The 2024 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

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Phew...



The Rays live to fight another day after making it much harder than it had to be in winning Game 2, 5-4 on a walkoff Isaac homer. Pepiot allowed Jakob Marsee, last night's villain, to lead off the game with another homer and then gave LA zilch after that, and some timely hitting for a change helped Tampa Bay to a 4-1 lead. But McMillon served up a two-out, 3-run homer to the other Angel who also homered yesterday, Mike Trout, and the healthy lead was gone in a blink. This brought us to the bottom of the 9th where with two out the guy who couldn't come through in the clutch yesterday (and again in the first inning today) did so as Isaac sent the hometown crowd home happy and ready to return for a deciding Game 3 tomorrow. Ni Guan will get the start and we'll see if the trade with Arizona for him was worth it.

In the other ALWC Baltimore is already through and will face Seattle in the ALCS:



While Andrew Painter and the Rockies offense got their sides off to 1-0 leads in the NLWC:

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Enough drama already for one postseason...



Much like Game 2, the Rays kept blowing leads but prevailed in the end and are advancing to the ALDS to face Boston after Caminero's 2-run walk-off homer in the 9th. Guan couldn't hold a 3-0 lead and McMillon (again) and Maldonado combined to let a 5-3 advantage slip away but thankfully there wasn't a 10th inning after Caminero's blow. Rookie Jake McGee will get the start in Game 1 at Fenway as the Rays look to settle their season-long battle with the Red Sox once and for all.

In the NLWC:



The Phillies need extras to eliminate Milwaukee and move on to play San Diego in one NLCS while Cam Collier's trio of homers bought Cincinnati a Game 3 against the Rockies, which was settled as such:



And the Reds will square off against St. Louis in the other NLDS.

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In a quick hole...



First off, we made a couple of moves with the playoff roster for the ALDS. Carson Williams is back off the 60-day IL and will platoon with Oneil Cruz at SS, and Jordan Westburg is off the regular IL and takes back over at 2B.

As for Game 1 it was an ugly performance both on the mound and at the plate despite scoring 4 runs. Rookie starter Jessie McGee was not ready for prime time, giving up 4 runs and while he was struggling so were the bats who were no-hit through 6 1/3 innings. And when they finally did come alive and get back in the game, both at 4-2 in the 7th and 5-4 in the 8th after Christopher Morel's 2-run homer, the bullpen let it get away as Anthony Maldonado in particular was horrible. So now they're down 0-1 in the ALCS but at least they have ace Taj Bradley going tomorrow to try to get it even before returning home. Otherwise they're in a world of hurt.

Speaking of a world of hurt, that's what Baltimore's Samuel Basallo put on Mariner pitching as he became the first man in postseason history to hit 4 homers in a game:



Basallo plated 7 runs in the rout as the Orioles are on a definite roll in winning their final 9 games of the regular season to secure a wild card plus all three so far in the playoffs.

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Home field retaken...



In a 180 from yesterday the Rays scored early and often and outslugged Boston to even up the ALDS heading back to Tropicana Field. A 5-run first capped by Christopher Morel's 2-run homer and some more runs tacked on thereafter gave Tampa Bay breathing room to survive an uncharacteristically poor start from Taj Bradley, who gave up 6 runs in 5 innings. Fortunately the bullpen held and offense kept tacking on with everyone in the lineup getting a least one hit or one RBI. Ryan Pepiot will try to put the Rays up in the series in a couple of days.

In the other ALDS, Samuel Basallo homered again and the Orioles made it 13 straight dating back to the regular season:



Finally things got underway in the NLDS:

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Heartbreak...



Felix Bautista was one strike away from pitching the Rays to a 2-1 ALDS lead with Ceddanne Rafaela at the plate, but his 2-2 offering went for a double in the RF corner to tie it, and after a tiring Bautista was pulled with the lefty Yoshida due, the troubled Tanner Scott came in and gave up a 2-run pinch-homer to Bobby Dalbec and Boston had an improbable 5-3 win and have the Rays on the verge of elimination. The Rays had gone ahead in the 7th with the big hit a Curtis Mead double which knocked in the tying run before Mead scored on a sac fly. But it was a footnote thanks to the 9th inning meltdown from the pen. Ni Guan will try to stave off elimination tomorrow.

Meanwhile there's no stopping the Orioles as they've made it 14 straight in the regular and postseason to move on to the ALCS:

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Shipping up to Boston...



The Rays held by the skin of their teeth to force a deciding Game 5 at Fenway in a couple of days, winning 5-4 after taking a 5-1 lead after 2 innings. Ni Guan was entrusted with that lead and gave up a run in the 5th and had men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out before striking out the next three men and departing, then Hagen Smith made a mess in the 7th letting Boston within one. With Felix Bautista unavailable John McMillon got the ball late but gave up a 1-out hit in his second inning of work in the 9th and with multiple lefties due we swallowed hard and sent yesterday's goat Tanner Scott out there. And this time he got job done with a game-ending double play on his second pitch. So our fate is in the hands of rookie Jessie McGee, who didn't pitch well at all in Game 1 but has been fairly solid overall. We'll need him to be.

Neither NLDS is going to end in a sweep:

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It'll be the Padres and the Reds in the NLCS as both took care of business today:

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The kid was alright...



After a terrible Game 1 performance rookie Jessie McGee bounced back to keep the Rays in the game until the offense took over, and took over it did as Tampa Bay won ALDS Game Five 8-2 and set up an ALCS date with red-hot Baltimore, winners of 14 straight games. Oneil Cruz, named ALCS MVP, had the big hit with a 3-run homer in the 6th to make it 5-1 Rays and Christopher Morel, who also had a case for series MVP, put it away with a 3-run blast over the Monster in the 9th.

