The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays rode a dominant Josh Hanna performance to a 4-2 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. The lefty pitched perhaps his best game of the season, going 6 3 0 0 1 10 on 98 pitches to improve to 14-4, 3.02. Edgar Rios got the call in the 7th but was shaky, giving up a couple of runs, and Tim Siqueiros had to bail him out with a couple of whiffs. Jim Golunski had a 1-2-3 8th, and Kikuo Kawase likewise with a pair of strikeouts in the 9th for save #32. Bo Angeac continued on his HR tear (4 in 3 games) with a solo shot for #20 in the 6th while Jaiden Hardaway and Danny Ayala singled in runs.

Game 2: Tampa Bay's latest win streak now sits at 8 games after a 7-1 romp over Baltimore. Nate Thompson was in good form tonight, if a bit wild at 7 5 1 1 4 5. The win ups his record to 18-3 (matching his record from last season) and ties him for the MLB win lead with Boston's Sean Nelson. His ERA is still a bit high at 4.23 but it's the lowest it's been since his 3rd start of the season back in April. Danny Medina went the final two innings scoreless. Mike McKee led the offense with a pair of solo homers to give him 7, Bo Angeac homered for the fourth straight game (#21) driving in 3, and Omar Rodriguez went deep with #24.

Game 3: The Rays tasted defeat for only the 27th time this season after dropping a 12-inning 3-2 decision to the Orioles. Nate Schultz had a fine outing going 8 6 2 2 2 5, and Jim Golunski and Tim Siqueiros had scoreless innings but Mike Wherry in his 2nd inning of relief put two men on, and Kikuo Kawase came in to face Baltimore's Jose Serrano who delivered an RBI single to walk it off. Fatigue meant Jaiden Hardaway, Danny Ayala and Omar Rodriguez had to sit, so that had a little to do with the 2 runs in 12 innings, but there were plenty of other quality hitters still in the lineup. Bo Angeac stayed scorching hot; although he didn't homer again he drove in both runs with a pair of RBI doubles.

Game 4: So this happened today, as if 12 innings yesterday wasn't enough:



This is the longest game I've played in 16 seasons of this save (I believe the record was a 21-inning game against Texas in 2021 or 2022). The box score above pretty much tells the story, and ironically it was all because of Jim Golunski's first bad outing as a Ray, preventing Kevin Kerstetter from going 17-0.

Team record: 105-27. Next up: Mercifully after playing 34 innings the last two days we get a day off, then it's 3 games in Houston, a possible ALDS opponent as they're entrenched in a wild card spot along with Boston.

Meanwhile, no surprise here:

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Even though they had an off-day after playing 34 innings in two days, the main objective tonight was to not tax the bullpen too much. And Leo Ortega obliged, going 7 strong innings in an 9-1 hammering of Houston. Despite allowing a first-inning run Ortega finished 7 4 1 1 0 6 and now sports an absurd 9/104 BB/K ratio in 102 innings. He improved to 9-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.98 while Billy Hoyte needed only 17 pitches to get through the final two innings. Victor de Jesus was 2-5 with HR #33 and 2 RBI, Dayle Jenkins drove in 3, and Mike McKee, Javier Baez and Jaiden Hardaway were each 2-5 with an RBI.

Game 2: Another extra-inning game was the last thing we wanted, but if you're going to play one you might as well win and that's what the Rays did today, edging Houston 3-2 in 11 innings. Jaiden Hardaway's 2-out single scored Jon Jimenez from 2nd to break the deadlock, after Jimenez's 2-run HR (#34, his first since August 7) gave the Rays their two regulation runs. Josh Hanna started and continued his excellent form, going 6.2 5 2 1 2 4 and lowering his ERA to 2.95, while Tim Siqueiros struck out three of the four men he retired, and Jim Golunski did him even better by whiffing 5 of the 6 he faced and retired. That was enough to get him his 3rd Rays win, and with Kikuo Kawase still tired from throwing 3 innings on Sunday, Mike Wherry got save #3 after pitching around a leadoff walk.

Oh, and incidentally tonight's win clinched the AL East for the 14th straight season, for those keeping track.

Game 3: The Rays outhit the Astros 13-7 but unfortunately were outscored by them 7-3 and dropped the final game of the series. The main problem was that Nate Thompson gave up a couple of big homers, a 2-run shot to Alex Padilla in the 1st and a 3-run blast by Ian Rhodes in the 3rd, and he finished 4.2 4 6 6 3 6 to fall to 18-4, 4.47. Bob Sirna went 1 1/3 and Ron Adams allowed an unearned run in his 2 innings of work while fanning 4. Jon Jimenez led the offense, going 3-5 with an RBI and Omar Rodriguez was 2-4 with a ribbie as they had plenty of baserunners but few big hits.

