The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 18

Art Deco · 10-28-2020, 07:06 AM

Game 1: Although they started the season playing well in AL East ballparks, lately it's been a problem as they lost their 7th in their last 10 such games in a meek performance tonight, dropping a 4-0 decision to the Yankees. And it wasn't like they were facing Gerrit Cole, instead it was Cody Deason and Zack Pop who held them to 5 hits tonight. Matt Manning got the start and met the bare definition of a quality start going 6 5 3 3 2 7, Aaron Ashby gave up a run in his brief outing, and Jack Perkins looked strong again, going 1 2/3 and whiffing a pair, giving him 5 shutout innings with 0 runs or walks and 9 whiffs in his 3 appearances. Unfortunately I have to start mentioning the division again because as the Rays have dropped 3 of their last 4 Baltimore keeps winning and the 12-game lead is down to 8 1/2. Still in good shape, but not a good trend.

Some trade news:

After half a season, I finally pulled the plug on Lewin Diaz, who just never could hit. It was kind of fitting he made the final out of a shutout in last night's game as he ended his Rays tenure 198/237/374. Despite his underlying skills supporting much better numbers, I finally had it as he showed no signs of snapping out of it as a Ray. The return isn't that bad considering he's a FA at year's end. Florido has 60 stuff and 55 control, but has to clear waivers to be sent to Durham as he's out of options. For now, he'll sit in my DFA area for the 7 days and I'll see if we have some kind of injury opening that allows him to join the big club, otherwise he'll go on waivers. Kash was the Padres' 4th round pick in 2025, a 1B who's hit for average with potential 60 power and will go to Class-A Bowling Green. Doubt he ever amounts to a lot, but he's got some mild potential. To take Diaz's spot on the active roster, welcome back Alec Bohm, who will now platoon with Triston Casas at 1B. Although Bohm did hit 17 HR in 227 AB at Durham, he only hit .227 doing so but some of that was probably due to being pissed at being sent down. Either way I expect this combo to do at least what Diaz did, and probably more. Casas had been heating up with a couple of homers this week.

Game 2: Another uninspiring performance as they suffered their third walk-off loss in 5 games and fourth overall as they fell 4-3 to the Yankees in 10 innings. The offense was lame again, only managing 6 hits. Those hits did lead to 3 runs today, with Keibert Ruiz's RBI double in the first and Keston Hiura's 2-run HR in the 3rd (#18) giving them an early 3-0 lead. But the Yankees chipped away at Mack Anglin, and although technically none of the 3 runs he allowed were unearned, 3 errors behind him didn't help him either as the rookie went 6 6 3 3 2 6. Steven Casey struck out the side in a 1-2-3 inning, Liam Hendriks got a couple of outs as did Jose Alvarado, but the Yankees got to Jasseel De La Cruz in the 10th when Tommy Edman doubled with 2 out and scored on an Andrew Knizner single as the pair of former Cardinals teamed up to give New York the win. Triston Casas celebrated his new job as the regular 1B against RHP by striking out all 4 times up, while Judson Fabian also got the golden sombrero with 4 whiffs in an 0-5 day. And the Orioles won their 7 straight so the lead is now down to 7 1/2.

Game 3: Like their real-life counterparts in 2020's just-concluded postseason, the Rays today could only score via the HR. Fortunately they hit 5 of them to beat the Yankees 7-5. Two were courtesy of Wander Franco: he hit #26 off Gerrit Cole in the 1st inning to put the Rays on the board, and then launched #27 with Nick Gonzales aboard to make it 4-2 in the 3rd. After the Yankees tied it at 4, Triston Casas hit #6 in the 6th to give him 3 for the week (3 more than Lewin Diaz has hit recently) to make it 5-4. But for the third time in the game the Yankees leveled the score again, this time on a Chase Davis HR off Ben Bowden in the 7th (a same-handed blast). But in the top of the 8th, Hunter Bishop hit #20 leading off the inning and Bramdon Perez (playing for Judson Fabian) immediately followed with #8, and Jack Perkins and Jose Alvarado held on to the fourth lead of the day for the win. Shane McClanahan started and wasn't very good (6 8 4 4 3 4), surrendering the lead twice, and after Bowden gave up another lead Perkins came on and pitched well once again, going 1 2/3 and allowing only a walk to pick up his first MLB win. With four lefties in a row leading off the 9th, Alvarado came in and got save #5 despite walking one of them. And to further calm the nerves, Baltimore was shut out in San Francisco so the lead is back up to 8 1/2.

Team record: 80-36. Next up: back home for 3 with the San Diego Padres in a rematch of the 2023 World Series, which went well. It starts a homestand where we face recently traded Rays, the Padres with Lewin Diaz and after that Heston Kjerstad and the Rangers come to town. Kjerstad has been raking for Texas, hitting 368/422/671 with 7 HR in 76 AB, while Diaz homered in his Padres debut of course (remember he hit a pair in his Rays debut and how well that ended up going).

Art Deco · 10-28-2020, 01:42 PM

Game 1: Tyler Glasnow had a hard time with the San Diego lineup and the Rays continued their inability to score outside of the HR in a 5-2 loss to the Padres. Glasnow, who had been on quite the roll, was touched for runs in the first two innings and after the Rays had tied the game on HRs from Nick Gonzales (#7) and Keibert Ruiz (#15) in the 4th, gave up another run in the 5th to allow San Diego back in front, and then allowed a 2-run HR to Cesar Marin (with Lewin Diaz aboard, who had doubled) to give us our final 5-2 score. Glasnow was 6 7 5 5 2 2, with the lack of strikeouts standing out. The two homers were all the Rays could muster against soft-tossing lefty Reid Detmers, who otherwise befuddled them in an 8 6 2 2 0 6 outing. Alec Bohm celebrated his return to MLB and the Rays lineup by going 0-3 with a strikeout, dropping his BA below .200 and making him a true 2026 Rays first baseman. Aaron Ashby had 2 shutout innings in relief and Nick Anderson got through the 9th. Baltimore was idle so the lead is 8 games.

Game 2: So which was the worst part of today's game? That they lost 6-4 and have now dropped 6 of 8? That the big hit of the game that erased a 3-1 Rays lead in the 6th inning was a 3-run HR by Lewin Diaz? That Baltimore won to cut the lead to 7 games? Or that Jack Perkins had to leave the game with what turned out to be a torn flexor tendon and will be out 10-11 months? It all went wrong today for the Rays. They took a 3-1 lead through 5 on a Spencer Torkelson RBI single and sac flies from Patrick Bailey and Wander Franco, but it all fell apart in the 6th when Diaz took Asa Lacy deep with 2 on and the Padres added another run. Perkins took over for Lacy, who went a not-so-great 5 7 4 4 4 2 and went 1 1/3 with 3 whiffs before having to leave with that major injury. San Diego then added 2 more in the 8th off Ben Bowden, who's been struggling of late. Judson Fabian hit HR #24 to cut it to 6-4 in the 8th but they could do nothing against Padres closer Andres Munoz and the downward spiral continues.

