and Mario Candelaria and the Red Sox dealt the Rays a 4-1 loss tonight. Candelaria was in command, no-hitting the Rays through 6 1/3 innings before Rodolfo Rivas singled to center. He ended the game 7 2 0 0 1 5 and outdueled the top pitcher in the AL this year, Andy Aparicio. AA was just fine, giving up a pair of doubles in the 5th to fall behind 1-0 but nothing else until the 8th when he left with men on 1st and 3rd and 2 out with the lefty-hitting Bob Kelly due. Evan Godwin came in and was flat-out terrible, wild-pitching the man on 3rd home, giving up an RBI single, and issuing a walk before Tim Siqueiros had to get him out of it. Siquerios then gave up a run of his own in the 9th. AA ended 7.2 5 3 3 2 8 no thanks to Godwin and suffered his first loss of the year, dropping to 10-1 and seeing his ERA jump to 1.45. Joe Barker hit HR #14 leading off the 9th to keep the Rays from being shut out.

Game 2: After taking the night off yesterday, the offense stormed back to take leads of 7-0 and 12-4 yet still had to survive the tying run at the plate in the 9th in a 12-8 slugfest with Boston. The wind was blowing out at Publix Park and it showed. Victor de Jesus had the big hit early for the Rays, a 3-run homer (#13) in a 6-run first as a part of a 3-4 day, Nate Clark hit #22, Luis Corpus was 2-4 with 3 RBI, Joe Barker was 3-5 with 2 RBI and Bobby Witt Jr went 4-5 with an RBI as well. Christian Little was staked to this big lead, but the wind and his general homer-proneness got to him as Pierson Gibis hit a 3-run blast off him in the 4th and Julio Rubalcava hit the first of his two today in the 6th. The righty ended the day 6 5 4 4 2 10 and became the first pitcher in MLB to reach 11 wins this season. Nate Thompson took over and had a 1-2-3 7th before Rubalcava took him deep with a man on to make it 12-6, and then got into more trouble in the 9th. Mike Mooney allowed two of his runners to score but managed to finish off the game with the bases loaded as the Rays hung on at the end.

Game 3: After yesterday's offensive frenzy things settled down considerably today as Alec Sachais picked up where he left off last time out in a 2-0 win over Boston. Coming off his first-ever complete-game shutout, the Rays righty threw 6 more shutout innings but with his pitch count up to 103 there was no chance of a repeat. Still he went 6 5 0 0 1 9 and improved to 8-4, lowering his ERA to 4.08. Jon Whiteleather pitched the 7th and worked around a couple of walks, Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th, stayed on for the 9th but gave up a double, and Jordan Diaz got the final two outs for save #13. The Rays were up against an old friend today in Shane Baz, and after some early hiccups he held the Rays offense in check limiting them to 4 hits in 6 2/3. Still the two runs they got to him for were good enough to ensure victory, with Rodolfo Rivas singling in a run in the 1st and Nate Clark's sac fly bringing home the second run in the 3rd.

Team record: 63-14. Next up: The homestand continues as Cleveland comes to town for four games.

June 30-July 3, 2031: vs Cleveland (4)
 

Game 1: Jon Hayes was in control and the Rays hit three early homers to waltz past Cleveland 6-1. Hayes went 8 7 1 1 2 6 and nearly pitched a complete game, coming out for the 9th but seeing two men reach on a Bobby Witt Jr error and a single, so Tim Siqueiros came on against his old team and got the next three batters, two via strikeout, to finish it off. Hayes is now 11-2, 3.50. Victor de Jesus got the Rays on the board in the 2nd with #14, and after Cleveland tied it in the 3rd Luis Corpus hit #9 with Alex Buitrago (who had his first MLB 3-hit day) aboard to make it 3-1, and Nate Clark blasted #23 later in the inning to make it 4-1. Dayle Jenkins added a 2-run single in the 7th for some insurance.

This makes two straight months with the award for Clark:

https://i.imgur.com/wds57P8.png

We also take pitcher of the month:

https://i.imgur.com/LK1Ft8x.png

Meanwhile, look who was NL Pitcher of the Month:

https://i.imgur.com/ZlrkYxL.png

It started with a perfect game on Opening Day and Jack Leiter hasn't looked back as his Reds are atop the NL Central. Perhaps we see him in the World Series.