Team record: 107-28. Next up: Back home for 3 against Cleveland.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: It was the Kevin Kerstetter show once again as the lefty pitched his first career MLB shutout, a 3-hitter against Cleveland as the Rays won 5-0. Kerstetter took a no-hitter into the 7th before .321-hitting Juan Sanchez led off the inning with a single. He wasn't even in any trouble until the 9th, when he loaded the bases with 2 out but got Jose Escobar to fly out. Kerstetter walked 2 and struck out 9 in the 113-pitch gem and is now 17-0, 2.17 and he finally qualifies for the ERA lead ahead of Texas's Victor Presas at 2.33. The offense didn't get a lot of hits but made them count by putting them out of the park. Omar Rodriguez hit a 2-run shot (#26) in the 3rd and Jaiden Hardaway followed later in the inning with #23 to make it 3-0. Bo Angeac added #22 in the 8th after a run scored on a wild pitch to give Kerstetter the cushion he needed to stay in during the 9th.

From the league office:



Seemed like kind of a front-loaded month for Ayala, who's been relatively quiet over the last couple of weeks.

September 1: Recalled OF Jeremy Glasson and P Willie Bertone from AAA Durham.

September roster expansion is upon us, and Bertone was brilliant at Durham (0.70 ERA in 25 innings with a 10/39 BB/K ratio), while Glasson is the guy we acquired from Seattle at the deadline who probably doesn't have a real future with us but will provide another bat off the bench.

Game 2: The Rays got some late-inning thunder to take a 4-3 win over Cleveland at Publix Park. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, Omar Rodriguez came through with a 2-run blast (#27) to give them the win after he had earlier singled in a run. He and Bo Angeac had given them a first-inning 2-0 lead but Cleveland chipped away at Nate Schultz until they took the lead off him in the 7th as the righty finished 6.1 7 3 3 3 6. Mike Wherry got him out of the inning and then pitched the 8th, picking up his 6th win of the season thanks to O-Rod. Kikuo Kawase pitched around a leadoff walk and got a couple of whiffs for save #33.

Game 3: There was no Game 3 as it was rained out. Cleveland will come back to town on September 17 to make it up.

Team record: 109-28. Next up: Baltimore comes in for 3, but two of them are a doubleheader on Tuesday.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: It was a laborious watch for Rays fans at Publix Park on Labor Day as the Orioles blanked Tampa Bay 5-0. The Rays managed 8 hits, and in kind of an oddity spots 1-8 in the lineup each had one hit with Mike McKee the only one taking the collar. Still they were all singles except for a Jon Jimenez double. Leo Ortega started and he was victimized twice by Baltimore SS Kyren Paris, not known for his power (40-rated) but in double digits this season for the first time in 9 years. Paris had a 2-run homer off him in the 4th and then a 3-run shot in the 5th for all the Oriole runs. Ortega finished 6 7 5 5 0 5, Willie Bertone went two scoreless and Danny Medina one.

Game 2: The Rays snapped back to winning ways in the first game of today's doubleheader at Publix Park by bashing Baltimore 10-1. A 7-run 3rd inning broke it open and leading the way on offense was Victor de Jesus who was 4-5 with a homer (#34), double and 3 RBI. Also having big days were Dayle Jenkins (3-5 with 2 RBI) and Jon Jimenez (2-4 with 2 RBI, putting him over 100). Josh Hanna cruised with the big lead going 7.2 4 1 1 1 7, losing the shutout in the 8th. Edgar Rios went the final 1 1/3. With the win Hanna is now 15-4, 2.87 and has allowed only 5 earned runs over his last 6 starts, covering 41 innings.

Game 3: Well we had a rarity as the Rays dropped a series, losing the nightcap 4-3 to the Orioles. Numerous regulars were rested for the second game, but one who did play and have a big game was Jaiden Hardaway, 3-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored, a homer (#24) and an RBI. Omar Rodriguez had an RBI double and Victor de Jesus an RBI single enabling him to join Danny Ayala and Jon Jimenez in the 100-RBI club. Nate Thompson started and was dealing early then ran into some mid-inning trouble and finished 6 4 3 3 2 8. Danny Medina gave up a rare homer in the 7th, only the 2nd he's allowed this year, and it turned out to be the difference. Billy Hoyte struck out the side in the 8th and Tim Siqueiros had a scoreless 9th.

Team record: 110-30. Next up: An unusual Wednesday off-day, followed by a 4-game set in Tampa against the Blue Jays.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Kevin Kerstetter was hit for 6 runs by the Blue Jays today, but thanks to his teammates his perfect record remained intact as the Rays rallied to defeat Toronto 9-6 at Publix Park. Kersetter coughed up a couple of homers and suffered a 5-run 4th inning against as Toronto went up 6-3. He hung around and settled in a bit to finish 6 7 6 6 1 8 and the bats bailed him out as Dayle Jenkins hit #16 to tie the game in the 7th and a 3-run rally in the 8th with a Will Quintana RBI single and a 2-run single from Jaiden Hardaway gave Tampa Bay the win. Earlier, Victor de Jesus homered (#35) and drove in 3 while Bo Angeac (#23) had a solo shot. Willie Bertone pitched the 7th and Jim Golunski got his 4th win in 12 Rays appearances with a perfect 8th before Kikuo Kawase struck out the side around a walk in the 9th for save #34.

