The 2024 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Another bullpen nightmare...



For 7 innings it looked like the Rays would be evening up the World Series. A strong outing from rookie Hagen Smith (10 Ks in 5 IP) and two clean innings from Ryan Pepiot combined with a big 2-run homer from Adley Rutschman put Tampa Bay in a strong position but it all fell apart in the 8th. Devin Williams put two men on with one out and then gave up consecutive infield singles to make it 4-3, and then Sam Hentges came in to face some lefties and made it worse, continuing his terrible postseason by allowing all 3 men on to score on a bases-loaded walk and 2-run single and by the time the dust settled it was a 7-4 Reds win. And while the offense did its part much better tonight, they once again grounded into three rally-killing double plays, including one after they got the leadoff man on in the 9th. So now they're in a deep, deep hole and will need Jeffrey Springs (and more importantly the bullpen for a change) to come up big in Game 3 in Cincinnati.

[Art Deco]

Back in it...



This time the bullpen held, but just barely, as the Rays took Game 3 from Cincinnati 4-2 on a chilly, rainy miserable Halloween night in Cincinnati but they didn't care about the weather when it was over. Jeffrey Springs was brilliant once again in these playoffs and we decided not to mess around and brought Felix Bautista in for the two-inning save. The 8th was a breeze for him but the 9th not so much. He gave up a one-out double and then struck out the next man, but a walk and then a double made it 4-2 with the tying runs in scoring position. With Bautista now in the red at 32 pitches, I made the gamble to pull him and bring in soft-tossing lefty Richard Lovelady to face the lefty due up, but the Reds countered with a righty pinch-hitter, Ryan Jeffers. Luckily Lovelady got him to fly to left and that was the ballgame. Meanwhile on the hitting side our former Orioles contingent got the job done with Heston Kjerstad (who drove in the first run) hitting a tie-breaking solo homer in the 7th and Jordan Westburg delivering a 2-run double later in the inning which proved to be the winning margin. Taj Bradley will be looking to turn his postseason fortunes around with a good start tomorrow to try and get the Rays even.

[Art Deco]

Backs to the wall...



The Rays have no more margin for error as they were pounded 12-3 by Cincinnati in Game 4 and trail 1-3 in the World Series. Things got off to a promising start on homers from Junior Caminero and Heston Kjerstad which gave them a 3-1 lead in the top of the 2nd, but Taj Bradley finished off a nightmare postseason by giving up 4 runs by the 2nd and was given an early hook. Ryan Pepiot, so good in his previous appearances, then gave up a pair of solo homers in the 3rd as the game got away from the Rays. And after starting as shakily as Bradley, Cincinnati's Tajuan Walker settled in to shut down Tampa Bay bats thereafter and that was that. Now on tap is a rematch of the epic Game 1 pitchers' duel between Shane McClanahan and Max Fried, and the Rays will have to hope they get the edge this time as that game could have been a "sliding doors" type moment had they pulled it out.

[Art Deco]

A pathetic end to a pathetic series performance...



One of these teams won 101 games during the regular season and other won 89, and by watching this World Series you'd certainly have thought it was Cincinnati with the 101 if you didn't know better. The Rays were deserted by their bullpen and their bats in these 5 games, rendering their excellent starting pitching (outside of Bradley) largely moot. Today was more of the same as once again they got a first-inning run off Max Fried and once again they got absolutely zero thereafter. And this time I don't think anyone had the Reds getting 3 runs on 6 hits in the first inning off Shane McClanahan on their bingo card. To his credit Mac shut down Cincinnati after that but the bats had no answer and then the failpen failed again, giving up 3 more runs to put the game out of reach. So again a dominant regular season fails to yield a championship and the Rays are now 0-3 all-time in the World Series, having won a grand total of 4 games across those three appearances. And it's going to be extremely difficult to get back to this stage next year as the likes of McClanahan, Adley Rutschman, and Jeffrey Springs are all free agents - this was the all-in year and they came up short.

[Art Deco]

Well any season that ends in the World Series can't be viewed as a disappointment but our sad showing in the Fall Classic did put a damper on things. And as alluded to in the previous post we're going to lose a few key players who are going to be hard to replace but we should still have a solid team for 2028.

The first order of business is that Stu Sternberg has given us a payroll of only $110M so that rules out trying to re-sign any of the big three of Adley Rutschman, Shane McClanahan and Jeffrey Springs. We'll make qualifying offers to the first two and net a couple of high draft picks and not chance it with Springs in case he takes it.

This is how the current squad shakes out salary-wise for next season (projected):



You might notice Jarred Kelenic there - we claimed him on waivers during the postseason from Atlanta as well as veteran lefty reliever Matt Gage (who for some reason doesn't show here even though I had to make him about a $1.5M arbitration offer). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Kelenic since all the OFs return, so stay tuned. This group - if all kept - would add up to $101M giving us very little room to maneuver.

The position-by-position outlook:

C: Obviously the big hole here with Rutschman going free agent. Luis Campusano excelled as his backup and now will get the chance to be the man. Yainer Diaz is the other catcher on the roster but really hasn't caught the last two seasons and I might be moving him. If that happens then look for someone like Dominic Keegan or Cade Hunter, who have toiled for Durham the last several years, to get a chance provided we don't grab up a veteran backup.

Really there's no need to go the rest of way among position players as we'll return the rest of the lineup: Isaac (1B), Westburg (2B), C.Williams (SS), Caminero (3B), Morel (LF), P.Meadows (CF), J.Lowe (RF) and the Kjerstad/Mead platoon (DH).

That leaves the bench where we'll have the catcher, one of Kjerstad/Mead, and for now there's Brock Jones and Brayden Taylor. Ryan Cermak could nose in for a backup OF/DH against lefties role after hitting 55 HR at Durham last year.