And the awards are flowing in on the farm as well:

https://i.imgur.com/lWSV1RZ.png

Jaiden Hardaway is the #1 prospect in baseball, and he's definitely playing like it. He has to be up next year, so there could be a Connor Kirkley deal this winter. Kirkley played the first two months of the season like an MVP candidate but has cooled off some so it'll a tough sell to move him, but time waits for no one.

https://i.imgur.com/ut6WTmr.png

Gil Wayne is an excellent prospect (#60 per BNN) and got off to a rough start this year thanks to some really bad BABIP luck as his BB/K numbers were fine and he wasn't giving up an inordinate # of homers. But the results caught up with his peripherals and he had a great month. He's still behind Danny Ceja and Jon Sorrano in the prospect pecking order among starters and isn't on the 40-man yet, so his ETA is quite uncertain.

Game 2: It was a high-scoring affair at Publix Park, but as is typical the Rays came out on top by a score of 12-7. Marc Wagner was staked 3-0 and 5-3 leads but couldn't hold them, and left going 4.2 9 5 5 2 6. Nate Thompson took over and picked up his second win in middle relief despite allowing a run, and Evan Godwin allowed a run in his two innings of relief before Brad Ballmann pitched a scoreless 9th. The star on offense was the red-hot Luis Corpus, whose 3-run homer in the bottom of the 6th (#10) gave the Rays the lead to stay at 8-6. This was part of a 3-5, 5 RBI day for the rookie Rays catcher who now has 3 HR and 13 RBI in his last 5 starts and 7 HR and 22 RBI in his previous 14. Alex Buitrago, another rookie, had his second straight 3-hit day as well, scoring three times and driving in a pair while Bobby Witt Jr was 3-4 with 2 RBI before picking up a mild calf strain and Rodolfo Rivas was 3-5 with an RBI.

Game 3: The Rays took their second 6-1 win of the series behind yet another outstanding effort from Andy Aparicio and a 5-run 6th inning. Aparicio was masterful as he usually has been this year, taking a shutout into the 9th before giving up a leadoff homer to Jordan Evangelista and departing with an 8 5 1 1 1 9 line on 120 pitches to go to 11-1, 1.43. He's certainly the first half Cy Young winner if nothing else. The offense took a while to get going; although they led 1-0 through 5 on Ricky Widmar's sac fly, they only had 1 hit off Cleveland starter Jay Copping. That changed quickly in the 6th when Dane Ayers hit the third of three straight singles to score a run, a second scored on a wild pitch, and then Rodolfo Rivas cleared the fence in LF for HR #10 with two on to make it 6-1. Mike Mooney finished up for Aparicio in the 9th, striking out a pair.

Game 4: A ridiculous game for a ridiculous team to close out a ridiculous first half of the season as Christian Little pitched a 5-hit shutout and the Rays curb-stomped Cleveland 10-0 to reach the midway point of the season 67-14, which is a 134-win pace. With the game out of hand the only suspense was whether Little would finish the shutout and I have to admit I got carried away and let him throw 130 pitches but he did it, going 9 5 0 0 1 9 and finishing out the first half 12-2, 3.17. Mike Lammers got a rare start at 3B with Bobby Witt Jr still a big gimpy and blasted a 2-run HR (#3) in the 2nd to put the Rays on the board and Rodolfo Rivas hit his own 2-run shot in the 3rd (#11) to double the advantage. Joe Barker tripled in a run in the 5th and then in the 8th Alex Buitrago hit his first MLB homer, with a man on and Ricky Widmar did likewise for #14 as it seems to matter not whom we plug into the lineup these days.

Team record: 67-14. Next up: My midseason report card, which basically should just be all A+s and the team heads to Yankee Stadium for the July 4 weekend.

2031 Midseason Report Card
 

First off, here are the MLB standings and leaders which I've been remiss in posting this year:

https://i.imgur.com/YWCnScg.png

Not too much different than recent years for the AL, except that Cleveland has a big lead instead of Detroit, which won the Central the last 3 seasons. Over in the NL the big story is the Cincinnati Reds, who after years of mediocrity are the class of the NL thanks it large part to us, with the trades of Jack Leiter and Jeff Baker (who's pitched almost as well as Leiter) and former Rays farmhand Victor Barillas who leads them with 14 HR and 44 RBI. Also as far as the leaders go, note that Eloy Jimenez had 9 homers for Houston before his trade to Colorado in May, meaning he has a whopping 34 HR at the midway point. Eloy in Coors is a definite threat to the HR record, at least the pre-Barry Bonds record.