The Rays will have their 1-4 rotation set up with Taj Bradley going in Game 1 at the Trop.

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A tough start...



The Rays suffered a painful Game 1 loss to Baltimore, losing a 3-1 lead in the late innings with Colton Cowser's 2-run homer in the 8th off John McMillon the winner. The Oriole lineup is almost exclusively lefty hitters and our weakness is lefty arms in the pen with Tanner Scott having a poor season and Hagen Smith unreliable. As a result the righty McMillon was on instead of Scott and that didn't work out, and the decision looked worse after Scott relieved McMillon and retired the next three men. As a result a fine start from Taj Bradley was wasted and the Rays will now have to hope Ryan Pepiot will pitch well tomorrow and they'll get a lead and hold it.

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All even heading north...



Someone finally beat Baltimore! The Rays snapped the Orioles' 15-game win streak which started with them winning their final 9 regular season games to grab WC3 and extended to 2-0 and 3-0 sweeps in the first two rounds of the playoffs and their win in yesterday's ALCS Game 1. And it came courtesy of a trio of former Orioles as Heston Kjerstad, inserted at DH for the slumping Ryan Cermak, was 3-5 with a homer, Jordan Westburg delivered a key 2-run double after Baltimore kept answering Tampa Bay scores, and Felix Bautista closed out the game with a 5-out save on only 17 pitches. Meanwhile the Rays had their way with a former pitcher of theirs as they hit Shane Baz for 5 runs in only 3 2/3 innings. So we're all square heading to Charm City with Ni Guan getting the ball for Game 3.

Meanwhile the NLCS got underway:

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The Padres are halfway to the World Series:

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Advantage Tampa Bay...



Ni Guan kept the Baltimore bats in check and the offense exploded late to the give the Rays an 8-2 win and a 2-1 lead in the ALCS. After Jordan Westburg continued to torment his old team with an RBI double to break a 2-2 tie in the 7th, Oriole reliever Trace Bright proceeded to walk four straight Rays, forcing in three runs and effectively ending the game. And the news got worse for Baltimore as they lost slugger Spencer Jones to a strained oblique which will end his season. The rookie Jessie McGee will try to pitch the Rays into a commanding lead in tomorrow's Game 4 at Camden Yards.

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So close...



The Rays are one win away from the World Series after getting by Baltimore 5-4 in Game 4. Series MVP-elect Jordan Westburg blasted a 2-run homer, Xavier Isaac had an RBI triple to get them going, Hagen Smith was a surprise hero with an effective long relief stint and Felix Bautista had to work hard (42 pitches) for the 5-out save this time. Bautista could have had an easier time if not for Oneil Cruz's two-out error in the 8th that not only prolonged the inning but allowed the Orioles to pull within one. And then in the 9th he had to get Baltimore's best hitter Samuel Basallo and thorn-in-our-side Colton Cowser with one out and the tying run on 2nd. So now the Rays will look to wrap it up in Baltimore with their ace Taj Bradley on the mound.

Elsewhere the Reds climbed back into the NLCS with a big win:

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It ain't over yet...



The Rays were two outs away from a trip to the World Series before Baltimore tied it in the 9th off Anthony Maldonado, in because Felix Bautista was unavailable after throwing 42 pitches the night before, and then the O's went on to win it in the 11th and force a return to Tropicana Field for Game 6. Although the bullpen lost it, the real blame falls on the offense which managed only 2 runs all night and both of those came on bases-loaded walks in the 3rd (the 4th and 5th runs they've scored that way in the last three games). Ryan Pepiot will take the ball for the Rays' second chance to wrap up the ALCS.

Over in the NLCS the Reds have made it a best-of-3 thanks to Matt McLain, who capped a 5-RBI with a 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th:

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The rest of the LCS round will go up tomorrow.

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Series-bound!...



In what will go down in Tampa Bay history as "the Josh Lowe game", the Rays beat the Orioles to advance to the World Series against either Cincinnati or San Diego thanks to pair of homers from Lowe, the first of which was a 3-run blast to put them on top and the second a solo shot to extend the lead. And after the Orioles crept within 4-3 after Ryan Pepiot issued a pair of bases-loaded walks (kind of the theme of the series), Oneil Cruz came through with a big 2-run single to restore a healthy Rays lead. Expecting Ni Guan to open the Fall Classic for Tampa Bay, which will open at the Trop if the Padres win, otherwise we're headed to Cincy.

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And it's the Padres, so the Rays will have home field for the Series:

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Toothless...



The Rays lost Game 1 and home-field advantage in the World Series as they were shut down by San Diego's George Kirby. They had one golden chance against Kirby and that was in the first when they loaded the bases with one out only for Cruz to hit an infield pop and Morel to ground out. Taj Bradley matched him with zeroes for four innings and in fact didn't even allow a hit until the 5th when a pair of singles to start the inning were followed up by a 3-run homer by Nick Loftin, a former Ray who was traded to San Diego two years ago in a deadline deal to rent Kodai Senga. And that was the ballgame as they got nothing off Kirby and only managed a solo Jordan Westburg homer in the 8th. Ni Guan will go tomorrow in Game 2 to try and keep them from heading west in an 0-2 hole.

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Not great....



The Rays now have a tall order ahead of them if they want to be World Champions for the first time, now needing to win 4 of the next 5 games after falling into an 0-2 hole with a 6-3 loss to the Padres at the Trop. Ni Guan wasn't his best and the homer he allowed leading off the game to Ethan Salas unfortunately set the tone. The Rays did climb back in the game at 3-2 in the 5th on the first of former Padre Luis Campusano's two home runs but right after that man again Nick Loftin came through with a 2-run double and the Rays never recovered from there. Ryan Pepiot will take the mound in a couple of days to try and get Tampa Bay back in the series.