Rotation: Obviously a big hit here with McClanahan and Springs leaving. This makes Hagen Smith the de facto ace, followed by Taj Bradley, Robert Gasser, and in a return to the rotation, Ryan Pepiot. We'll still need a fifth starter and that's where it gets tricky. We can always bring back old friend Zack Littell and guys we've been through before like Randy Vasquez and Reese Olsen (we'd have to sign them to MLB contracts since they'll be MiLB free agents). None of those choices seems terribly appealing so dealing for a starter is the goal.

Bullpen: Setup guy Devin Williams and lefty Sam Hentges are also free agents so we'll have a couple of holes to fill there too. Otherwise Bautista, Lovelady, Maldonado, Robertson, M.Rodriguez and Contreras return and rookies like Keyshawn Askew and Jacob Misiorowski are possibilities but we probably need to add at least one reliever as well.

Prospects: We don't really have any of note that are on the verge. Leadoff-type Luis Lara is probably MLB-ready but we have a fairly deep OF. Two-way 2026 first-round pick Kyle Johnson might be ready to help in the second half.

So the goals are simple:

1) find a starting pitcher (or two)
2) add a bullpen arm (or two)
3) maybe see what kind of backup Cs are available late in free agency

[Art Deco]

Retirements:

Notables: Freddie Freeman (Atlanta retired #5), Jose Altuve (Houston retired #27), Madison Bumgarner, Nick Castellanos, Tim Anderson, Justin Turner, Starling Marte, Robbie Ray, Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber.

Former Rays: Alex Cobb, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Travis d'Arnaud.

November 4: Well we traded for a starting pitcher:



Diaz had never really caught fire for us (and spent most of 2026 at AAA) like he did in Houston as a heavy-hitting catcher, and his defense was always suspect anyway so we used him mostly as a DH against lefties. So I was thrilled to be offered Horton for him. The former first-round pick of the Cubs turned in a very solid 2027, going 11-12, 4.67 with 185 whiffs in 185 IP and earned a decent 2.9 WAR. He'll make a very good 4th/5th starter for us. Horton is arb-eligible this winter and will get about $3.1M which is roughly what Diaz would have cost but a better allocation of money.

November 6: An interesting trade by division rivals Baltimore and New York as the Yankees sent Spencer Jones to the Orioles for Coby Mayo. Jones hit 33 HR with a .244 BA in his first full season while Mayo has hit 30, 28 and 29 homers the last three seasons, while hitting .230-.245 so superficially at least they're very similar.

November 9: The big news is that we signed a contract extension with Parker Meadows. The gold glove-caliber CF (+11.5 ZR last year) is getting a 4/18 deal coming off a season he earned 2.5 WAR despite playing only about 2/3 of the time. Meanwhile we settled all of our arbitration cases except for Caminero, Gasser and Mead, who wanted long-term contracts I wasn't prepared to give - in the case of Caminero, just yet, and not at all for the other two.

Awards Season:

Gold Glove: We had two winners, unfortunately they're guys who are leaving us as McClanahan (P) and Rutschman (C) were honored.

Reliever of the Year: Felix Bautista wuz robbed. Despite a 13-win, 29-save, 1.57-ERA, 3.5-WAR season he finished a distant second to Detroit's Ben Joyce who had 12 wins, 38 saves, and a 1.95 ERA and 2.8 WAR. Guess those extra saves made the difference. In the NL the Giants' Taylor Clarke got 29 of 30 first-place votes thanks to a 36-save, 2.49 ERA season.

Silver Slugger: There were three Rays winners: Rutschman (C), Isaac (1B) and Caminero (3B). Former Ray Jonny DeLuca won the AL CF award with Cleveland after a 33-homer season that came out of nowhere, guess we lost the Sam Hentges trade with them.

Rookie of the Year: Another stunner as Houston OF Luis Baez (.297-28-77, 3.3 WAR) took the award over Baltimore's 29-year-old Cuban import SP Luis Orta, who led the AL with 7.0 pitcher WAR after going 18-11, 3.56 and our Hagen Smith, who merely went 17-6, 2.90 with 4.8 WAR. Baez took 19 first-place votes to 9 and 2 for Orta and Smith, a head-scratcher. The NL winner was Arizona's Yosy Galan, who took 29 of 30 first-place votes after hitting .254-44-117.

Cy Young: A hell of a going-away year for Mac:




A bit surprised Orta didn't get a few first-place votes, but pitcher WAR is not something heavily weighted by OOTP come awards time. Smith finished fourth. In the NL Philly's Andrew Painter won rather convincingly over Miami's Eury Perez (24-3, 191-123) thanks to a 14-5, 2.65 year.

MVP: Baltimore's Jackson Holliday was one vote shy of unanimous after his 9.2 WAR season that saw him hit .318-29-85 and play Gold Glove D. Caminero finished third and got the other first place vote (it wasn't mine). Jackson Chourio was unanimous in the NL as the Milwaukee superstar earned 9.4 WAR with a .348-41-145 mega-season.

November 25: We lost our three arbitration cases and will have to pay a total of $1.6M more than hoped. Rutschman and McClanahan unsurprisingly rejected the qualifying offer, so draft picks here we come. So right now our payroll sits at an even $100M, meaning we have a max of $10M to add so it's going to have to be dollar in, dollar out if we make any moves.

December 1: The Dodgers traded P Dustin May to the Rockies, and vagabond veteran closer Liam Hendriks went in a deal from Washington to St. Louis, making it 4 teams in 4 years for the 38-year-old despite racking up 117 saves in the last three seasons.

December 5: The first of our big three free agents found a new home as Jeffrey Springs signed a 3/71 deal with the Dodgers. Also veteran Jacob deGrom moved across the state from the Dallas area to Houston, joining the Astros on a big 2/59 contract. Washington also dealt longtime IF CJ Abrams to Philadelphia.

December 9: NL Reliever of the Year Taylor Clarke was dealt by San Francisco to Detroit for a prospect.

December 10: Big news out of New York as the Yankees dealt Gerrit Cole, entering the last year of his mega-contract, to Milwaukee for a couple of prospects. The 37-year-old Cole is coming off a 13-11, 4.01 season.