Here's where the team stats stand:

https://i.imgur.com/IL0goDV.png

First in almost everything, as expected. Our baserunning is down this year as it seems we've had a lot of guys thrown out at the plate this year. Also our team defense, which had rebounded back to mediocre in recent seasons, is bad again but we need to have some kind of flaw. At 67-14, we're obviously outplaying our Pythagorean record, and we've also played 15 more home than road games.

https://i.imgur.com/TvwS4iw.png

I wasn't joking when I said I'd just give everyone an A+ as I really am going to skip the position-by-position rundown.

https://i.imgur.com/2ErxsFm.png

The WAR numbers for our rotation would be good for a full season, let alone half a one which is the main reason why this team is even better than previous versions. I should also use Rodolfo Rivas as a pitcher more.

July 4-6, 2031: at NY Yankees (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays overcame some shaky outfield play and a couple of 1st-inning Yankee homers to win going away 10-4 at Yankee Stadium. Nate Clark supplied the July 4 fireworks with a pair of homers, a 3-run shot in the 3rd which tied the game at 3 and solo shot in the 6th which tied the game at 4 and gave him 25 for the season. Joe Barker went back-to-back with him in the 6th with #15 to give the Rays a lead they wouldn't relinquish, and which they built upon with a 5-run 8th inning with Bobby Witt Jr's 2-run single the key hit there. Alec Sachais started and after striking out the first two Yankees walked Vlad Jr and served up a gopher ball to Ivan Vega, now leading the AL in both homers (27) and WAR (4.7), and then another one immediately after to Joe Allen. After Clark's first homer tied it up, he gave the run back in the 5th by dropping a fly ball for a two-base error to let the Yankees go ahead. And Alex Buitrago dropped a fly ball of his own in the 6th which Sachais pitched around, finishing 6.1 5 4 3 1 6 and improving to 9-4. Mike Mooney got him out of the 7th and was so efficient that he finished the game for his first save of the season, going 2 2/3 on only 23 pitches.

MLB Update: It took a year and a half but Vidal Brujan is finally back in MLB. The contract extension we signed him to ran out after 2029 and after we traded him to the Yankees, and he went all of 2030 without signing as he didn't come off his $9-10M demand, and although he reduced his demand to $3M this year he still sat on the shelf until the Angels signed him today to a minor league deal with a $300K bonus and immediately activated him, where he went 1-4. He's 33 now and "fragile", so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.

July 5: Activated OF Jasson Dominguez from the 10-day IL, optioned OF Alex Buitragos to AAA Durham.

Buitragos impressed in his 9 games, hitting 324/378/471 with 1 homer. Like Caleb Picciotti last year, this might be a cameo for him with the big club since Jasson Dominguez is ahead of him and Omar Rodriguez is behind him.

Game 2: Another day, another rout as the Rays roughed up the Yankees 10-2 for their 8th straight win. A 5-run 4th inning consisting of a 3-run Victor de Jesus HR (#15) and a 2-run double from Dayle Jenkins sent them on their way, and Jenkins later added a 2-run homer (#6) for a 4-RBI day, Joe Barker was 3-4 with HR #16 and Connor Kirkley capped the scoring with HR #17 in the 7th. Like Alec Sachais yesterday Jon Hayes got off to a bit of a rough start, yielding a Vlad Jr homer in the first, another run in the second and 7 hits through 3 innings but once the Rays took the lead he took over and finished 6.2 9 2 2 1 5 to improve to 12-2 and win his eighth straight start. Jon Whiteleather retired all four batters he faced, and Rodolfo Rivas made another scoreless pitching cameo taking care of the 9th.