August 19: Placed P Jack Perkins on the 60-day IL with a torn flexor tendon, optioned IF Nick Loftin to AAA Durham; activated 2B Vidal Brujan from the 15-day IL and added P Deivy Florido to the active roster.

It's a shame about Perkins, he was pitching so very well. Hopefully he can come back with his stuff and contribute late next season. Also a shame about Loftin, it's not every day guys hitting .542 are demoted, even if it was only 24 at-bats. But it's not a shame that Brujan is back although Nick Gonzales filled in well in his stead. Florido, acquired in the Lewin Diaz deal, gets a chance to go on the active roster after all. He'll be used in long relief.

Game 3: Holy marathons, Batman! The Rays snapped out of their funk with a 5-4 win over San Diego in 19 innings (!). Brandon Marsh tripled in Triston Casas in the bottom of the 19th to pull out the win after they were sent to extras when Judson Fabian hit HR #25 with 2 out in the 9th after San Diego took the lead in the top of the inning when Luis Campusano singled in a runner that had reached with 2 out when Marsh dropped a fly ball. Earlier Wander had hit #28 off MacKenzie Gore and the Rays had a 2-0 lead through 5 for the second straight day. But Matt Manning, who was one-hitting the Padres through 5, had it all unravel when San Diego picked up 3 runs in the 6th. Hunter Bishop hit #21 in the bottom of the 6th to tie it up before the drama in the 9th. I said before the game that Deivy Florido would pitch long relief, but I had no idea he'd immediately get the chance as he went 4.1 4 0 0 1 2 before I took him out with 2 out in the 18th after he went into the red. Ben Bowden came in despite showing as somewhat tired and he ended up with the win after amazingly striking out all 4 Padres he faced. Baltimore lost too, so the lead goes back up to 8.

Team record: 81-38. Next up: A much-needed off-day before the Rangers come to town for a weekend series.

Art Deco · 10-28-2020, 09:38 PM

Game 1: The Rangers have been playing some good baseball lately, pulling to within 1/2 game of the AL West-leading Angels, but they were no match for the Rays tonight in a 12-2 drubbing. After falling behind 2-0 in the 2nd, the Rays went on to blast 5 homers, including a pair from Spencer Torkelson who was 0-8 in the 19-inning marathon Wednesday and had lost about 15 points off his BA recently. But he hit #s 36 & 37 today with his first a 2-run shot capping a 4-run 3rd that put the Rays out in front 5-2 and they never looked back. Keston Hiura had hit #19 to get the Rays within 2-1 in the 2nd, Wander hit #29 in the 5th and Judson Fabian (April-May hot again) blasted #26 late in the game and had an RBI double in that 3rd that put the Rays in front to stay. Mack Anglin started and was roughed up a bit early, giving up a pair of RBI doubles in the first 2 frames but cruised after that, putting up an outstanding 7 4 2 2 2 10 line which makes him 10-2, 3.40. Nick Anderson pitched the final two innings. Baltimore won last night while the Rays were idle and won again tonight to get within 7 1/2 but the magic # is down to 35.

Game 2: The bats came out to play again as the Rays beat the Rangers 9-5. Vidal Brujan was in the middle of it all as he often is, going 2-4 with a walk, scoring 2 runs, driving in another and stealing a base. After falling behind 2-1 in the top of the 3rd (with a Jud Fabian RBI triple in the 1st), they exploded for 4 runs in the 3rd to take control of the game. Brujan started it off with a single, and it eventually led to a pair of 2-RBI doubles from Keibert Ruiz and Keston Hiura. They tacked on another in the fourth when Brandon Marsh led off with a triple and Brujan singled him home. Shane McClanahan started for the Rays and although he gave up single runs in the 1st and 3rd, he settled down and cruised through the middle innings. He was tiring in the 7th and I left him in one batter too long as he gave up a 2-run shot to Danny Santana to cut it to 6-4, and left 6.2 8 4 4 1 9 but still went to 12-5 although his ERA has ticked up to 4.02. But the offense picked him up in the bottom of the 7th, taking advantage of a Rangers error that kept the inning alive. With a lefty pitching, Texas intentionally walked Spencer Torkelson to put two on to face the lefty-hitting Hunter Bishop, but he made that move backfire by launching HR #22 into the RF stands to make it 9-4. Steven Casey took over for McClanahan and was nasty, whiffing 3 of the 4 batters he faced and retired. Ben Bowden allowed a Texas run in the 9th but nothing else. A Baltimore win keeps the lead at 7 1/2 but the Rays win lowers the magic number to 34 as their record is now a palindromic 83-38.

Game 3: Another early deficit, another furious rally, and another blowout in the end of the Rangers as the Rays put up a 9-spot in the 5th inning to beat Texas 12-5 and sweep the series. Judson Fabian continued his scorching hot run of late by hitting a 2-run HR in the 1st, #27, but Tyler Glasnow allowed Texas to chip away with a couple of two-out runs in the top of the 5th to take a 3-2 lead with the third run coming on a Heston Kjerstad single. That lead was extremely short-lived, though, as the Rays went bonkers in the bottom of the frame. It all kicked off with an Alec Bohm single, his first hit since being called back up. Bohm then scored on a Texas error to tie it, and with Vidal Brujan on 2nd, Texas intentionally walked Wander Franco, another mistake as a Keibert Ruiz walk loaded the bases for Fabian, who ripped a 2-run double to give the Rays the lead. Hunter Bishop followed with a 2-run single, Keston Hiura had an RBI single and then Bohm cleared the bases with a 3-run HR, his 5th of the year and of course the 1st since his return, and 3-2 became 11-3. Brujan and Wander had consecutive doubles in the 8th for the final Rays run, while Texas got a couple off Deivy Florido in the 8th thanks to a Hiura error. Glasnow got the win to 16-3 in a 6 5 3 3 3 7 performance, and Florido just missed a 3-inning save in the 9th when he walked a couple and got into the red, so Aaron Ashby got Kjerstad on a fly ball to end the game. Baltimore lost, increasing the lead to 8 1/2 and reducing the magic # to 32.

Team record: 84-38. Next up: 4 games at home vs Boston.