December 13: It was a big free agent day as our top two guys from last year signed on the dotted line. First Adley Rutschman signed a massive 7/262 deal ($37+M/yr) with St. Louis and then Shane McClanahan joined Jeffrey Springs in Tinseltown thanks to a 6/219 contract the Dodgers gave him ($33M/yr). We'll have fun at next year's draft with 2 1st-round comp picks.

December 15: Speaking of the draft the Cubs were the big lottery winners, moving up from 7th to grab the first pick.

December 22: The Yankees acquired their Gerrit Cole replacement, trading for San Francisco vet Logan Webb, and signed another former Giant, OF Jung-hoo Lee to a 4/54 deal.

December 23: Added C Dominic Keegan and P Spencer Schwellenbach to the 40-man roster. Keegan is penciled in as our backup catcher, and Schwellenbach has an outside chance of joining the staff.

December 24: Nothing like a holiday Rule 5 Draft. It was very active and there were a fair number of "name" players taken, so here are the first two rounds (Toronto ended up taking 5 guys):



As you can see we lost Brendan McKay (again) but picked up Jackson Baumeister, who probably won't make our club but we'll take a look at him in spring training.

December 28: This time we picked up a guy who should definitely make our team, signing veteran lefty reliever Tanner Scott to a 1-year, $1.8M deal. He'll replace the departed Sam Hentges as our top left-handed option in the pen. We also signed a professional IFA to a minor-league deal, 33-year-old Taiwanese OF Xing-Peng Fan, who rates 65 contact but only 35 power and can play a 60 RF. He'll give us depth at Durham.

December 30: The Phillies signed OF Seiya Suzuki to a 4/58 deal.

December 31: Former Rays 3B Isaac Paredes signed a big 7/131 deal with the Giants after doing his usual 25-HR, 85-RBI thing with the Cubs last year after we dealt him there last winter.

[Art Deco]

January 3: Randy Arozarena gets a 2/16 deal with Seattle after playing with Detroit, the White Sox and Texas since we dealt him to the Tigers mid-2024.

January 11: Slugging OF Anthony Santander stays in the mid-Atlantic but this time with the Nationals on a 3/40 contract, coming off a 40-HR season in his one-year return to the Orioles.

January 15: It was reliever signing day as our Sam Hentges landed in Houston on a 1/10 deal and veteran closer Emmanuel Clase will pitch for Boston and get paid $8.2M for 1 season.

January 17: Another relief pitcher finds a new home - Andres Munoz joins the Yankees for 3/14.

January 18: Seattle dealt starter George Kirby to San Diego for 3 prospects including Dakota Jordan.

January 19: The Hall of Fame balloting is in:



Pujols (as expected) and Cano sail in on their first ballot and Yadi Molina comes awfully close. More close-but-no-cigar for CC, A-Rod and Beltran while Mauer seems to have stalled.

February 4: C Willson Contreras bagged a 3/42 deal with the White Sox.

February 19: We signed a trio of vets to minor league deals with invites to spring training: C Jonah Heim, OF Leody Taveras, and SP Juan Mercedes. Heim, a Rays property about 10 years ago, will likely become the backup C while Taveras is coming off a 3.8 WAR season with Oakland after playing elite defense in CF and hitting 13 HR with a .279 BA. He's a switch-hitter who fares better against lefties so he's got a shot at the roster as well. Mercedes is a starter who's put up solid numbers in AAA in the Mariners org and will give us some depth at Durham.

And so we head into spring training hoping to stay injury-free and still on the prowl for a bullpen arm.

[Art Deco]

We made it through spring training mostly unscathed - veteran reliever Matt Gage is the only one starting the year on IL with a rotator cuff strain, and he should be back around the end of April.

So the opening day roster looks like this:

C-Campusano, Heim
1B-Isaac
2B-Westburg
SS-C.Williams
3B-Caminero
IF-Mead
LF-Morel
CF-P.Meadows
RF-J.Lowe
OF-Taveras, Cermak
DH-Kjerstad

Meadows will platoon with Tavares in CF and Kjerstad and either Mead or Cermak will platoon at DH.

SP-H.Smith, Bradley, Gasser, Pepiot, Horton
LR-Baumeister
MR-Contreras, M.Rodriguez, T.Scott, Robertson, Lovelady
SU-Maldonado
CL-F.Bautista

A look at these guys:



The preseason predictions are not very bullish on us at all:



At least Isaac and Caminero are predicted to rake again. Next up: The season opens with 4 in Seattle

[Art Deco]

March 30: at Seattle. The Opening Day box:



It was nice to see Smith pick up where he left off from his fantastic rookie season and he was extraordinarily efficient today.

March 31: at Seattle 5-4 W (10). WP-Bautista (1-0). S-Robertson (1). Starter-Bradley (6 3 2 2 3 6). Campusano's 4th hit of the game was a 2-run single in the 10th which was big because Seattle scored the ghost runner in the bottom of the inning. Bautista blew the save coming on early in the 8th after Tanner Scott had to leave two batters in with a minor injury, giving up a homer.

April 1: at Seattle 4-6 L. LP-Pepiot (0-1, 6 4 4 3 0 3). HR-Isaac (1), Caminero (1), Westburg (1). Homers from Isaac and Caminero gave the Rays an early 3-0 but Pepiot gave it all back and one more. He and Tampa Bay were done in by Julio Rodriguez, who drove in all 6 Seattle runs with a grand slam and a 2-run double. J-Rod had also homered in the first two games.

April 2: at Seattle 4-5 L. LP-Contreras (0-1). Starter-Horton (5 4 3 3 2 5, 3 HR). HR-J.Lowe (1), P.Meadows (1). Another early lead went by the wayside as 4-1 Rays became 5-4 Seattle. Horton looked good in his Rays debut before giving up solo homers #2 and 3 in the 5th and former Ray Brandon Lowe's 2-run homer in the 6th off Contreras was the difference as middle relief looks like it might be a problem for us this year. And of course J-Rod homered again, giving him 4 in the 4 games.

Team record: 2-2. Next week: We head down the coast to play 3 in San Francisco before traveling back to St. Pete to play a 3-game home-opening series against the Yankees.