Game 2: The Rays took a fairly routine 7-1 win over Toronto today. Nate Schultz went to 16-2, 3.22 with a 6 7 2 2 1 9 outing and Edgar Rios, Bob Sirna and Danny Medina each got in an inning of scoreless relief. Dayle Jenkins went 3-5 with 2 RBI, Jaiden Hardaway was 3-5 with 1 RBI and Mike McKee was 3-3 with a walk to pace the offense.

Game 3: Another win for Tampa Bay as they take down Toronto 7-4. Another big day for Jaiden Hardaway, who was 2-4 with a HR (#25) and 2 RBI and Danny Ayala had a 2-run double among his 3 hits today. Leo Ortega got the win but it was a bit of struggle for him as he walked 3 batters, including 2 in the first inning. That's notable because he had a grand total of 9 walks coming into today's start. He still got the win and finished 5 4 2 1 3 6 to improve to 10-5, 3.17. Ron Adams went 3 innings in relief and gave up a pair of runs and Mike Wherry pitched the 9th for his 4th save.

Game 4: The Rays completed the 4-game series sweep behind yet another great outing from Josh Hanna in a 3-0 win. Hanna went 7 6 0 0 0 4 and is now a run in which he's allowed 5 earned runs in his last 7 starts over 48 innings, an 0.94 ERA in that stretch. Tim Siqueiros got the 8th and Kikuo Kawase pitched around a couple of singles to nail down save #35. Dayle Jenkins and Victor de Jesus had RBI singles in the 3rd and Mike McKee homered for the 8th time the season in the 5th for the Rays' scoring.

Team record: 114-30. Next up: An off-day followed by Texas coming in for 3 games.

From the league:



And, wowza:



We'll take Josh Hanna at a much lower price the next two seasons, thank you.

[Art Deco]

Been a while since I posted one of these, but mainly it's because this is going to be the least exciting September ever. Of the 10 playoff spots open, only 11 teams are in contention and that extra one is for the NL Wild Card as you can see. The closest division race not pictured here is Atlanta 5 back of Columbus in the NL East.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Expectations were not high tonight as we came to Globe Life Field to take on the Rangers as the pitching matchup was Nate Thompson (our least consistent starter, despite his gaudy 18-5 record) against Victor Presas, the AL ERA leader and a perennial Cy Young candidate (including a win in 2030). And one of these pitchers took a no-hitter into the 7th while the other was chased after allowing 4 runs in 5 innings. Of course you know by the way I'm phrasing all this that Thompson was the one who outdueled Presas tonight in an 8-1 win. Thompson probably wouldn't have finished his no-hitter as he walked 5 and his pitch count was up there, but former Ray Carlos Perez's one-out single in the 7th made it an easy call to pull Thompson after he went 7 1 0 0 5 9 on 107 pitches. He notched his career-high 19th win and has the ERA down to 4.27. Willie Bertone gave up a run in his 2 innings of work. On offense, Bo Angeac's solo HR (#24) and Victor de Jesus' RBI double were the big hits off Presas, and Jon Jimenez (#35) and Jaiden Hardaway (#26) added homers off another former Ray, Jon Whiteleather. de Jesus had a 4-hit day and Danny Ayala had a pair of RBI doubles to give him 140 ribbies on the season.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls capped off their best regular season yet, nearly pulling off an unimaginable feat: a 100-win season in the 140-game IL schedule. They finished just short at 99-41, despite having almost a completely different cast than last year's Governor's Cup-winning team. Some standouts: 1B Ricky Loya (.387-16-94), 3B Jim Gebers (.327-20-76), OF Zach Mathias (our 2029 first-rounder, .312-9-48 with 42 steals), and Andy Vasquez, a weak-hitting SS as of last year whom I dropped from the 40-man and rebounded this year to hit .290-23-79 and play 65 defense. On the pitching side the veteran Mike Champagne was 13-5, 3.75 and the closer was top-30 prospect Vinny Willard, who had 25 saves and a 2.49 ERA but still projects long-term as a starter. Anyway, they'll be opening up tomorrow against Buffalo in a best-of-5 series.

Game 2: Kevin Kerstetter went to 18-0 as the Rays got by the Rangers 6-4. Kerstetter was in command, except for one inning - the 5th, when he loaded the bases and gave up an Adrian Ramos grand slam. Outside of that he shut them down, going 7 5 4 4 1 4 with his ERA ticking up to 2.57. Jim Golunski had his usual perfect inning of relief (an 0/17 BB/K ratio in 15 IP since acquired) and Kikuo Kawase nailed down save #36. Jon Jimenez homered for the second straight night (#36) and drove in a pair, and Dayle Jenkins was 3-5 including a double and a triple and drove in a run.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls took their first-round opener against Buffalo 9-2 at Durham Athletic Park, but don't let the score fool you - they trailed 2-0 and it was a 3-2 game going into the bottom of the 8th before they broke it open with 6 runs. Catching prospect Ricky Limongelli had the big hit early, a 2-run homer to make it 3-2 after Daniel Malone tripled in a run. Then 2-run homers from Andy Vasquez and Phil Hable in the 8th put it away. Mike Champagne got the win with a 5 2/3-inning outing.