Art Deco · 10-29-2020, 04:21 PM

First, this:

Game 1: Asa Lacy turned in what might have been his most dominant performance of the season and the Rays clubbed 3 homers in a 4-1 win over Boston. Lacy was perfect through the first 3 1/3, and outside of a stretch in that 4th inning where he gave up 3 hits, a walk and a run, he only allowed one other baserunner in a 7 4 1 1 1 7 outing. Lacy goes to 9-2, 3.22, numbers most teams would want from their ace and here he's the 5th starter. Vidal Brujan was the star on offense tonight, finishing a double shy of the cycle. He led off the game with HR #8, singled and stole second ahead of Wander's 30th HR of the year in the 3rd, with Hunter Bishop hitting #23 later in the inning to cap the scoring. Brujan now leads the AL in batting average at .346. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched around a 2-out single to nail down save #24 as with a Baltimore win the magic # drops to 31.

August 25: Traded minor-league 3B Tanner Witt to the Chicago Cubs for 1B Anthony Rizzo. Optioned OF Bramdon Perez to AAA Durham.

Our 1B search continues with our second waiver trade of the month. Rizzo is a free agent at year's end, having signed a 1-year deal to return to the Cubs this year after spending 4 with the Angels. His numbers weren't overwhelming (235/341/411) but the OBP is better than Casas and Bohm and he's hit well over the last month. Even if he can go 260/350/450 it'll be an improvement. Bramdon will be back when the rosters expand in a week, as Casas needs to stay up as the only other guy who can play 3B and I still want to use Bohm against lefties. We'll see how the next month or so goes to figure out which one of those 4 gets left off the playoff roster. As recently as a year ago, I envisioned Witt as a possible 3B of the future, but he's regressed this year and he's been 6 years in the minors now meaning he's a MiLB free agent at year's end and I didn't see him having much of a chance of getting a spot on the 40-man. Also the AI started using him as a pitcher in the low minors, as sure a sign as any that the bat isn't coming around.

And the deal was certainly a hit in the clubhouse (plus the fan interest increased "significantly" as if 3 straight WS trips left it such room):

Game 2: Matt Manning had one of his best outings of the season and the offense made the 4 hits they managed tonight count in a 3-1 win. Manning was dealing, going 7.2 4 0 0 1 10 and was never really in trouble, only coming out after giving up a 2-run single in the 8th with lefties due up and his pitch count over 100. Jose Alvarado got him out of the 8th and stayed on to face those lefties, giving up a 2-out solo HR to the same-handed David Dahl (who has owned the Rays this year) to lose the team shutout but still got save #6. Offensively it was a struggle, but Spencer Torkelson hit HR #38 and became the first Ray with 100 RBI this season with a solo blast in the 2nd, Brandon Marsh walked, went to third on Vidal Brujan's single and scored on a Keibert Ruiz sac fly in the 6th, and then Keston Hiura launched HR #20, a solo shot in the 7th. Hiura became the 5th Ray with 20 HR or more this year, joining Tork, Wander Franco, Hunter Bishop and Judson Fabian. Manning is now 10-6, 4.28 but has 181 whiffs in 155.2 innings this year to temporarily take over the league lead in Ks (he's been in a 4-way fight with teammates Tyler Glasnow and Shane McClanahan and Baltimore's Bryar Johnson). And who said Dustin May was done helping the team? He helped the Nationals beat Baltimore 6-2 tonight to up the lead to 9 1/2 and lower the magic # to 29. May has been great for Washington, going 8-3, 3.64 for them as they fight for a wild card in the NL.

Game 3: The bullpen coughed up its first game in a while, allowing Boston to tie in the 9th and win in the 10th 5-4. The Rays took a 4-3 lead into the 9th and Ben Bowden, having pitched the 8th, stayed on to face the first lefty batter and whiffed him. The Red Sox pinch-hit Raudy Read for lefty Didi Gregorius so Jasseel De La Cruz came in and Read greeted him with a HR just inside the LF foul pole to tie the game. And in the 10th, Jasseel gave up a leadoff single to Gabriel Arias and with one out David Dahl (who else? he had hit a 2-run HR in the first as well) singled to send Arias to 3rd. With De La Cruz at 30 pitches, Steven Casey came in to face Ryan Mountcastle and whiffed him, but walked Abraham Toro to load the bases and then walked Josh Naylor to force in the go-ahead run. The loss spoiled the Rays debut of Anthony Rizzo, who was 1-4 with a single and a run scored. The Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead off Mack Anglin in the first 3 innings, but like his last start Anglin settled down and finished with a fine 7 6 3 3 0 8 line. The Rays got a pair back quickly in the bottom of the 3rd on a 2-run Keibert Ruiz single, and Wander Franco's sac fly in the 5th tied it up. It looked like they'd win again when Hunter Bishop doubled home Judson Fabian in the bottom of the 8th but it was not to be. Baltimore beat Washington so no reduction of the magic # tonight.

Game 4: Shane McClanahan was brilliant today and the offense did just enough for the Rays to win 4-0, but the win came at a price. Mac was dealing, going 7 5 0 0 2 7 to improve to 13-5, 3.85 and re-took the AL strikeout lead with 184 from Matt Manning and Bryar Johnson who were tied on 181. Aaron Ashby and Liam Hendriks finished off the team shutout with an inning apiece. After Anthony Rizzo singled in the 2nd, Triston Casas, playing 3B today, hit HR #7 into the RF stands to make it 2-0, and then in the 3rd Judson Fabian launched #28 with a man on to make it 4-0, and that was our scoring. But the Rays did suffer a key injury in top of the 3rd inning. Going all-out to make a diving catch, Hunter Bishop strained his hamstring and will be out 6 weeks, ending his regular season and costing him the ALDS as well. It was a breakout season for Bishop, going 309/373/638 with 23 HR and 69 RBI, impressive numbers considering he only played 90 games as he missed quite a bit of time early in the season as well. The sending down of Bramdon Perez the other day left me thin in the OF, and very thin when our 4th OF is Spencer Torkelson and he's in the lineup at DH. So the Trop crowd was treated to the sight of Keston Hiura making his MLB debut in LF. Fortunately he only had to catch a couple of easy fly balls and didn't face any tough plays. Going forward Tork will take over in LF and we'll have a rotating cast at DH including Perez who will come back up, Nick Gonzales, Alec Bohm, etc. Baltimore won so the magic # drops to 28.

Team record: 87-39. Next up: 3 games in Houston, then we play 26 consecutive games against AL East teams including 2 series vs Baltimore (one home, one away) before we close with a 6-game road trip against the White Sox and Rangers.