Game 3: The Rays swept the series and made it 9 straight with a 6-4 win in 11 innings. Nate Clark had a big day, driving in a pair in regulation (including the tying run in the 7th) and then 2 more in the 11th as he went 3-5 with 4 RBI. Ricky Widmar, whose average had slipped into the .260s, had the go-ahead RBI single as part of his own 3-hit day while Connor Kirkley also drove in a run. Marc Wagner started and pitched pretty well, except to Matt Thaiss who had an RBI double and a 2-run homer off him to account for the "3" in his 7 7 3 3 1 9 line. Jose Alvarado, who hadn't pitched for a while, went 2 perfect innings on only 18 pitches, Jordan Diaz pitched the 10th and picked up his 2nd win of the season, and Brad Ballmann got his first save even though he's constitutionally incapable of pitching a clean inning, today allowing a Joe Allen homer.

Team record: 70-14. Next up: An off-day, then four in Kansas City including a doubleheader on Tuesday.

July 8-10, 2031: at Kansas City (4)
 

Some love from the league for Luis Corpus:

https://i.imgur.com/dIesAMj.png

Game 1: The win streak is now at 10 after a 12-1 destruction of Kansas City in the first game of a doubleheader. The Rays scored 5 times before the Royals recorded an out, and they just went on from there. Nate Clark drove in a pair, Jasson Dominguez had a 2-run single in that 1st inning, Rodolfo Rivas had a 2-run HR (#12) in the 2nd, Bobby Witt Jr had a 2-run double and Dayle Jenkins drove in two more. And reigning AL Player of the Week Luis Corpus blasted HR #11 as well. Andy Aparicio was his usual excellent self on the mound going 6 6 1 1 0 9 to join teammates Jon Hayes and Christian Little on 12 wins, while his ERA actually ticked up slightly but held at 1.43. Jon Whiteleather went the final 3 innings with only one hit allowed and four whiffs to get his first MLB save.

July 8: Recalled P Danny Ceja from AAA Durham.

Ceja is the 27th man for the doubleheader and will start Game 2, to make it work within the game I optioned out Whiteleather who went 3 innings in Game 1.

Game 2: It was the Nate Clark and Danny Ceja show in the nightcap with the Rays again winning comfortably 7-1 to extend their winning streak to 11. Clark hit a 2-run homer in the first (#26), an RBI triple in the 5th and a 2-run double in the 9th to give him a 5-RBI day, missing the cycle by a single. Clark is now 348/408/658 with 88 RBI in 79 games to go with the 26 homers and is the likely front-runner for AL MVP. The other two Rays runs came on a Rodolfo Rivas RBI single and a Victor de Jesus sac fly. Ceja meanwhile excelled in his spot start, pitching to contact as is his forte and despite being tagged for a homer from Enrique Bradfield, the first man he faced, he kept KC off the board with mostly weak contact, finishing 6.2 5 1 1 0 2 on 88 pitches. He left having allowed singles to the last two batters he faced in a game which was then 4-1, so Tim Siqueiros came in and got him out of that inning and pitched the 8th. Evan Godwin had a scoreless 2K ninth.

Game 3: Eh, I'm going to let the box score speak for itself on this game:

https://i.imgur.com/PB2a3JU.png

Game 4: So that's baseball for you. A day after their 15-run, 25-hit offensive orgy the Rays were blanked by Ivan Valero and two relievers and lost 3-0, managing only 4 hits on the day and seeing their 12-game win streak go by the wayside. The Royal righty held them to 7.1 2 0 0 0 4 and they managed one hit each off a couple of Royals relievers, the second of whom was old friend Daniel Espino who picked up the save. Alec Sachais was matching Valero 0 for 0 until the 8th inning, when admittedly I left him in too long. He had runners at 1st and 3rd with one out and got a strikeout, so I kept him in to face Ryan McKenna who doubled in both runners. And then I left him to give up a single to score McKenna as he finished 7.2 7 3 3 1 7 on 99 pitches. I finally brought in Mike Mooney who gave up a hit but had the baserunner thrown out at 3rd on the play.

Team record: 73-15. Next up: Back home to face Houston, whom we haven't seen this year, for 3 games before we hit the All-Star break.