No Players of the Week were named for the short season-opening week, but J-Rod probably would have gotten the nod in the AL for going 6-16 with 4 HR and 9 RBI against the Rays, while in the NL former Ray Isaac Paredes might have won after his 3-homer game for the Giants over the weekend and his 5-14, 4 HR, 8 RBI start with his new club.

[Art Deco]

April 3: at San Francisco 5-7 L. LP-Gasser (0-1, 4 11 6 6 0 5). Rays took a quick 4-0 lead in the 2nd on J.Lowe's bases-clearing double but it all went wrong after that as Gasser was hit hard.

April 4: at San Francisco 9-3 W. WP-H.Smith (2-0, 6 8 2 2 0 6). HR-Caminero (2). Smith dazzled again and the Rays broke open a 3-2 game with a 5-run 8th keyed by Caminero's grand slam which capped a 5-RBI day for the slugging 3B.

April 5: at San Francisco 5-4 W. WP-Bradley (1-0, 5 5 2 1 2 4). S-Bautista (2). HR-Isaac 2 (3), C.Williams (1). Isaac and Carson were the offense today, with the former hitting 2 HR and driving in 3 while the latter was 3-4 with a homer and 2 RBI. Bautista came in and rescued a struggling Maldonado in the 8th, getting a 5-out save all via the strikeout.

April 6: Off-Day.

April 7: vs NY Yankees 12-4 W. WP-Pepiot (1-1, 7 3 3 3 0 8). HR-Morel 2 (3). Rays made it a home opener to remember by scoring 9 times in the first inning including 5 before making their first out to rout the Yankees. Morel was 4-5 with a 2-run double in that 1st before adding a pair of solo homers while Caminero was 3-4 with 3 RBI.

April 8: vs NY Yankees 8-2 W. WP-Horton (1-0, 5 5 2 1 3 7). HR-Morel (4), Isaac (4). Another comfortable win over the Yankees but they didn't put this one away until 7th when they made a 5-2 game an 8-2 one. Morel stayed hot going 3-5 with another homer while Horton picked up his first Rays win in his home debut.

April 9: vs NY Yankees 4-0 W. WP-Gasser (1-1, 6 2 0 0 2 7). Gasser rebounded from his poor start in Frisco with a dominant performance and his battery mate Heim was 3-4, driving in the first two Rays runs before Meadows created some separation with a 2-run double to cap a 3-run 6th.

Team record: 7-3. The Rays are tied with Boston atop the AL East, 1/2 game ahead of Baltimore. Next week: Atlanta visits for 3 games before a day off to travel to Chicago to play 3 against the White Sox.

Players of the Week:

AL: This guy:



NL: Jordan Walker (STL), 12-28, 3 HR, 7 RBI

MLB News: Texas lost star OF Evan Carter for 3 months with a torn abdominal muscle and Atlanta signed superstar OF Ronald Acuna Jr. to a 4/148 extension.

Rays News: We added to our rotation depth by signing veteran free agent SP Freddy Peralta to a minor league contract with an MLB option which will pay him a shade over $2M if he makes the big club. He went 6.1 4 3 3 0 11 in his Bulls debut and is coming off a mixed bag of a season with Houston and Philly last year, combining to go 7-12, 4.67 but with 164 whiffs in 165 IP and worth 1.6 WAR.

[Art Deco]

April 10: vs Atlanta 5-2 W. WP-H.Smith (3-0, 6.1 5 2 2 0 8). S-Bautista (3). Cermak got his first big hit as a big-leaguer, singling a run to break a 2-2 tie and help send the Rays to victory behind another fine effort from Smith.

April 11: vs Atlanta 11-1 W. WP-Bradley (2-0, 5.2 2 0 0 2 6). HR-J.Lowe 2 (3), Caminero 2 (4), Isaac (5), C.Williams (2). An orgy of offense for the Rays as they scored 11 runs on 18 hits including the six homers listed above. Williams had the best day of all, going 4-4 with the homer and 3 RBI while Caminero was 3-4 with his two homers and 3 RBI.

April 12: vs Atlanta 2-5 L. LP-Maldonado (0-1). Starter-Pepiot (6.1 2 0 0 3 7). The bullpen let this one get away as the Rays took a 2-0 lead into the 8th. Maldonado served up a 3-run homer to Sean Murphy in that inning and that was enough to turn the tide.

April 13: Off-Day.

April 14: at Chicago White Sox 0-2 L. LP-Horton (1-1, 6 4 2 2 2 4). Jarlin Susana and two relievers held the Rays to only 4 hits, handing Horton a tough-luck loss.

April 15: at Chicago White Sox 2-10 L. LP-Gasser (1-2, 5 7 8 8 4 5). HR-Heim (1), C.Williams (3). This one was over early as Gasser gave up 8 runs in the first 3 innings. Heim did hit his first Rays homer.

April 16: at Chicago White Sox 3-6 L. LP-H.Smith (3-1, 5 4 5 3 2 7). HR-Isaac (6). A miserable weekend in the Windy City concluded with another loss as the Rays were swept and outscored 18-5 by the Pale Hose. Smith gave up a 3-run homer in the first and a 2-run shot in the 2nd and that was the ballgame.

Team record: 9-7. We're now one back of Boston and tied with Baltimore in the East. Next week: 3 games at Yankee Stadium, then an off-day to travel home where Boston will await for 3 more.

Players of the Week:

AL: Yordan Alvarez (HOU), 11-22, 4 HR, 13 RBI
NL: Bryce Harper (PHI), 13-26, 3 HR, 12 RBI

[Art Deco]

April 17: at NY Yankees 8-2 W. WP-Bradley (3-0, 6 5 2 2 1 4). HR-Mead (1), Cermak (1). Taj was solid and Cermak had his first big game of the year, going 3-5 with a 2-run homer while Campusano (who has been on fire) had a 2-run double to get them going.