Art Deco · 10-30-2020, 06:36 AM

Game 1: Just go ahead and give Tyler Glasnow his 2nd Cy Young Award. He probably pretty much locked it up tonight with a 4-hit shutout of the Astros in Minute Maid Park, a tough place to pitch. Glasnow went 9 4 0 0 1 9 and finished with a flourish as he struck out the side in the 9th even as his pitch count hit 123. He's now 17-3, 2.47. The final was 5-0 Rays and Keibert Ruiz got him the only run he'd need in the 1st inning with HR #16 off Forrest Whitley. Triston Casas and Brandon Marsh had RBI singles in the 4th to make it 3-0, and Spencer Torkelson put the cherry on top with a 2-run HR (#39) in the 8th inning. Baltimore continues to win (they're now 80-48, the 2nd best record in baseball, here's hoping they lose the Wild Card game), so the magic # only drops one to 27.

Game 2: The Rays took their 9th win in 10 games with an 11-5 hammering of Houston. They scored 4 in the 3rd and 4 in the 5th to put this one away, and there were plenty of offensive standouts. Triston Casas was 3-4 with a walk and 2 RBI, Wander Franco was 4-6 with 3 RBI and 2 SB, Keibert Ruiz drove in 3 with a couple of hits, Vidal Brujan was 2-5 with a walk, an RBI and a steal, and Brandon Marsh was 2-4 with a walk and 3 runs scored. Asa Lacy was the grateful beneficiary of all this run support, and he pitched decently going 7 7 4 4 1 5 with his main problem allowing a couple of homers as he went to 10-2 on the season. Deivy Florido went 1 1/3, gave up a HR in the 8th and loaded the bases with one out in the 9th, but Steven Casey got a whiff and a liner back at him to end the game. Baltimore went up 14-0 on the Yankees in the 2nd inning and held on for a 15-11 win so the magic # is now 26.

Game 3: Trailing 8-2 after 7 innings and looking deader than disco, the Rays scored 8 times in the final two innings to pull off one of their most improbable wins of the year, 10-9 over Houston. Matt Manning got the start and wasn't very good, giving up HRs to Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez (you didn't think we'd get out of a 3-game series without Alvarez hitting one?) and went 4.2 7 4 4 2 6. Spencer Torkelson's 2nd HR of the game (giving him 41) cut it to 4-2 in the top of the 6th and it seemed at that point a comeback could be in the cards, but Aaron Ashby proceeded to give up a 3-run HR to fellow lefty Brice Turang and then Bregman's 2nd of the game right after that and it was 8-2 Houston. It was so bad that I brought in Nick Anderson (now downgraded to 50 stuff and 92-94 mph velocity, yikes!) to pitch the 7th which he somehow got through. Anthony Rizzo had his first big hit as a Ray, an RBI double, in the top of the 8th and Patrick Bailey doubled in two more to halve the lead to 8-5, but in the bottom of the frame Anderson put a couple of men on ahead of Yordan Alvarez, and Ben Bowden was brought in to pitch to him. Alvarez dumped a single to right, though and made it 9-5 so once again comeback hopes seemed futile. Wander led off the 9th with HR #31 to make it 9-6 and Houston brought on closer Junior Fernandez. But Fernandez didn't have it, walking Judson Fabian, and after striking out Tork gave up Bramdon Perez's 3rd hit of the day before Rizzo came through again with an RBI double to score Fabian and make it 9-7. So with two men on up stepped Triston Casas, 0-4 with 3 Ks on the day, and he blasted a Fernandez pitch into the RF stands (#8) to complete the comeback. With lefties due up, Jose Alvarado got the call and retired Houston 1-2-3 to grab save #7 while Bowden picked up win #4. Baltimore lost for a change so the magic # is now 24. Random notes: Torkelson becomes the first Ray to have a 40-HR season since Austin Meadows (45) and Hunter Renfroe (44) both did it in 2021. Casas has 8 RBI in his last 4 games.

Team record: 90-39. Up next: 3 games at Fenway.

Also, a look at the standings as we approach the final month, the wildcard version:

And here's the AL strikeout leaderboard, guess the leader will be whoever started last for the Rays:

Art Deco · 10-30-2020, 11:40 AM

August 31: Designated Ps Nick Anderson and Deivy Florido for assignment; activated P Mitchell White from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham; purchased the contract of P Austin Vernon from AAA Durham; activated P Christian Little from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham and placed him on the 15-day IL.

Time to get the playoff-eligible roster in order, and the big news here is the DFAing of Nick Anderson. It's a sad moment, considering how much of a fixture he's been with the team since 2019 and how dominating he was up until this year. For 6 seasons he & Jose Alvarado were the best righty/lefty setup tandem in baseball and there were a kind of security blanket for me as manager. But as has been chronicled, Anderson's stuff has dropped precipitously, from his perennial 80 to a pedestrian 50 and he's lost about 5 miles off his fastball at age 36. I could no longer trust him in high-leverage situations and he doesn't offer enough length to use in long relief/mop-up duty. That role, which I was also using Florido in the past couple of weeks, will now go to Mitchell White, who got his 2 rehab starts in and should be ready. Also I had to get Christian Little back on the 40-man so he's playoff eligible, where I plan to use him as a multi-inning weapon assuming he's ready to come back in 3 weeks and shows he can be effective.

The big news here, though, is the promotion of Austin Vernon. Vernon was acquired as a throw-in in the Brandon Marsh deal with the Cubs back in 2022. He has 70-75 stuff and has whiffed 137 in 92 innings as a setup man over the last two years at Durham. Control is a little bit of an issue as he has a BB/9 a little over 4, but he's someone to bring in when you need a strikeout. The other aspect of it was that he was minor-league free-agent eligible in the offseason and I didn't want to lose him with that arm. He probably doesn't make the playoff roster as both Little and Evan Godwin are due back but with the division pretty much wrapped up I'd like to get a good MLB look at him in September.