July 11-13, 2031: vs Houston (3)
 

Game 1: Jon Hayes was brilliant and the bats responded to yesterday's shutout by scoring 4 times and batting around in the first inning in a 6-3 win over Houston. Hayes retired the first 12 Astros and outside of a little hiccup in the 5th when he allowed 2 runs he was untouchable, going 7 3 2 2 1 11 and joining teammate Christian Little with an MLB-leading 13 wins. Hayes is now 13-2, 3.39. Tim Siqueiros got the first two outs of the 8th then gave up 2 hits and a walk leading to a run and the tying run at the plate so Jose Alvarado came in to get him out of it, which he did and he stayed on through the 9th to get save #15. The four-run first saw RBI singles from Joe Barker and Connor Kirkley along with a 2-run knock from Rodolfo Rivas. Luis Corpus doubled home a run in the 3rd and Bobby Witt Jr went deep (#8) for the 6th and final run.

Game 2: The Rays took a 6-1 win over Houston but was an extremely costly victory. First, Jasson Dominguez got hurt yet again making a diving catch in the 1st inning. He suffered an intercostal strain and will be out 2 weeks as he continues to remind us of another injury-prone Rays CF, Kevin Kiermaier. But more significantly starter Marc Wagner was injured, and it's about as bad as it gets short of a career-ender. He left in the 5th with elbow pain and it turns out he needs elbow ligament reconstruction surgery and will be out the rest of this season as well as all of 2032. This could very well be the last he's seen in a Rays uniform as he's possibly arbitration-eligible next season and if not he will be for 2023 so I don't see paying him $7.2M to sit on the shelf next year or that amount for what we don't know we'll be getting when he comes back in 2033. I will see what he can fetch in a trade most likely. Danny Ceja will finally get his long-awaited opportunity to pitch in the rotation as a result. As for the game, Wagner pitched well in his swan song, going 4 3 1 1 0 6 and finishing the season 9-2, 3.53 with 158 whiffs in 109.2 innings and 3.5 WAR, excellent numbers for a little over half a season. Nate Thompson took over for him and was excellent himself at 4 3 0 0 0 5 to improve to 3-0. Thompson is more than qualified to take Wagner's spot but I like him in this long relief role which I think he's better suited to than Ceja. Brad Ballmann pitched an actual 1-2-3 inning with 2 whiffs to finish the game. On offense they got a couple of early runs on a wild pitch and a Luis Corpus sac fly before Dayle Jenkins ripped a 2-run double in the 4th. Joe Barker had an RBI double and Corpus homered (#12) for the final two runs.

So the Blake Money & Jhon Diaz for Marc Wagner trade last June turned out to be a cursed one. If you recall Money suffered a torn UCL after making a few starts with Oakland, and was out for a year. When he came back this season he's not been the same, his 80 stuff is now 65 stuff and his control, which was iffy when he was at his peak, is now a very bad 25 and in 5 starts with Oakland this season he's walked 24 in 19 innings, allowed 16 runs and is 0-3, 7.45. Seeing Money come back like this is a big reason why I don't see bringing Wagner back and spending $7-14M before he throws another pitch for us. Meanwhile Diaz, who hit very well after the trade for the A's and helped lead them to the playoffs, is batting 221/291/327 over the season's first half with 7 HR.

July 13: Placed OF Jasson Dominguez on the 10-day IL with an intercostal strain; placed P Marc Wagner on the 60-day IL with elbow ligament reconstruction surgery; recalled OF Alex Buitrago and P Danny Ceja from AAA Durham.

Game 3: Andy Aparicio and the Rays got off to a rough start but overcame it to come back and beat Houston 6-3 to sweep the series. Aparicio had a nightmare first inning, walking the first two batters, giving up a pair of infield singles and another hit to allow the Astros to score twice. And Houston added an unearned run in the 5th thanks to a Mike Lammers error so Aparicio found himself down 3-0. He had to leave in the 6th as his pitch count reached 115 thanks in no small part to the 30+ pitches he threw in the first, finishing 5.1 7 3 2 2 8 and going into the All-Star game (where he was selected to start, but won't since he pitched today) with an ERA of 1.52. Meanwhile former Ray Jimmy Lewis was befuddling our hitters early, with Dayle Jenkins' single in the 4th the first hit off him. Jenkins then broke the ice with HR #7 in the 6th to put the Rays on the board and Joe Barker followed with #17 leading off the 7th. Barker's blast kick-started a 5-run rally that saw Ricky Widmar drive in a pair with 2 out to give the Rays the lead and Jenkins continued his big day with a 2-run double. Jon Whiteleather took over for AA in the 6th and pitched a scoreless inning, while Evan Godwin came on in the 7th and got 5 outs through the 8th on only 19 pitches to pick up his 5th win of the season. Jordan Diaz, also All-Star Game-bound, struck out the side in a 1-2-3 9th for save #14.