April 18: at NY Yankees 4-0 W. WP-Pepiot (2-1, 6 3 0 0 4 6). HR-Isaac (7). Pepiot and three relievers combined on a 4-hit shutout and Campusano was big again, going 2-3 with an RBI triple.

April 19: at NY Yankees 8-9 L (14). LP-Contreras (0-2). Starter-Horton (5 5 4 4 3 5). HR-Isaac (8), Caminero (5), Cermak (2). This was a wild, tough loss that saw the Rays lose three leads late and eventually the game. And they were almost single-handedly done in by Danny Jansen, who homered off Bautista in the 9th to send us to extras, hit an RBI double in the 12th to tie it again, and then tied it a third time in the 14th with a single and scored the winner later in the inning. Cermak and Caminero each homered and knocked in 3.

April 20: Off-Day.

April 21: vs Boston 3-1 W. WP-Gasser (2-2, 6.1 2 0 0 2 7). S-Bautista (4). HR-Caminero 2 (7). Gasser pitched his best game of the season and Junior was the offense, going 3-5 with a solo shot and 2-run homer to account for all the Tampa Bay scoring.

April 22: vs Boston 3-2 W. WP-Maldonado (1-1). S-Lovelady (1). Starter-H.Smith (6.1 5 2 2 1 11). HR-Caminero (8). This was a great pitchers' duel between Smith and Boston's Garrett Whitlock with the Rays up 1-0 until the 7th when Smith gave up a 2-run homer to Tyler O'Neill, but it was Caminero to the rescue again as he hit a 2-run homer in the 8th off the Boston bullpen to win it.

April 23: vs Boston 3-0 W. WP-Bradley (4-0, 6 4 0 0 2 7). S-Maldonado (1). HR-C.Williams (4), Cermak (3). This was another duel with Taj and former Ray Blake Snell trading zeroes until Carson homered in the 6th and the red-hot Cermak providing insurance with a 2-run 8th-inning shot as the Rays completed the sweep of a low-scoring series.

Team record: 14-8. The sweep of Boston propelled them into first and put them up 1 1/2 on both the Red Sox and Toronto. Next week: The Angels visit for 4 games before we go to Pittsburgh for 3.

Players of the Week:

AL: This guy:



He's forcing his way into our lineup. Caminero would have been a good pick too after a 7-19, 4-HR, 8-RBI week.

NL: Marco Luciano (LA), 8-20, 4 HR, 9 RBI.

[Art Deco]

April 24: vs LA Angels 5-2 W. WP-Pepiot (3-1, 7 5 0 0 2 8). S-Bautista (5). HR-Morel (5), Isaac (9), Cermak (4). Issac (a 2-run shot) and Morel went back-to-back in the 1st inning and the Rays never looked back thanks to a gem from Pepiot.

April 25: vs LA Angels 3-2 W (10). WP-Bautista (2-0). Starter-Horton (5 3 1 1 1 5). Rays tied it with 2 in the 9th and then won it in the 10th on Westburg's RBI single.

April 26: vs LA Angels 10-6 W. WP-Gasser (3-2, 6 4 2 2 2 7). HR-Caminero (9), Morel (6). Caminero and Morel each had 3 hits and 4 RBI including their homers as the Rays romped. LA got 4 runs in the final 3 innings to make the score a bit more respectable for them.

April 27: vs LA Angels 3-5 L. LP-Baumeister (0-1). Starter-H.Smith (6 4 3 3 4 6). HR-Westburg (2), C.Williams (5). Rays tied this one at 3 in the 8th on Williams' solo shot but Baumeister gave up a pair of solo homers in the 9th including Mike Trout's second of the game to lose it and keep the Rays from sweeping.

April 28: at Pittsburgh 10-2 W. WP-Bradley (5-0, 6 3 2 2 3 6). S-M.Rodriguez (1). HR-Caminero 2 (11), Mead (2). It's Caminero's world and we're all living in it as the 3B is off to a league-best 2.0 WAR start and is hitting 361/436/722 after today's 4-5 game with a pair of doubles and a pair of homers. Isaac was 3-5 with 2 RBI and Mead drove in 3 including a 2-run shot.

April 29: at Pittsburgh 6-9 L. LP-Pepiot (3-2, 3.2 4 6 6 5 6). HR-Morel (7). A rough game for Pepiot and one that wasn't as close as it looked as the Rays trailed 6-1 much of the way against Paul Skenes before scoring 5 in the final 3 innings off the Pittsburgh bullpen while Tanner Scott gave up 3 runs in the 8th to make it so it didn't matter.

April 30: at Pittsburgh 5-8 L. LP-Maldonado (1-2). Starter-Horton (5 5 3 3 1 4). Some bad pitching in this one, especially from the pen, as a 4-2 lead in the 4th slipped away. Robertson gave up 2 runs in the 6th to put them behind 5-4, and after Caminero's RBI single in the 7th tied it Maldonado walked two to load the bases, walked another to force in the go-ahead run and then gave up a 2-run single.

Team record: 18-11, tied with Boston atop the AL East. Next week: 4 games in Toronto before returning home to play 3 against Kansas City.

Players of the Week:

AL: Samuel Basallo (BAL), 9-20, 5 HR, 8 RBI
NL: JJ Wetherholt (CIN), 12-25, 1 HR, 9 RBI

Players of the Month (April):

AL Batter: A familiar face:



NL Batter: Jordan Walker (STL), .364-9-20
AL Pitcher: Another familiar face:



NL Pitcher: Taijuan Walker (CIN), 4-0, 1.79, 36K in 40 IP.
AL Rookie: Dallas Macias (OAK), .358-1-8
NL Rookie: Jansel Luis (ARI), .242-4-10

Also on the farm:



McGee was our 1st-round pick out of North Dakota State last year and his rise has been meteoric, we may see him in the bigs before long.

[Art Deco]

May 1: at Toronto 9-10 L. LP-Bautista (2-1). Starter-Gasser (4 9 4 4 2 1). HR-Westburg (3), Cermak (5). A back-and-forth game was undone by bad Rays pitching. A 2-run double by Campusano in the 9th tied it up but Bautista, who had given up Vlad Jr's 2nd homer of the game in the 8th, gave up one to Alex Canario to lose it, Toronto's 5th of the day.