Art Deco · 10-30-2020, 12:26 PM

Game 1: It's just something about playing in AL East parks that's given the Rays trouble this year, and today was a brutal example of such struggles as the Red Sox crushed the Rays 15-5, and it wasn't even that close as the Rays scored 4 in the 9th. Mack Anglin had his troubles, and I tried to get him through one more batter and that backfired spectacularly as Didi Gregorius hit a grand slam off him in the 5th to make it 8-1 and Anglin left with a 4.1 7 8 7 3 4 line, his first bad start in a long time. And welcome to the show, Austin Vernon. He got the last 2 outs in the 5th but had all kinds of trouble in the 6th and he too was victimized by Gregorius, who blasted a 3-run HR off him as Vernon allowed 6 runs in 1 inning of pitching. Ben Bowden stopped the bleeding with 1 2/3 scoreless, and rather than use anyone else I went with Triston Casas for the 3rd time this year to pitch and once again he acquitted himself well, allowing only an unearned run in his inning thanks to Wander's 2nd error of the game. Early on Judson Fabian hit HR #29 in the second to tie the game at 1, and in the 9th Keston Hiura and Alec Bohm each hit 2-run doubles. In between those Rays runs old friend Anthony Banda dominated them going 6.2 3 0 0 1 5 as a follower. Still despite the thorough beating they still shaved 1 off the magic number as Baltimore's loss to Toronto dropped it to 23. Random notes: Fabian's HR made him the 2nd Ray after Spencer Torkelson to reach the 100 RBI mark this season. Casas has now allowed only 1 earned run in 3 innings, maybe we should make him a 2-way guy.

Second month in a row for this guy:

Also down on the farm:

As mentioned before, Diaz is firmly in the mix for a job with the big club next season, especially if we make Tork the full-time 1B next year.

September 1: Recalled P Christian Chamberlain from AAA Durham.

I will probably call up Hayden Johns in a couple of days when he's rested from the start he made 3 days ago as the 2nd roster expansion player. For now, Chamberlain is up, giving us another lefty in the pen. He continued to pitch well at Durham after he was sent down from his cameo with us earlier this season.

Game 2: The Rays doubled up the Red Sox today, both literally (they won 8-4) and figuratively (they hit 7 doubles). Shane McClanahan had a solid start today going 6 6 3 2 2 8 to go to 13-5, 3.82 and once again retook the AL strikeout lead, today from Bryar Johnson. The Rays scored twice in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings to open up a healthy lead, with Brandon Marsh and Wander Franco singling in runs in the 3rd, Anthony Rizzo hitting the first of his 2 doubles to score one in the 4th followed by another coming home on a Boston error, and Judson Fabian and Spencer Torkelson RBI doubles accounting for the runs in the 5th. Wander tripled to lead off the 7th and scored on a Keibert Ruiz sac fly, and Nick Gonzales led off the 9th with his 8th HR of the year for the other runs. Things got a little dicey in the 7th when McClanahan left after putting the leadoff man on and Aaron Ashby ran into some trouble including that guy again - David Dahl - doubling in a run off him and cutting the lead to 7-4. Liam Hendriks calmed things down with 2 outs on 4 pitches and pitched through the 8th, and Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 2K 9th to end it. Baltimore dropped another one to Toronto so the magic # is down to 21.

Game 3: The bats took the day off in a 4-1 loss to Boston, denying Tyler Glasnow a shot at win #18. Glasnow pitched well, except when Ryan Mountcastle came to the plate. The Boston 1B homered off him in the 2nd and delivered an RBI single in the 6th, and also homered again in the 7th off Aaron Ashby, who has been not great recently. When he wasn't facing Mountcastle, Glasnow was dealing, going 6 5 3 3 3 12 to once again become the temporary AL strikeout leader with 195. Although David Dahl went 0-4 today, he still hurt the Rays by gunning down Brandon Marsh at the plate in the 6th and keeping the Rays from tying the game at 1. They did finally break through in the 7th on a Bramdon Perez RBI single, and even at 4-1 had a golden chance to come back in the 9th when Dillon Maples loaded the bases with a couple of walks and nobody out. But Keston Hiura whiffed, and Perez then hit into a double play to end the game. Steven Casey pitched a 1-2-3 7th after relieving Glasnow, then Christian Chamberlain came on for the 8th and after getting one out had to leave with a strained back, reminiscent of his getting injured in his prior Rays appearance. Ashby had to come in and gave up the 2nd homer to Mountcastle. Baltimore won so no reduction of the magic #.

Team record: 91-41. Next up: An off-day, then 3 at home this weekend against Toronto.

Art Deco · 10-31-2020, 09:20 AM

September 4: Recalled P Hayden Johns from AAA Durham. Assigned Ps Nick Anderson and Deivy Florido to AAA Durham.

As predicted, Johns was called up. Acquired from Texas in the Heston Kjerstad deal, Johns had a 4/33 BB/K ratio in 29 innings with Durham and had a 10 6 1 1 5 16 line in 8 outings with the Rangers earlier this year. Ultimately he's a starter though. Anderson and Florido cleared waivers and both accepted the assignments so they should be helping the first-place Bulls in the IL playoffs.

Game 1: The offense could only manage 4 hits, and Asa Lacy ran out of gas in the middle innings as the Jays beat the Rays 8-4. Down 1-0 going into the 5th, Lacy was touched for a 2-run HR by Adrian Hernandez and then a solo blast by Vlad Jr. back-to-back. He got through the inning and the leadoff man in the 6th reached on an error and he left with two on and 0 out, going 5 9 6 5 2 5. Hayden Johns came in and after getting a whiff, allowed a double to score the 2 Lacy runners and another double for one of his own but he stayed in and got through the next two innings going 3 2 1 1 0 4. Mitchell White gave up a homer in the 9th in his lone inning. Meanwhile the offense had 1 hit into the 7th, a Keibert Ruiz RBI double, but scored 2 in the 5th without a hit as Griffin Canning walked 4 straight with Brandon Marsh forcing in the run and Wander had a sac fly. Triston Casas hit #9 in the 7th and Tork had an RBI groundout in the 8th but it wasn't their night. The Yankees beat Baltimore behind a 3-HR game from Gleyber Torres, so the magic # drops to 20.

Game 2: The Rays exceeded their hit total of 4 last night in a 5-run first inning as they routed the Blue Jays 8-1. Vidal Brujan led off with a single, Wander Franco doubled him to 3rd, Brujan scored on a wild pitch, Judson Fabian singled in Franco, and Keston Hiura hit HR #22 with two on and it was 5-0. In the 6th, Anthony Rizzo hit his first Rays homer, and Hiura went back-to-back with him for his 2nd of the game (#23), and Rizzo singled in a run in the 7th. Matt Manning (11-6) got the start and was effective but wild, going 6 4 1 1 5 7, Ben Bowden had a 1-2-3 inning and Austin Vernon bounced back from his terrible debut in Boston to throw 2 innings with only 1 hit allowed, 0 walks and 3 whiffs, including Vlad Jr on a nasty pitch. Baltimore pulled out a 9th inning win so the magic # is now 19.