Game 3: The Rays completed the sweep against a possible ALCS opponent with a 4-2 win at Globe Life Field over Texas. Victor de Jesus's 2-run HR (#36) snapped a scoreless tie in the 6th and Jeff Baez's 2-run double in the 7th gave the Rays some breathing room. Nate Schultz started and walked a tightrope through most of his outing, finishing 5.2 6 1 1 3 5 but improving to 17-2, 3.17. Danny Medina got him out of the 6th but gave up a run of his own in the 7th before Tim Siqueiros took care of the 8th. Siqueiros walked 2 ahead of one of the game's best hitters in Edgar Medina but got him to ground out to end the threat. Kikuo Kawase had a 1-2-3 9th for save #37.

Team record: 117-30. Next up: We head further west for 3 games in Anaheim against the Angels.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls are one win away from the championship round after taking a 4-2 win over Buffalo. After Greg Baldwin gave up a 2-run homer in the top of the 8th allowing the Bisons to equalize, Jeff Hayes delivered a 2-run double in the bottom of the frame to give Durham the win. Jimmy Stevenson started and was sharp, going 6 5 0 0 2 8 and Chris Toombs, a lefty relief prospect, went the final 1 2/3 picking the win and saving it for himself. Game 3 is in Buffalo in a couple of days.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Back-to-back homers from Eric Titcombe (#23) and Danny Ayala (#49) in the top of the 9th gave the Rays a 4-2 win at Angel Stadium of Anaheim tonight. A Dayle Jenkins fielder's choice and a Bo Angeac solo homer (#25) off former Ray Jon Hayes gave the Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead before Leo Ortega gave up an unearned run in the 1st. Ortega gave up little after that and finished 6 3 1 0 0 8 but lost a shot at the win when Mike Wherry gave up a hit to score an Edgar Rios runner in the 7th allowing LA to tie it. Wherry got through the 8th and picked up yet another relief win (#7) and with Kikuo Kawase having pitched the last two day, Jim Golunski got save #2 with the Rays despite giving up a couple of hits.

MLB News: A tough blow for Columbus today as their ace, and reigning NL Cy Young Winner, Fabian Petrovich tore a flexor tendon and will be out for 10 months. They should still hang on to the NL East, but this will hurt them considerably come playoff time.

Game 2: The Rays were down 4-2 in the 8th and had only managed 4 hits, but they exploded for 7 runs in the final two innings and took a 9-4 win over the Angels in Anaheim. After Dayle Jenkins doubled in a run to cut the LA lead to 4-3 in the top of the 8th, Bo Angeac stepped up and crushed a grand slam (#26) to make it 7-4 Rays and that was the ballgame. The Rays' first two runs had come on HR #50 from Danny Ayala and #37 from Jon Jimenez, heating up again. Victor de Jesus added a 2-run double in the 9th to make the rubble bounce. Josh Hanna started and was in line for the win after leaving having gone 6 8 1 1 1 6 in a classic hit-scattering outing which lowered his ERA to 2.72, but Ron Adams flubbed his chance to pitch in a high-leverage situation by giving up a 3-run homer to old friend Vlad Guerrero Jr. (having a mediocre first season with the Angels, .265-14-46) to put LA on top, yet got his 7th win thanks to the 8th-inning rally. Tim Siqueiros had a scoreless 8th, and after the lead became 5 Billy Hoyte got the ball for the 9th and went 1-2-3. Siqueiros' ERA is down to 1.09 and Hoyte's 1.51 if you were wondering about how good the bullpen's been this season.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls swept their way into the championship round with a 4-3 win at Buffalo tonight. Adinso Reyes and Robbie Salazar had RBI singles in the 5th to break a 2-2 tie, and Vinny Willard had to clean up Chris Toombs' mess in the 8th and then one of his own in the 9th which saw the tying run on 3rd to hang on. A bit of bad news, though as standout 3B Jim Gebers strained his forearm and is done for the season. We may see the Rays' other mega-3B prospect Steve Champagne get the call from AA for the next round.

Game 3: The Rays completed the sweep of the Angels with their 10th straight win, a 7-1 triumph. Nate Thompson became the AL's (and MLB's) second 20-game winner of the year by a matter of hours as Boston's Sean Nelson achieved the feat in Philadelphia earlier in the day. It was kind of fitting that it was far from a Picasso for Thompson, who went 6 9 1 1 3 6 and pitched out of jam after jam, lowering his ERA to 4.17. Bob Sirna went 2 innings and Billy Hoyte 1 to finish. The bench was emptied today and Jeremy Glasson came through with his biggest game as a Ray, homering for the first time for us with a 2-run shot in the 2nd (his 9th overall) and adding a 2-run single in the 6th. Danny Ayala had a double for RBI #143 and Jon Jimenez banged out 3 hits.