Team record: 76-15. Next up: The All-Star break, and then we head to Toronto for the following weekend.

All-Star Break 2031
 

MLB standings/leaders at the break:

https://i.imgur.com/6SNATJe.png

The All-Star rosters:

https://i.imgur.com/dXHug40.png
https://i.imgur.com/CXKv5kC.png
https://i.imgur.com/94H9KSk.png

As always several Rays are involved. Nate Clark was the leading vote-getter, with Ricky Widmar winning the balloting at SS as well. Connor Kirkley makes his first ASG appearance, as does Luis Corpus. On the pitching side, our late inning guys both made it with Jose Alvarado back in the game and Jordan Diaz making his first Rays appearance (he was in the 2028 game as a Cub). Aparicio was selected to start but as he pitched yesterday he won't get in the game; however, Christian Little almost certainly will.

The HR Derby (which I simmed, the space bar thing is stupid)

https://i.imgur.com/e0Bxpdu.png

Oh so close for Nate Clark! Stanley Rosario, who won it, is actually - wait for it - a former Rays property, whom we acquired in a minor deal from the Yankees and then flipped to the Dodgers in winter 2026 for the immortal Travis Luensmann. He turned into a pretty decent power hitter for the Dodgers and with the NL DH he's really getting regular playing time. He had a 3.2 WAR season last year and is at 2.7 already with 23 HR, and the Dodgers last winter gave him a 5/30 extension.

The game itself:

https://i.imgur.com/6Ps648Y.png

Rays players weren't that prominent, although Christian Little got the start in place of Andy Aparicio and had a nice 1-2-3 1st with a couple of whiffs including former teammate Gavin Lux. Jose Alvarado got hit for an unearned run when Eloy Jimenez doubled and scored after Vlad Jr dropped his foul pop, and Jordan Diaz was impressive striking out the side around a triple. Nate Clark had a pair of hits, including a double, while Ricky Widmar was 0-1 with a walk and run scored and Connor Kirkley was 0-2. Luis Corpus did not see action.

July 18-20, 2031: at Toronto (3)
 

Game 1: Well this was a strange start to the traditional "second half" of the season. The Rays wasted a brilliant start from Alec Sachais and lost 1-0 to the Blue Jays. Two Toronto pitchers combined on the shutout with starter Chris McMahon pitching into the 4th and leaving with wrist soreness before Travis Phelps took over and blanked the Rays on two hits over the final 5 1/3 innings of the game. Sachais, meanwhile, was matching 0s until Riley Greene took him deep in the 6th with what proved to be the only run of the game. He did stay in for the complete game, going 8 4 1 1 0 9 on 93 pitches on the heels of pitching a 4-hit, 13-K shutout of these same Jays about a month ago at Publix Park. Dayle Jenkins was the only hitter who could hold his head high after the game, having gone 2-3 with a walk and a steal.

MLB News: The Astros' Alex Bregman announced his retirement at the end of the season.

Game 2: The Rays lost again in Toronto today 7-2, marking only the second time all season the team has lost two straight games with the first back on April 19 and 20 vs the Yankees. Danny Ceja got the start and for a change was not impressive as sometimes pitching to contact leads to a bunch of hits as today the Jays got to him for 6 runs and 8 hits in 3 1/3 innings. Mike Mooney, Brad Ballmann and Jon Whiteleather finished out the final 4 2/3 with Ballmann giving up Werner Blakley's 2nd homer of the game for the final Jays run. Meanwhile the hitters were largely baffled by Carmen Mlodzinski, who pitched a complete-game 5-hitter on 103 pitches going 9 5 2 2 0 3. The two runs he allowed came on solo homers from Victor de Jesus (#16) in the 2nd and Bobby Witt Jr (#9) in the 5th as the bats don't seem to have returned from the break.