May 2: at Toronto 6-8 L. LP-H.Smith (3-2, 3 5 6 6 4 4, 2 HR). HR-Westburg (4). More of the same only without the late-inning heartbreak. Smith has had a real problem with the longball this year, allowing 11 in only 41 IP. Kjerstad had 4 RBI in the losing cause.

Transaction: P Luis Contreras was DFA'd and P Jacob Misiorowski is called up from Durham where he had 7 saves and 13K in 8IP. He has 80 stuff but 35 control so no guarantee he's better than Contreras, who had a 7.62 ERA in 13 IP.

May 3: at Toronto 2-6 L. LP-Bradley (5-1, 4.2 8 4 4 1 6). HR-Caminero (12). More misery in Toronto as the Rays dropped their fifth straight game.

May 4: at Toronto 2-0 W. WP-Pepiot (4-2, 9 2 0 0 0 7). HR-Isaac (10). The Rays ended their losing streak in grand fashion as Pepiot pitched a complete-game shutout and it wasn't just any shutout:



And he had to do it with the most slender of leads - Campusano's RBI single in the 2nd was the only run until Isaac's 3rd hit of the day, a solo homer in the 9th.

May 5: vs Kansas City 10-6 W. WP-Horton (2-1, 6.1 6 4 4 1 4). HR-Isaac (11), P.Meadows (2), J.Lowe (4). Rays scored 5 in the 6th (including Lowe's 3-run homer) to go up 10-2 and despite KC getting 4 in the 7th they took the win. All 9 batters in the lineup had at least one hit and 8 scored a run.

May 6: vs Kansas City 7-6 W (10). WP-Bautista (3-1). Starter-Gasser (5 3 4 4 1 4). HR-Cermak (6). A thrilling win as the Rays trailed 5-3 going to the bottom of the 9th before scoring twice to tie, and after KC got the ghost runner home in the 10th, Isaac doubled in the one for the Rays and Morel singled him home for the winner. Cermak was 3-5 with a homer and 2 RBI.

May 7: vs Kansas City 4-1 W. WP-M.Rodriguez (1-0). S-Bautista (6). Starter-H.Smith (5.2 6 1 1 0 9). HR-Kjerstad (1), Morel (8). Rays completed the sweep thanks to a great outing from Smith and Cermak's RBI single in the 6th which put them ahead to stay.

Team record: 22-14, tied with Boston atop the AL East. Next week: Off Monday then Seattle visits for 3 before we play those Red Sox at Fenway for 3 more.

Players of the Week:

AL: Charlie Condon (CLE), 8-22, 3 HR, 9 RBI
NL: Jordan Walker (STL), 14-26, 5 HR, 11 RBI

MLB News: Mets superstar Juan Soto hit career homer #300.

[Art Deco]

May 8: Off-Day.

May 9: vs Seattle 0-1 L. LP-Bradley (5-2, 6.1 3 1 1 1 10). A classic pitchers' duel as Bryan Woo (7 3 0 0 1 9) got the better of Taj with a Harry Ford homer in the 5th the game's only run.

May 10: vs Seattle 3-0 W. WP-Pepiot (5-2, 6 4 0 0 1 5). S-Bautista (7). HR-Kjerstad (2). Pepiot followed up last week's complete-game shutout with 6 more scoreless to lower his ERA to 2.12 and it looked like we'd have another 1-0 game until Kjerstad's 2-run homer in the 8th gave the Rays some breathing room.

May 11: vs Seattle 1-4 L (10). LP-Maldonado (1-3). Starter-Horton (6 5 1 1 1 7). HR-Isaac (12). Yet another low-scoring affair between these teams, 1-1 until the 10th when Maldonado put a man on along with the ghost runner and Bautista came in gave up his 6th homer of the year already to lose it.

May 12: at Boston 1-8 L. LP-Gasser (3-3, 3.1 4 7 7 6 2). Gasser was brutal and the bats continued their silence.

May 13: at Boston 2-9 L. LP-H.Smith (3-3, 4 8 4 4 3 7). HR-Morel (9). See yesterday's remarks, substitute "H.Smith" for "Gasser".

May 14: at Boston 6-7 L. LP-Bautista (3-2). Starter-Bradley (5 6 3 3 2 5). HR-J.Lowe (5), Westburg (5), Morel (10). A miserable week closed out in miserable fashion as the Rays blew a 6-2 lead and suffered a sweep at Fenway. They got the three homers in a 4-run first and were looking good to snap their losing skid but this year's terrible bullpen (a 4.01 ERA, 12th in the AL) couldn't hold the lead nor could the offense build on it. It was 6-4 going into the 8th when Robertson put a pair on base with two out and Bautista came in and gave up his ridiculous 7th homer of the year in only 15.2 IP. Could he suddenly be washed after a 3.5-WAR season the year before? Who knows, but nobody else in the pen right now is worthy of closing either.

Team record: 23-19. We're now 4 behind Boston and clinging to the third wild card, 1 1/2 up on Seattle. Next week: An off-day then 3 in Detroit before returning home for 3 against Minnesota.

Players of the Week:

AL: Jakob Marsee (LA), 13-29, 1 HR, 10 RBI
NL: James Tibbs (SD), 10-29, 2 HR, 6 RBI

[Art Deco]

May 15: Off-Day.

May 16: at Detroit 0-5 L. LP-Pepiot (5-3, 4 5 2 2 2 5). Bats were held to six hits (half of which came from J.Lowe) and a 2-0 game went awry in the 6th when Detroit scored three.

May 17: at Detroit 13-6 W. WP-Horton (3-1, 6 8 5 5 1 7). HR-J.Lowe 2 (7). Rays snapped their 5-game losing streak as the bats had a coming-out party. J.Lowe was 3-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI while Mead drove in 3 including a 2-run double.