Team record: 120-30, back to .800. Next up: Only in OOTP would we fly back from Anaheim to play one game in Tampa against Cleveland and then fly back to LA to play the Dodgers.

MLB News: On the same day the season's first 20-game winners were minted, Jose Inostroza of Oakland lost his 20th game today, against 8 wins.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays certainly didn't show jet lag from having to fly back from LA to Tampa to play this makeup game, getting 8 runs to start the game without making an out in a 10-run 1st and beating Cleveland 11-2 for consecutive win #11. The Rays sent 15 men to the plate in the first with the big hits being 2-run singles from Bo Angeac and Danny Ayala and a 3-run homer from Mike McKee (#9). Angeac then drove in a 3rd run later in the long inning. Jeremy Glasson added a pinch-hit homer in the 8th, his 2nd in 2 days as a Ray and 10th overall. Kevin Kerstetter coasted to a ridiculous 19-0 with the lead, finishing 7 3 1 1 0 8 and lowering his ERA to 2.51. Willie Bertone mopped up with 2 innings and allowed a run.

Team record: 121-30. Next up: Back on the plane to LA to play the Dodgers twice.

MLB News: A couple of key contributors to the Rays' first wave of World Series-winning teams retired today. Most notable was Keibert Ruiz, the backstop for five of our title teams (2023, 2025-2026, 2028-2029) and really the franchise's first great catcher. The 5-time all-star hit .287 with 169 HR in his 8 years with the team and had 26 WAR. His career kind of fell off a cliff when he left via free agency to San Francisco, but that's typical for a catcher in his 30s. I'll consider retiring his amusing #69. The other former Ray to retire was Nick Schnell, who came up through our system after being drafted in 2018. He was up for the second half of the season with our first title team in 2023 and had his best season as a big-leaguer in 2024 going .291-19-68 with 2.7 WAR but tore his PCL in May 2025 and was lost for the year. We dealt him away the following winter and picked up Luis Berdin, Chris Paddack and Jeremy Bienick. Those three weren't stars for us but brought back some key contributors when they were traded: Berdin helped bring Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney in, Paddack got us Lewin Diaz (oops), but most importantly of all Bienick was the key to acquire Victor de Jesus, who turned into a superstar. Sadly for Schnell he was never the same player after the injury, had a poor year with the Cubs in 2026 and never saw the majors again, spending the last 9 years bouncing from minor league team to minor league team.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The win streak now sits at 12 after an 8-4 victory over the Dodgers in LA. Nate Schultz went 6 4 2 1 0 3 to improve to 18-2, 3.12 and along with Kevin Kerstetter at 19 wins, the Rays have a shot at having 3 20-game winners after Nate Thompson achieved the feat. Omar Rodriguez led the offense with a pair of homers and 3 RBI, giving him 29 and 99 on the season, and Danny Ayala is heating up again hitting #51 with a pair of RBI to give him 147. Jon Jimenez contributed a 2-run single. Mike Wherry went two scoreless innings in relief of Schultz before Edgar Rios surrendered a 2-run homer in his inning of work.

MLB News: A couple more former Rays retired. Mebrys Viloria, whose picture you'll see if you look up "backup catcher" in the dictionary, was our backup for the second half of the season in 2024 after he came over with Jack Leiter in the deal which sent Ronaldo Hernandez and Ian Lewis to Kansas City. More significantly, Dustin May hung up the cleats. May pitched parts of 4 seasons with us from 2023-2026, in and out of the rotation with 2024 his best season going 9-4, 3.22 in 18 starts before missing most of the second half of the year with a herniated disc. We dealt him to Washington in the 2026 season (not getting much) and he went on to have a few good years with the Nationals but never turned out to be the star pitcher he was touted to be when he first came up with the Dodgers.

Game 2: The Rays took a 5-0 lead then had to hang on to win 6-5 over the Dodgers to extend their winning streak to 13. It looked like a cakewalk with Leo Ortega no-hitting LA through 5 innings and shutting them out through 6, but Ortega gave up a homer in the 7th and put a man on, and Billy Hoyte gave up only his 2nd homer of the year to former Ray Brandon Marsh to make it 5-3. Bo Angeac's 27th HR made it 6-3 in the top of the 8th, and Jim Golunski got the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning, but in the 9th Kikuo Kawase put men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, both of whom scored, before escaping the inning with save #38. It was the first time Kawase had allowed 2 runs in an outing since way back on April 6. Ortega improved to 11-5, 3.00 with his 6.1 3 2 2 0 6 outing. The Rays had built up the 5-0 lead with the longball as Dayle Jenkins hit #17 and Omar Rodriguez hit his third in two days, giving him nice round numbers of 30 HR and 100 RBI, and Angeac had an RBI single.

Team record: 123-30. Next up: An off-day then back to Tampa for a possible ALDS preview as Boston visits for the weekend.

Pennant race update: The only race left in MLB is the NL wild card, and nobody seems to want it at the moment:



If there were more time left in the season the run by the Nationals would be impressive, but it's likely too late.