Game 3: Shane McClanahan was on his game today, and the offense did just enough in a 4-3 win. Mac was dealing, and except for a 500+ ft HR from Vlad Jr (#52 for him) shut down the Jays to the tune of 7 4 1 1 1 8. McClanahan is now 15-5, 3.72 and is the first AL pitcher to 200 strikeouts. The bats struck early against one-time nemesis Jordan Romano, back with the team he hurt the Rays with. Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run and Bramdon Perez had an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, and Alec Bohm went deep for #6 in the 2nd to make it 3-0. Bohm would later double and triple but missed his chance for the cycle by striking out in the 8th. After Vlad's HR got Toronto within 3-1, nothing much happened until the 8th when Liam Hendriks took over and got a double play to finish that inning and in the bottom of the frame Wander Franco had a sac fly for an insurance run. That run proved key when Jasseel De La Cruz, pitching for the first time in 11 days, looked the rust and gave up a couple of runs before whiffing Ryan Noda with the tying run on 2nd to end the game and still get save #25. The Orioles lost to the Yankees so the magic # drops to 17.

Team record: 93-42. Next up: 3 games at home vs those Orioles, so we won't have to scoreboard-watch.

And how about the AL pitching leaderboard?:

Might have to skip a Mac start so Glasnow can win the pitching triple crown.

Art Deco · 10-31-2020, 02:22 PM

Game 1: The two best teams in baseball met at the Trop on Labor Day, and the Orioles took a 5-3 decision. Rays pitching was overpowering tonight with 17 total strikeouts, but the Orioles made hard contact when they did hit the ball and did enough to win. The best example of this was starter Mack Anglin, who struck out the side in the first and second but gave up a run on 4 hits in those 2 innings and ended up with a schizophrenic 5 7 4 4 2 10 line (he also struck out the side in the 5th). One of those four runs came via an Austin Meadows homer, of course. Hayden Johns came on in relief of Anglin in the 6th and whiffed 5 in 2 perfect innings, continuing his impressive run, Steven Casey had a scoreless inning, and Mitchell White was touched for a run but the runner reached on Keibert Ruiz's passed ball on a strikeout. The offense was fairly quiet, although Ruiz hit #17 in the first to give the Rays a brief lead, and we were treated to the sight of an Anthony Rizzo triple and he scored on a Keston Hiura RBI groundout. A Judson Fabian single drove in their other run. Baltimore's bullpen shut them down, though, going a combined 4 2 0 0 0 6 down the stretch. So obviously no reduction of the magic #, which stays at 17.

Game 2: Tyler Glasnow and 2 relievers combined on a 4-hit shutout as the Rays beat Baltimore 4-0, evening up the series and dropping their magic # for clinching the division to 15. AL Cy Young-elect Glasnow went to 18-4, 2.45 (5.8 WAR) on a masterful 7 4 0 0 2 11 performance as he continues to make his case in a contract year. Jose Alvarado pitched 1 1/3 and Liam Hendriks got the final two outs to complete the team whitewash. The offense wasn't exactly hitting the cover off the ball as they only managed 5 hits for the night, but a pair of Orioles errors helped them score 3 times in 2nd. Keston Hiura's RBI grounder scored Anthony Rizzo, who had doubled again (6 in 46 AB), and Hiura reached on an error. Then Druw Jones dropped Triston Casas's sac fly for a run and Vidal Brujan's infield hit scored the third run. In the 4th Hiura doubled and scored on Brandon Marsh's RBI single.

Game 3: The Rays moved closer to their fifth straight division title and sixth in seven years with a 5-3 win over Baltimore, reducing the magic # to 13. Outside of a couple of HRs allowed Asa Lacy was brilliant, going 7 4 3 3 1 6 on only 80 pitches and victimized by a 2-run Jo Adell HR and a solo shot by Adley Rutschman. The Rays grabbed 3 first-inning runs off Brenan Hanifee, making his MLB debut and apparently a bit nervous as he walked 4 in his 3 2/3. Vidal Brujan welcomed him to the show with a double, Nick Gonzales singled him to 3rd and Anthony Rizzo singled in Brujan. Apparently the sight of seeing his pitches get hit led Hanifee to nibble and he walked Spencer Torkelson to load the bases and then Bramdon Perez to force in run #2. Keston Hiura's sac fly added the 3rd run, and they tacked on runs in the 4th and 6th courtesy of Gonzales on a groundout and RBI single. Keibert Ruiz, Wander Franco, Judson Fabian and Triston Casas all got days off today as the bench was emptied, but the reserves came through as seen here, especially Gonzales and Perez. Patrick Bailey was 1-3 with a walk but was erased from the bases twice by Austin Hays, once at home trying the score and the other time trying to stretch a single into a double. Ben Bowden pitched a scoreless 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz whiffed Austins Hays and Riley and got a Rio Ruiz groundball to 1st to end the game and grab save #26. Lacy is now 11-3, 3.58 as he can credibly stake his claim to the title of best 5th starter in the league. Random notes: Rizzo was 3-4 with an RBI today and is 320/404/540 in 50 AB with the Rays, so maybe the third time is the charm in acquiring a veteran 1B after the Renato Nunez and Lewin Diaz flops. Perez was also on 3 times in 4 trips today with a pair of walks and continues to be a supersub with a 320/412/529 slash line in 153 AB.

Team record: 95-43. Next up: a 10-game AL East road trip (ugh) starts with 4 at Yankee Stadium.

Art Deco · 10-31-2020, 07:40 PM

Game 1: Keibert Ruiz had himself a night, and so did his teammates as they pummeled the Yankees 14-2. The Rays' catcher had his first career 5-hit night, going 5-for-5 with a walk, scoring 4 times and driving in 3. His night started with a solo HR in the 1st inning, his 18th, he added an RBI single in a 6-run 4th that broke the game open, and finished with an RBI double in the 9th. Judson Fabian hit HR #30, a 3-run shot, Anthony Rizzo had a 2-run double in that 4th inning and drove in 3, as did Keston Hiura. The beneficiary of all this run support was Matt Manning, who did allow the Yankees to briefly tie in the first on a Joe Allen homer, but gave up nothing after that, finishing 7 3 1 1 2 9 and is now 12-6, 4.15 with 203 strikeouts. Christian Chamberlain made his first appearance in 3 with the Rays without leaving hurt, pitching a scoreless 8th but allowing a hit to start the 9th which Austin Vernon allowed to score. Baltimore was off so the magic # is now 12.