May 18: at Detroit 2-4 L. LP-Gasser (3-4, 5 7 4 4 2 4). HR-Campusano (1). Not much to say about this one, it stayed 4-2 from the 4th inning on.

May 19: vs Minnesota 2-5 L. LP-H.Smith (3-4, 4.1 9 5 5 0 6). HR-Campusano (2). The Rays' struggles continued as they lost for the 8th time in their last 10 games. Smith in particular has succumbed to the sophomore slump with his ERA rising to 4.75 and he's now allowed 13 HR in only 55 IP after yielding two more tonight.

May 20: vs Minnesota 10-2 W. WP-Bradley (6-2, 5.1 4 1 1 0 8). HR-Caminero (13). Finally some good news as the Rays had a laugher today led by Caminero who was 3-5 with a homer and 3 RBI and Cermak who was 2-3 with 2 doubles and 3 knocked in himself, backing the brilliant pitching of Bradley.

May 21: vs Minnesota 5-2 W. WP-Pepiot (6-3, 6.1 5 0 0 1 7). S-Bautista (8). HR-Cermak (7), Heim (2). Whaddya know, two wins in a row. Cermak's 3-run blast in the first got them going and Pepiot is on quite a roll now, allowing only two runs in his last 25.1 IP over four starts.

Team record: 26-22, 5 behind Boston but tied for the second wild card 1 1/2 games ahead of Seattle. Next week: Texas visits for 4 games before we head to Coors Field for 3 against the Rockies.

Players of the Week:

AL: Jonny DeLuca (CLE), 10-29, 3 HR, 14 RBI. All he's done since we dumped him on Cleveland the winter before last is hit 40 homers in 196 games.

NL: Shohei Ohtani (LA), 10-22, 4 HR, 10 RBI. His pitching has been poor this year though with a 6.98 ERA.

[Art Deco]

May 22: vs Texas 2-1 W. WP-Horton (4-1, 5 4 1 1 1 3). S-Bautista (9). Caminero's RBI single in the 3rd broke a 1-1 tie and Horton and the pen made it stand up for 6 innings.

May 23: vs Texas 5-4 W. WP-Robertson (1-0). S-Maldonado (2). Starter-Gasser (5 8 2 2 0 9). HR-Cermak (8). After the Rays blew a 3-2 lead in the 7th Cermak came to their rescue with a 2-run shot in the 8th to win it as the rookie continues to impress.

May 24: vs Texas 6-3 W. WP-H.Smith (4-4, 5 4 3 3 4 8). S-Robertson (2). HR-C.Williams (6), Morel (11). Williams led the way with an RBI triple and 2-run homer, and then Morel's 2-run blast in the 8th gave the team much-needed insurance.

May 25: vs Texas 12-4 W. WP-Bradley (7-2, 6 7 4 4 0 9). S-Baumeister (1). HR-Isaac (13), Campusano (3). The Rays completed the 4-game sweep of Texas and made it 6 wins in a row with the blowout. Westburg was 4-5 with a 2-run triple and Isaac drove in 3 with a double and a homer. The Rays also had what might have been an MLB first: sweeping a 4-game series and having a different pitcher record the save in each game as Baumeister went the final 3 today.

May 26: at Colorado 16-15 W. The Coorsiest of Coors games and I'll just present the box for this one:



Up 16-10 going into the bottom of the 9th Scott got two outs but then couldn't get anyone else out and gave up a grand slam to let the Rockies back within one. Bautista then came on and loaded the bases before getting a strikeout to mercifully end it.

May 27: at Colorado 4-13 L. LP-Horton (4-2, 4.1 8 8 8 3 1). HR-Isaac (14). Rays led this one 2-0 going into the bottom of the 4th and it was all Colorado from there.

May 28: at Colorado 12-5 W. WP-Gasser (4-4, 5 6 4 4 3 6). HR-Heim 2 (5), Westburg (6), Caminero (14). Tampa Bay returned the favor of yesterday's rout by taking the rubber game easily. Heim was 3-5 with 2 HR and 3 RBI, Caminero added a grand slam to cap a 5-RBI day and Mead was 4-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Heim has done nothing but rake when he plays and between he and Campusano we're not missing Adley Rutschman this year - Heim is hitting 333/379/700 in 60 AB and Campusano is 290/360/462.

Team record: 32-23. The big week only allowed the Rays to pick up 1.5 games, cutting Boston's division lead to 3 1/2 but did put them in a tie with Cleveland for WC1. Next week: An off-day then the road trip continues with 3 in Houston and 3 in LA against the Dodgers.

Players of the Week:

AL: Drew Waters (KC), 14-25, 2 HR, 8 RBI
NL: Seiya Suzuki (PHI), 12-23,1 HR, 1 RBI

MLB News: A couple of milestones as Nolan Arenado, in his first season in Seattle after a long stint in St. Louis, hit career homer #400, and teammate Marcell Ozuna recorded his 2000th hit. Also Houston gave slugger Yordan Alvarez a whopping 7/206 extension.

[Art Deco]

May 29: Off-Day.

May 30: at Houston 5-6 L. LP-Robertson (1-1). Starter-H.Smith (5.1 5 4 4 1 8, 3 HR). HR-Campusano 2 (6). A great game from Campusano (3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) and a 4-1 lead in the 5th was wasted as Smith couldn't keep the ball in the park and the bullpen gave up the critical run.

May 31: at Houston 1-4 L. LP-Bradley (7-3, 5.1 6 3 3 1 9). 1 run on 4 hits ain't gonna win many games and it most certainly didn't today.

June 1: at Houston 11-8 W (12). WP-Maldonado (2-3). Starter-Pepiot (3.2 5 2 2 4 5, 96 pitches). HR-Cermak (10), Isaac (15). Rays won this one despite blowing a 7-2 7th-inning lead as the bullpen continues to struggle. Campusano's bases-clearing double in the 12th won it for the Rays.

June 2: at LA Dodgers 3-7 L. LP-Lovelady (1-1). Starter-Horton (5 6 3 3 2 1). HR-Campusano (7), Isaac (16). The bullpen let another one get away as LA scored 3 in the 6th off Lovelady and Robertson to break a 3-3 tie.