Update: All three lost again on Thursday while Washington was idle.

Durham Playoff Update: Durham's bullpen crapped the bed in their IL championship series opener, turning a 7th-inning 3-2 lead into a 12-3 loss. Mike Champagne pitched well and left win men on 1st and 3rd with 2 out in the top of the 7th up 3-2, but Greg Baldwin came in, wild-pitched the tying run home, walked the next two to load the bases, then hit a man, and Rob Ratzlaff gave up a couple of doubles and it spiraled out of control from there. They'll try to even the series behind Jimmy Stevenson tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

This should say 4 games vs Boston above - I didn't realize until after Game 3 that the series wraps around to Monday.

Game 1: The Rays fell behind Boston 3-0 early but that's a rounding error to this offense, especially in Publix Park, and Tampa Bay took a 10-3 win to make it 14 on the trot. Dayle Jenkins was the hitting star, going 4-5 with 4 RBI, giving him 96 for the season and making him a prime candidate to join teammates Danny Ayala, Jon Jimenez and Omar Rodriguez in the 100-RBI club. Bo Angeac now has 91 and has an outside shot, remarkable considering he missed six weeks with an injury. No homers today, but Jimenez and Mike McKee drove in a pair as well. Josh Hanna got the start and gave up at least 3 runs for the first time since a July 24 start against these same Red Sox. He finished 7.1 8 3 3 1 8 and is now 17-4, 2.76. Mike Wherry went the final 1 2/3, fanning 3.

Playoff race update: The Cardinals snapped their losing streak when old friend Jasson Dominguez hit a 2-run homer in the 10th to beat the Cubs and the Padres eked out a 1-0 win over 106-loss Arizona while Atlanta lost at home to San Francisco, so things went very badly for the Braves tonight who drop 2 1/2 behind San Diego for the second wild card having now lost 7 straight at the wrong time of the year. Washington lost as well, so their long shot (2.3% coming in) is pretty much gone. St. Louis also pulled within 4 of the first-place Cubs with that win, the closest of any division race. If they sweep the Cubs, things will get interesting in that department.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls evened the IL Championship Series at a game apiece with a 9-2 rout of Rochester in Durham. Ricky Loya and Zach Mathias each had 3 hits including a homer, Jeff Hayes homered and drove in a pair to pace the offense, while Jimmy Steveson went 6 strong innings for the win and Jose Espinoza went the final 3 with 7 whiffs for the save. Game 3 is in Rochester in two days' time and Mike Fields will be on the bump for Durham.

Game 2: It was a rare in-season matchup of 20-game winners as Nate Thompson faced off for the Rays against Boston's Sean Nelson, and like his last start where he was opposite one of the league's best, Thompson came out the winner as the Rays held on to edge Boston 4-3 and win their 15th straight. Thompson had a 4-1 lead and was left in one batter too long in the 7th when he gave up a 2-run homer to make it 4-3. He did notch win #21 with a 6.2 7 3 3 0 9 performance, and Tim Siqueiros got him out of the 7th. Jim Golunski had an odd 8th, giving up 2 hits but getting through the inning throwing only 7 pitches. Kikuo Kawase then got the ball in the 9th and a walk and a Melvin Gutierrez error put the first two Sox on, a wild-pitch sent them to 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, and after a strikeout a walk loaded the bases. But Kawase got a shallow fly ball and an infield pop to secure the win and grab save #39. The big inning for the Rays was the 4th, when they scored 3 times to break a 1-1 tie. Chris Peters, whose sac fly got them on the board, singled in a run and then Will Quintana singled in two more. Omar Rodriguez was 4-4 with a run scored. Nelson meanwhile fell to 20-10 for Boston, a stat I note because that gives him an amazing 30 decisions in 33 starts.

Playoff race update: This game recap headline is the best I've seen and it describes the Braves' wild card chase perfectly:



With St. Louis and San Diego winning, I think Atlanta can pack it in at this point. Meanwhile, the Cards have pulled within 3 of the Cubs with 7 games left and the teams have four games against each other left, one tomorrow and three on the final weekend. This may be the only race left.

[Art Deco]

The original post was getting unwieldy with all the playoff race and Durham updates so I'm breaking it into two.

Game 3: It's never been done before but Kevin Kerstetter has done it - the first pitcher to go 20-0 in MLB history. And he did it in style, coming within one out of pitching a 1-hit shutout. After retiring the first two in the 9th, he gave up a pair of singles and with the tying run coming to the plate in tough righty Josh Peterson and his pitch count at 109, Tim Siqueiros came in and retired a lefty pinch-hitter to end the game, get save #5 and keep the win streak going at 16 with the 3-0 decision. By the way Kerstetter didn't even allow that first hit until one out in the 6th. Just because it's such an accomplishment I'll present it here in black and white:



For awhile though it looked like Kerstetter might not get any run support as his counterpart Mario Candelaria was no-hitting the Rays himself until Omar Rodriguez led off the 5th with a single. But Jaiden Hardaway struck the key blow, a 2-run homer (#27) in the 7th to make it 2-0 Tampa Bay, and Rodriguez's sac fly in the 8th made things more comfortable. Now back to Kerstetter, we could skip his final start so as not to risk his perfect record (and also his MLB win % record, which Blake Money set for the Rays in 2027 going 21-1). Stay tuned.