Durham Playoff Update: Another year, another great season from Durham, another playoff series with Gwinnett. The Bulls were about as good as the Rays this year, going 94-46, which earned them a matchup with wildcard team Gwinnett, the Braves' affiliate. Tonight they faced the IL's top pitcher, Trey Riley, and beat him and the Stripers 6-3 to take Game 1 of their first round best-of-5. Jimmy Lewis got the start, and aside from a bad 4th inning in which he allowed 3 runs, pitched great going 7 3 3 3 1 10. Nick Anderson got the hold with a scoreless 8th and Nick Frasso picked up the save. The big hit in the game was a 2-run HR from Chris Sharp that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead in the 5th. Sharp was a kind of throw-in in the Evan Godwin deal last year with the Cubs, but he has 70 current/80 potential contact and 80 gap power to go with 55 HR power. He seems like a Mark Grace-type hitter and he went 309/361/500 with the Bulls this season, and potentially could be a solution to our 1B problems.

Game 2: Another day, another rout of the Yankees. The final was 10-6, but that was deceiving because Andrew Knizner hit a 3-run HR off Steven Casey with two out in the 9th. Wander Franco had a monster day, going 4-5 with a HR (#32) and 3 RBI and he joined Spencer Torkelson and Judson Fabian (who ironically each went 0-5 tonight) in the 100-RBI club. Keibert Ruiz continued his hot hitting as well, going 2-3 with 2 RBI on the heels of his 5-5 yesterday, and Brandon Marsh hit HR #12, a 2-run shot, to go with a bases-loaded walk for a 3-RBI night. Shane McClanahan was battling throughout his 6 innings, not even getting his first whiff until the 5th but gutted out a 6 8 3 3 3 3 performance for win #16, keeping his outside shot at 20 wins alive. Mitchell White came in with the idea of the 3-inning save, but had to throw a lot of pitches getting through the 7th and 8th and then he walked the first two in the 9th before Casey came on. Casey struck out Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge but gave up the HR to Knizner before getting Wilmer Flores to ground out to end the game. Baltimore won again so the magic # drops to 11.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls have taken a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-5 series thanks to a 4-1 win over Gwinnett. There will certainly be wailing and gnashing of teeth when Tyler Glasnow goes to free agency this winter but the reason we can let him is the pitching pipeline we have. Mack Anglin and Christian Little have already demonstrated it, and next up is Jack Leiter (Al's son), ranked the #47 prospect in baseball by BNN. Tonight he was brilliant, going 7 5 1 1 1 9 and was par for the course with his 10-3, 3.41 season with a 25/128 BB/K ratio in 129 innings. The star on offense tonight was Christian Knapczyk, 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBI. We'll head to Gwinnett with a chance to sweep in two days' time.

Game 3: The Rays blew an early 6-3 lead, but still came out on top with an 8-6 win to make it 3 straight at the Stadium. 2-run HRs from Wander Franco (#32) and Judson Fabian (#31) helped stake them to the lead, but Mack Anglin struggled again today although he did leave after 5 up 6-4. He went 5 8 4 4 2 6 as he saw his ERA rise above 4 for the first time in a long time. Speaking of struggling, Aaron Ashby came on in the 6th and relinquished the lead by giving up another homer to a lefty, this time a 2-run shot from Chase Davis. The homer was Davis's 40th of the season, making him maybe the best Rule 5 pickup since George Bell as the Yankees nabbed him from the Mets system this winter. Ashby meanwhile has allowed 8 runs in 3 1/3 innings over his last 5 appearances, and isn't going to be trusted in a high-leverage situation for the foreseeable future. Hayden Johns relieved Ashby in the 6th and then made a mess in the 7th, loading the bases but Ben Bowden got him out of it, and then in the top of the 8th the Rays struck back. Keston Hiura led off with HR #23 to make it 7-6 and a few batters later Vidal Brujan singled in a run. Liam Hendriks had a clean 8th and then Jasseel De La Cruz got save #27 with a 1-2-3 effort. Bowden picked up his 5th win. And although Keibert Ruiz got the afternoon game off after a night game, Patrick Bailey picked right up where Keibert left off with a 3-3 day with a walk and an RBI. The magic # is now 10 as Baltimore won.

Game 4: The Rays completed a 4-game sweep in a place that's been tough on them over the years thanks to an 8-5 win. It looked like a pitchers' duel on paper with Tyler Glasnow facing Gerrit Cole, but the Rays got to Cole for 5 runs in 3 2/3 innings with Wander Franco homering for the third straight game. Wander's 34th in the 1st gave the Rays a quick lead, and he added sac flies off Cole in the 3rd and 4th to give him 105 RBI on the season. The big blow in the game was another Keston Hiura HR, #24, a 3-run shot in the 5th that turned a 5-3 game into an 8-3 one. Glasnow had his issues with the bandbox that is Yankee Stadium, allowing 3 solo HRs but limited the damage to that in a 6.2 7 3 3 2 7 performance that earned him his 19th win of the season as he looks to win 20 for the second straight year. Ben Bowden got a whiff of Joe Allen to get Glasnow out of the 7th but Steven Casey ran into some trouble in the 8th which wasn't helped by Spencer Torkelson dropping a fly ball. Jose Alvarado came in with the bases loaded and 2 out and gave up a hit to score one and a wild pitch to score another (both unearned), but got the final out and stayed on for a 1-2-3 9th and picked up his 8th save. The magic # only drops to 9 because Baltimore keeps winning, and if they go 13-7 the rest of the way we'll have 2 100-win teams in the same division for the first time since 2018.

Team record: 99-43. Next up: 3 games in Toronto.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls couldn't quite pull off the sweep as their 9th inning rally fell just short in a 4-3 loss. They had a run in, and loaded the bases with two out but Chris Sharp struck out. Gwinnett scored 3 times in the 1st off Emerson Hancock on an RBI double from ringer Jose Ramirez (on a rehab assignment) and a 2-run HR from former Rays 1st-round draft pick Garrett Whitley. Ramirez added a sac fly for the 4th Stripers run. Jhon Diaz homered for Durham, and speaking of ringers Evan Godwin pitched a scoreless inning on his own rehab assignment, allowing only a hit and striking out 1 on 10 pitches. Game 4 will be tomorrow in Gwinnett as the Bulls get their second chance to advance.

Art Deco · 11-01-2020, 01:50 PM

Game 1: Asa Lacy and the Rays were pounded by the Jays 11-3 today as their first bid for win #100 was denied. Lacy lived dangerously in the first 2 innings but got out of them but it wasn't to be the case in the 3rd when Toronto put 7 on the board against him and Austin Vernon. Lacy yielded a 3-run HR to Gabriel Moreno and then after giving up another run and putting two more on, Vernon came in and let Ryan McKenna take him deep as Lacy ended an ugly 2.2 9 6 6 1 3. Vernon proceeded to give up 2 more solo HRs in his 2.1 innings (he did whiff 4), and Hayden Johns gave up a 2-run HR to Jorge Polanco over his 3 innings. The Rays runs came on RBI doubles from Judson Fabian and Alec Bohm, and a Wander Franco RBI single. Baltimore won in Boston so the magic # remains 9.