Game 3: Order restored north of the border as the Rays topped the Jays 5-3 after a couple of losses. Jon Hayes won his 10th straight start, and 12th straight decision, by going 6.1 5 3 3 1 5, leaving after allowing a Nestor Ramirez 2-run homer in the 7th. Tim Siqueiros struck out a pair of Jays for the final two outs of the 7th, Jose Alvarado got through the 8th, picked up an out in the 9th but gave up a hit so Jordan Diaz came on. After walking a batter, Diaz got Ramirez to ground into a game-ending double play and pick up save #15 while Hayes is now 14-2, 3.44. They picked up all the offense in the first 3 innings with a 3-run 2nd and another run in the 3rd. Mike Lammers had the big hit, a 2-run single in the 2nd to put the Rays ahead, and Dayle Jenkins singled in a run off former Ray Emerson Hancock to make it 3-1. They picked up another run on a wild pitch, and Dane Ayers (who turned four double plays today at 2B) had an RBI single in the 7th.

Team record: 77-17. Next up: 3 games in Philadelphia. Last time there 3 years ago it was one slugfest after another as CBP is a hitter's paradise.

July 21-23, 2031: at Philadelphia (3)
 

Game 1: The Rays' bats continued their post-break slumber and Christian Little picked a bad time to start giving home runs in bulk again as the Phillies topped the Rays 4-1. It was a reunion of sorts with former Philly farmhands Dayle Jenkins, Rodolfo Rivas and Luis Corpus in the Rays' lineup and ex-Rays Judson Fabian, Nate Lowe and (farmhand) Zack Britton in the Phillies' lineup. In defense of the Rays' bats they were up against Hugo Garza, perhaps the best pitcher in the NL right now who came in 7-2, 3.02 with a 21/144 BB/K ratio in 119 innings. And he was even better than that tonight holding the Rays to 7 3 1 1 2 8 with the lone damage a Connor Kirkley solo HR (#18) in 3rd. Little looked great for four innings, not allowing a hit until Jordan Groshans led off the 5th with a single. After erasing him with a double play, Little gave up a homer to Kendall Simmons to tie it, and in the 6th he gave up a leadoff single to Fabian followed by an Eric Titcombe blast (the rookie's 28th, 2nd-most in the NL) which itself was followed by an Eddie Cucalon homer and it was 4-1. Evan Godwin got him out of the 6th, going 1 1/3, and Jon Whiteleather had a scoreless 8th. Speaking of old friends, we all got another ride on the Jasseelocoaster as De La Cruz faced his old team for the first time and he provided the full experience, walking the bases loaded in the 8th before whiffing Rivas to get out of it.

Game 2: In a season of great performances Andy Aparicio may have turned in his best considering the opponent and the ballpark, and the bats broke out of their post-All-Star Break slump with five homers in a 12-0 thrashing of the Phillies. Like Christian Little yesterday, Aparicio took a no-hitter into the 5th but unlike Little after it was broken up he wasn't fazed and continued to blow away Philadelphia hitters. AA ended up 7.2 3 0 0 1 12 for a game score of 83, his second best of the season. The win brings him to 12-1 and lowers his ERA back down to 1.43 while his 5.6 WAR is far and away the best in MLB (Wil Diaz is next at 4.7). Nate Thompson got the final four outs to complete the team shutout. And after scoring only 8 runs in their 4 games after the break the bats came to immediate life as they were up 4-0 after the first 4 batters of the game on Nate Clark's RBI double and Joe Barker's 3-run homer. They added 6 more in the 4th on 4 more homers: Victor de Jesus's 17th leading off the inning, a 3-run shot from Luis Corpus (#13) which was back-to-back with Ricky Widmar's 15th, and then Barker's 2nd of the game and 19th of the year. A Clark sac fly and a Dayle Jenkins RBI single accounted for the final two runs.

Game 3: For the second straight night Rays pitching shut down the powerful Philly lineup in a 7-0 win. Alec Sachais picked up where he left off after his hard-luck complete-game 1-0 loss to Toronto by twirling 7 shutout innings and going 7 4 0 0 1 8. He's now 10-6 with a 3.64 ERA. Jon Whiteleather (ERA down to 1.86) and Tim Siqueiros each had a scoreless inning to wrap up the game. Nate Clark's RBI single gave them the only run they'd need but the big hit of the game came from Victor de Jesus in the 5th with a 3-run blast (#18) that made it 4-0. Dane Ayers followed later in the inning with a 2-run shot (#11), and Clark added a solo homer (#27) in the 6th.

Team record: 79-18. Next up: An off-day, then Baltimore comes to town for the weekend.