Playoff race update: Atlanta ended its losing streak and got losses from San Diego and St. Louis, so they crept up from 2.5% to make it to 7.5% but still trail the Padres by 2 1/2, 3 in the loss column. The Cardinals loss to the Cubs make their division hopes unlikely as Chicago now is up 4 with 6 games left, although they do play each other on the final weekend.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls are one win away from another Governor's Cup thanks to a 5-4 win in Rochester to go up 2 games to 1. Considering they had 17 hits on the day it should have been a more comfortable win but they left 13 on base and couldn't get big hits when they needed them to put it away. Ricky Limongelli and Zach Mathis each had 3 hits and an RBI to pace the offense while Mike Fields went 6 for the win. Vinny Willard whiffed 5 over the final 2 innings for the save but it took him 36 pitches so he likely won't be available for Game 4.

Game 4: Down 5-0, being no-hit through 5 innings? No problem for the Rays as they stormed back to take consecutive win #17 in a 7-5 victory over Boston. Nate Schultz lost his shot at 20 wins by being hit unusually hard today, 5.1 10 5 5 1 4. But Ron Adams took over and threw 2 2/3 scoreless for his 8th win and Kikuo Kawase nailed down save #40. The rally began in the 6th when they put four on the board thanks to a Dayle Jenkins sac fly, Victor de Jesus RBI single and a 2-run Danny Ayala single, and then the comeback was completed in the 7th with three more on a Jenkins RBI single (he's now at 98 RBI), and a 2-run homer from de Jesus, his 37th.

Team record: 127-30. Next up: 2 games at home versus the Yankees as we now only need to win 3 of the last 5 to break our MLB single-season wins record of 129 set in 2033.

Playoff race update: A bad night for the Cardinals. Although they still look secure for a wild card, they lost tonight which pretty much dooms their division hopes. And they lost star slugger and former Ray Nate Clark for 3 weeks to a torn thumb ligament. That's on top of losing one of their better pitchers, another former Ray Jeremy Bienick, to elbow inflammation for two weeks. San Diego and Atlanta were idle.

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It's the Bulls' 5th straight Governors' Cup.

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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.

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Game 1: It took until the 9th inning, but the Rays made history today by winning their 130th game of the season (and 20th straight) to break the MLB single-season team wins record they set in 2033, 6-3 over Toronto. The historic rally started with a one-out solo HR from Danny Ayala (#52) to break a 3-3 tie in the top of the 9th, and then they put a couple more on, one of whom scored on a passed ball and the other on a Dayle Jenkins triple (his 99th RBI). Tim Siqueiros got win #2 with a scoreless 8th in relief of Nate Thompson, who missed out on a team record-tying 22nd win of the year but pitched well overall at 7 3 3 2 2 5 to finish the year 21-5, 4.10. Kikuo Kawase put a couple on, but nailed down save #42 to clinch the record-setting win. Also with a 3-hit day today, Jaiden Hardaway took over the AL batting lead at .365 over Houston's Alex Padilla at .362.

MLB News: Columbus and St. Louis are playoff-bound, but they both continue to suffer significant injuries heading into the postseason. Already without 3 of their starters including reigning NL Cy Young winner Fabian Petrovich, the Lightning have lost superstar 3B Cristhian Rodriguez for two weeks. And St. Louis, which saw Nate Clark and Jeremy Bienick go on the DL, have now lost their starting 2B Juan Morales for the season.

Playoff Race Update: Well I had given up on any races, but Chicago lost a couple of games and St. Louis then beat them tonight 3-2 to pull to within one game of the NL Central lead. They have two games left with each other, and if Chicago wins either of them the Cubs win the division but a St. Louis sweep would make them division winners. No chance of a tie, of course.

Game 2: The winning just won't stop as the Rays beat Toronto for the second straight day by a 6-3 margin to make it 21 straight and a record 131 wins. Kevin Kerstetter did not sit for a chance to stay undefeated, he took the ball today and went to 21-0 to set the all-time single-season win % for a pitcher. He wasn't his best today, but 5.2 8 3 3 0 5 was good enough for his ERA to finish at 2.46 and his WAR at 5.8. Danny Medina and Mike Wherry (who got save #5) combined to pitch the final 3 1/3 scoreless. The big hit was a 3-run jack from Eric Titcombe (#24) in the 1st while Jeff Baez was 3-3 with a solo HR (#13) and Will Quintana (#8) found the seats as well. And the other Rays ribbie came from Dayle Jenkins, whose 7th-inning RBI single gave him 100, the 4th Ray to reach that mark this year. Bo Angeac came close at 94, he'll likely rest for tomorrow's finale instead of risking injury for a longshot 6-RBI day.