June 3: at LA Dodgers 15-13 W. WP-Misiorowski (1-0). S-Lovelady (2). Starter-Gasser (5 6 3 3 2 5). HR-Westburg (7), Cermak 2 (12), Campusano (8), Caminero (15). A week after winning a 16-15 game at Coors, the Rays won another offensive orgy at Chavez Ravine. Caminero set a club record by going 6 for 6, homering and driving in 4 including a key 3-run shot in the 9th off former Ray Pete Fairbanks that proved to be the winner when they gave LA 3 back in the 9th. Cermak drove in 5 with his 2 dingers and Westburg was 3-5 with his homer and 3 RBI.

Transaction: With the bullpen fried from the last several games and in desperate need of a fresh arm, Jacob Misiorowski was optioned back to Durham and we brought back Luis Contreras, purchasing his contract from the Bulls.

June 4: at LA Dodgers 6-7 L. LP-Robertson (1-2). Starter-H.Smith (5 4 2 1 1 6). HR-Isaac (17), Caminero (16). Another brutal loss from the bullpen as Smith pitched his best game in a while and they held a 6-2 lead going into the 7th, only for the just-recalled Contreras to give up a game-tying slam to Mookie Betts after a Williams error prolonged the inning, and then Robertson made a mess in the 9th and let LA walk it off. Caminero followed up his 6-6 game with 3 more hits including a 2-run homer, and Isaac drove in 4 with a 3-run shot and a groundout, but for naught.

Team record: 34-27. We're still 6 1/2 behind Boston in the East and hold down WC2 by 1 1/2 on WC3 Chicago and 2 1/2 over Seattle in 4th position. Next week: A day off then a week at home with 3 against Detroit and San Diego. The home/road disparity with this team is ridiculous: 21-5 at the Trop, 13-22 away from it. Thankfully we've played 9 fewer home games so far.

Players of the Month (May):

AL Batter: Rafael Devers (BOS), .382-5-27
NL Batter: Brady House (WAS), .311-12-32
AL Pitcher: Troy Melton (DET), 4-0, 1.62, 46K in 39 IP
NL Pitcher: Jonathan Stiever (MIL), 4-0, 0.44, 1 SV, 22K in 20.1 IP
AL Rookie: Rafe Schlesinger (CHI), 3-0, 2.41, 23K in 18 IP
NL Rookie: Jansel Luis (ARI), .307-3-11

Players of the Week:

AL: This guy:



Adley who? Really it could have been any one of three Rays as Caminero was 12-28 with 2 HR and 8 RBI and Isaac had 3 HR and 8 RBI. Despite all that offense they still only went 2-4 on the week.

NL: Benny Montgomery (COL), 10-20, 4 HR, 10 RBI

After Sunday's game we made a move to address the terrible bullpen (12th in the AL with a 4.56 ERA):



McMillon has 75 stuff and 60 movement but the catch is 35 control. And to that end he's fanned 17 in 13 IP with 0 homers allowed but has walked 15. Still he has a 1.35 ERA. We'll try not to bring him into bases-loaded situations. Basaglia was a mid-tier prospect, a 5th starter if things break right for him. To make room for McMillon, Contreras was DFA'd a day after being called up.

MLB News: Mike Trout's injury-riddled career was interrupted again as the future Hall of Famer and current Angel now has a forearm strain that will shelve him 4-5 weeks.

[Art Deco]

June 5: Off-Day.

June 6: vs Detroit 3-2 W. WP-Bradley (8-3, 6 5 1 1 2 6). S-Maldonado (3). HR-Caminero 2 (18). Junior stayed red-hot, going 3-4 with a pair of solo homers to back a fine game from Taj.

June 7: vs Detroit 1-4 L. LP-Pepiot (6-4, 6 7 4 4 1 8). HR-Caminero (19). Pepiot gave up a pair of 2-run homers and crickets from the offense aside from Caminero's homer in the 8th.

June 8: vs Detroit 3-8 L. LP-Horton (4-3, 3 8 7 6 3 4). HR-J.Lowe (8), Isaac (18). A rare loss of a home series for the Rays as Horton was beaten to a pulp, wasting a 3-3 day from Isaac with a 2-run homer.

June 9: vs San Diego 3-6 L. LP-Gasser (4-5, 5.2 4 4 4 3 4). HR-Kjerstad (3), Isaac (19). The Rays suddenly can't win at home now after starting the year 22-5 at the Trop. Another lousy start as Gasser gave up 2 more homers.

June 10: vs San Diego 2-5 L. LP-H.Smith (4-5, 5.1 5 5 5 3 7). HR-Kjerstad (4). If someone sees the 2027 Hagen Smith please let us now as the 2028 version struggled again, giving up 2 more homers to make it 21 in only 75.2 IP as the losing continues.

June 11: vs San Diego 4-5 L. LP-Scott (0-1). Starter-Bradley (4.1 6 3 1 2 4). HR-Isaac (20). An absolutely miserable week concluded with the Rays losing their 5th straight, all at home. I noticed Tanner Scott, who took the loss today with 2 runs allowed to blow a 4-3 lead, had been bad lately but I didn't realize he'd been this bad of late:



15 runs allowed in his last 2 1/3 innings! I didn't know that was possible. Maybe I should stop using him in high-leverage situations.

Team record: 35-32. Still over .500 and still clinging to the third wild card (tied with Houston, 1/2 game up on Seattle), but this might be the last time I can say those things the way this team is going. Next week: On the road for 4 in Cleveland and 3 in Baltimore, so yeah.

Players of the Week:

AL: Ryan Jeffers (CHI), 13-20, 7 HR, 18 RBI (including a 5-hit, 3-homer game during a 3-game stretch where he hit all 7 homers, which may have set an AL record)
NL: Elly De La Cruz (CIN), 14-25, 4 HR, 17 RBI, including hitting for the cycle in a 23-5 win over Detroit.