Game 1: The Rays made it 18 straight with a 4-1 win over the Yankees at Publix Park behind Leo Ortega. If they can extend to streak to 34, they'll be World Series champions again. Ortega was solid as usual, going 6 6 1 1 0 2 and only allowing a Mario Aguilar homer as he improved to 12-5, 2.93. Tim Siqueiros loaded the bases in the 7th and got out of it, Jim Golunski had another inning of relief under 10 pitches (9 in the 8th) and Kikuo Kawase struck out the side for save #41. Omar Rodriguez's 2-run triple in the 3rd was the game's big hit, he scored on a Jeff Baez grounder and Victor de Jesus' solo HR (#38) capped the scoring.
More retirement news: Three once-great Rays pitchers ended their careers today. Most notable was the longest-tenured Ray in this save, Jose Alvarado. He spent 16 seasons with the Rays in total, from 2017 to 2032 and was a mainstay of 6 World Series teams. He was never the closer (although he was kind of a co-closer with Jordan Diaz in 2030 and 2031, when he picked up 41 of his 118 career saves with us) but was an anchor in the pen, accumulating 27.2 WAR, an excellent total for a reliever. He actually had his best season in 2031 at the age of 36 when he earned 3.4 WAR with a 1.12 ERA and 0 homers allowed in 47.1 innings, 26 hits allowed, 8 walks and 65 whiffs to go with 21 saves. He was voted AL Reliever of the Year that season as well as in 2021. We will retire his #48. Adios, Jose:
Also retiring was Matt Manning, acquired from Detroit in 2024 and who won the Cy Young for us that season, going 12-6 with a 2.68 ERA and 6.2 WAR. He had four fine seasons with us, winning two World Series, and was 53-29 and won 6 postseason games with the Rays, including 3 in the WS-winning 2026 season.
Finally, Brendan McKay retired. The two-way player had two excellent seasons pitching in 2020 and 2021 for us, totaling 9.1 WAR and striking out 428. But by 2022 he had lost his stuff, and we dealt him to San Diego at the trade deadline that year (along with JJ Bleday, who had a great late-blooming career) for Chris Paddack. After bouncing around the minors, he came back as a full-time hitter and actually had a really good year in 2029 for Toronto, going .271-26-92 as a 1B/DH. That didn't last long, though, and after playing nearly full time in one other season (2031 with the Mets, only hitting 10 HR), he became a minor league vagabond again.
Game 2: The win streak is 19 as we tie the single-season wins record of 129 we set in 2033 with a 12-2 thrashing of the Yankees. Bo Angeac and Jon Jimenez were the big bats today, each going 2-4 with a HR (#28 for Bo, #38 for Jon) and 3 RBI. Omar Rodriguez had a 2-run jack (#31) as he continues his amazing season, and Will Quintana hit a 2-run shot for #7 as he was 3-4 with 3 RBI. Danny Ayala had the other RBI, #150 for him. Josh Hanna made his final regular-season start of the year and got the win going 5.1 8 2 2 2 5 in not his sharpest outing but he ends the year 18-4, 2.77. Danny Medina went 2 2/3 scoreless and Bob Sirna pitched the 9th.
Team record: 129-30. Next up: An off-day then we close out the regular season with 3 games in Toronto where we go for the wins record.
MLB News: There really are no playoff races to speak of any longer as the Cards and Padres have the NL WC spots locked up. The Cubs, who should hang onto the division (magic # is 2), suffered a severe if predictable blow as old friend Ricky Widmar is done for the year with torn ankle ligaments. He was "wrecked" when they signed him from us but he did help them win the division by hitting .319-13-69 in 124 games, and now they'll have to advance in the postseason without him.