Playoff race update: The Cardinals did it! They won 3-0 to force a winner-takes-all game tomorrow for the NL Central title with the Cubs. Chicago lost its 5th straight game and 8th in their last 10 and will be out of the playoffs entirely if their losing streak extends to 7.

Game 3: The Rays will head into the postseason on a 22-game winning streak as they got by Toronto 3-2 in 11 innings today. The bench was emptied for the finale, and Ron Adams got the spot start today. Adams acquitted himself well, going 6 7 1 1 1 7 and finishing the year 8-4, 3.29 with 125 whiffs in 98 innings. He'll be in next year's rotation with Leo Ortega a free agent. He was in line for the win but Willie Bertone gave up the tying run in the 7th, Billy Hoyte went the 8th, Edgar Rios had two scoreless innings and got the win, and Bob Sirna was called upon in a genuine save situation and got a regular one in addition to a 3-inning job he had earlier this season. Eric Titcombe, who drove in a run in the 2-run first, singled in the game-winner in the top of the 11th and Jon Jimenez had an RBI double for the other 1st inning run. Jaiden Hardaway sat today and won the batting title at .364 to Alex Padilla's .362. Danny Ayala led MLB with 52 HR and 152 RBI, Jon Jimenez led the AL in OPS at 1.035 (barely missing out on the MLB crown to the Mets' Chris McLoughlin at 1.036), Hardaway led MLB in WAR for the third straight year at 9.6, and Kevin Kerstetter and Nate Thompson tied with Texas's Will Diaz for the MLB wins lead at 21.

Final Regular Season Record: 132-30, an MLB record. Next up: The ALDS against either Houston or Boston.

MLB Playoff Update: The Cardinals beat the Cubs 8-4 today to sweep their series and take the NL Central in an epic collapse from Chicago. The game was a microcosm of the season as after Pavin Smith gave the Cubs a 3-0 first-inning lead with a bases-clearing triple, the Cards came back behind a pair of homers from Tyler Gibson.



Hardaway capped what was likely a 3rd straight MVP season with a great month.

The playoff tree:

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Rays team stats:



A few differences from previous seasons: we ran a lot less this year, as with the bats we have there it's riskier to make outs on the bases than try for extra ones, and our defense was much better this year for which I primarily can thank Jeff Baez and his 70-rated SS play. Also let me say: What. A. Bullpen. The 1.98 season ERA is miles above anything I've ever had.

Individual hitting stats:



What can I say, 6 guys with 5.9 WAR or better. Only disappointment was Eric Titcombe, whom we probably move this offseason because he ain't gonna be cheap in arbitration. I'll find a cheaper RH backup OF bat.

Individual pitching stats:



13.2 WAR of out the bullpen, and I'm not counting Ron Adams even though 15 of his 26 appearances came from the pen. That's impressive.

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The Cubs arrested their free-fall thanks to an epic 1-0 Wild Card win behind Luis Balladares' 4-hit shutout. They'll now take on the Dodgers in the NLDS.

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Two once-proud franchises back in the postseason after long absences (Boston 2018, Houston 2024) battled it out for the right to face the Rays in the ALDS. It will be the Red Sox, as they got a 9th-inning run to edge the Astros 4-3. The Rays and Red Sox have met twice in the playoffs before, first in the 2008 ALCS which the Rays took in 7 to advance to their first-ever World Series, and again in 2013 when the Sox took the Rays in 4 in the ALDS on their way to a World Series win.

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The Cards carried over their late season hot streak to take Game 1 in Columbus while the Cubs shocked the Dodgers thanks to a brilliant Raul Robles performance.

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Ugh...



You just knew that after winning 22 games to close the season the Rays would lose Game 1 of the playoffs and sure enough that's what happened. But the way they lost was shocking, given how bad the pitching was at both ends of the game. Nate Schultz was hit hard for 5 runs in the first two innings; Bob Sirna, who had a breakout year this season, gave up a critical 2-run homer to the same-handed lefty hitter Pierson Gibis; and after the Rays had come all the way back to take the lead going into the 9th, about as sure a thing as you could have, Kikuo Kawase (with the help of a Bo Angeac error to put the leadoff man on), gave up three hits to allow 2 Boston runs to score to blow the game. I was set to write about what a hero Ron Adams was, getting 7 of his 8 outs via the whiff in a dominant relief performance, and how Jeff Baez's clutch 2-out, 2-run single in the 7th was going to win it for them. But all for naught. Of course this team is well-accustomed to being down in the playoffs only to come back, as last year's Houdini act will attest. But not an ideal way to start.

The other games:



Texas took the lead in their ALDS but it came at a price: one of their twin aces, Victor Presas, suffered a fractured elbow and is done for the year. The Cards got 5 shutout innings from their pen and a 2-run Josh Stowers single to take a 2-0 lead in their series going back to St. Louis, and the Dodgers scored 3 times in the bottom of the 9th to pull out a 4-3 win including a Bobby Ferguson 2-run homer to tie it, and the series is now tied as well.