Durham Playoff Update: Well we're headed to a Game 5 as Gwinnett beat Durham 4-3 in 12 innings on a Garrett Whitley homer off Tommy Mace with 2 out in the 12th. The Bulls were done in by Gwinnett's Christian Rodriguez, who retired all 15 batters he faced over the final 5 innings with 6 whiffs. Noah Cardenas had given Durham a 3-2 lead with a 2-run HR in the 5th, but Gwinnett tied it in the 6th off Madison Bumgarner and on to extras we went. Evan Godwin pitched another scoreless inning as he's just about ready to be activated. Jimmy Lewis will go in two nights' time as the Bulls try to avoid blowing a 2-0 series lead.

Game 2: It was a strange game but the Rays won 7-6 in 10 innings with all 7 of their runs scoring on 6(!) HRs. Keibert Ruiz's 2-run shot (#19) in the 10th proved to be the winner, the first of their HRs that wasn't a solo shot. That bested a Victor Reyes HR off Jasseel De La Cruz in the bottom of the 10th. De La Cruz made it very interesting on the way to save #28 by giving up a hit with one out and Vlad Jr coming to the plate, but Jasseel got him to ground into a 4-6-3 DP to end the game. Earlier, the Rays hit 5 solo shots off the notoriously homer-prone Griffin Canning who started off by no-hitting them through the first 3 innings. But once Wander hit #35 to kick things off, they just kept going. And in the 5th, they went back-to-back-to-back with Triston Casas (#10, into the upper deck), Brandon Marsh (#13) and Nick Gonzales (#9). This gave the Rays a 4-2 lead but Matt Manning was struggling all night, especially with his control, and was charged with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning and ended up 4.1 5 4 4 5 4. Christian Chamberlain came in and gave up the double that scored the last run off Manning, but then Mitchell White took over in the 6th with 2 1/3 shutout innings featuring 5 whiffs and Gonzales hit his 2nd of the game (#10) in the 7th to put them up 5-4. Liam Hendriks pitched the 8th and stayed in to face the leadoff man in the 9th but gave up a hit, and Jose Alvarado allowed the runner to come around and score to send us to extras. Nevertheless Alvarado picked up win #5 when they won it in the 10th. The win was the team's 100th of the season, marking the 4th time in the last 5 years they've reached that total. Baltimore lost so the magic number drops to 7. Random notes: Alvarado is now 5-7, and his 7 losses actually lead the team, one ahead of Manning's 6, a pretty remarkable stat that we're in mid-September and no starter has more than 6 losses. With Casas and Gonzales hitting double digits, the Rays now 10 players with at least 10 HRs, and could be joined by Vidal Brujan and Bramdon Perez with 8 each.

September 16: Activated P Evan Godwin from his rehab assignment AAA Durham, optioned P Christian Chamberlain to AAA Durham.

Game 3: Shane McClanahan was brilliant in a tough place to pitch as the Rays ended up taking 2 out of 3 in this series with a 4-1 win. Mac went 7 4 1 1 1 8 but it didn't look like he'd end up with a line like that in the first few innings. He gave up a double and a walk in the first inning for the lone Jays run, and in the 3rd he allowed a double and a single to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with nobody out but got a Vlad Jr grounder at a drawn-in infield and a couple of whiffs to get out of it and was never troubled the rest of the way. The win moves him to 17-5, 3.65 with 211 Ks in 187 innings and keeps his hopes of winning 20 alive. The offense wasn't overpowering today but did enough. They got some help from Jays pitcher Lyon Richardson in the 2nd when he balked runners to 2nd and 3rd, then threw a wild pitch which was followed by a Brandon Marsh RBI double. And then Triston Casas continued to torment the Jays with his 6th HR against them (out of 11 total) leading off the 7th, immediately followed by Patrick Bailey's 8th shot of the year. Steven Casey pitched a perfect 8th, and with lefties due up Ben Bowden was given a save chance but had to leave after striking out the first man he faced with bicep tendinitis which will keep him out 1-2 weeks so look for an IL stint. Speaking of injured pitchers, Evan Godwin replaced him and got the final two outs to end the game (but didn't qualify for a save since the lead was 3 and nobody was on base). Baltimore lost in 16 innings at Boston, tiring their pen ahead of our game with them tomorrow and reducing the magic # to 5. If the Rays can take 3 of the 4 games in Charm City they'll clinch the division there.

Team record: 101-44. Next up: As I just mentioned, 4 games in Baltimore.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls weren't about to let Gwinnett complete the 0-2 comeback as they beat the Stripers in the decisive 5th game of their first round International League playoff series 6-2. As in Game 1, they got to Gwinnett ace Trey Riley early, scoring three times in the first 2 innings. It was a team effort on offense with six different players driving in a run. Noah Cardenas was 3-4 with an RBI, Christian Knapczyk was 1-2 with two walks, an RBI and a steal, and catcher Juan Mendez was 2-3 with an RBI to lead the way. Jimmy Lewis got the start and was dealing, going 4.1 4 1 1 1 8 before having to leave with a sore ankle. Tommy Mace took over and got the win despite allowing a run in his 1 2/3 innings, Cole Patten had 2 scoreless, and Nick Anderson closed it out with three groundballs in the 9th. The Bulls will take on Indianapolis in the championship round as they swept Lehigh Valley in 3.

Art Deco · 11-01-2020, 08:42 PM

September 17: Placed P Ben Bowden on the 15-day IL with biceps tendinitis, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham.

Decided to go with Little instead of bringing back Chamberlain as Little had pitched much better in the 2nd half of the season at Durham and deserved a callup.

Game 1: Since tonight was kind of a big deal, I'll post the game story from the box:

The cycle was the second of Wander's career after getting one early in his rookie season in 2021.

The Rays can smell the division title as they throttled the Orioles 18-3. Aside from Wander, here were the other offensive stars tonight: Triston Casas was 3-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI, giving him 13 HRs on the year; Judson Fabian was 3-6 with a HR (#32), double and 3 RBI; and Keibert Ruiz was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Spencer Torkelson, in a deep slump, managed to hit #42 for his only hit in 5 trips tonight. All this run support allowed Mack Anglin to get the win as he had his best start for a while going 6 4 2 2 4 7 and improved to 11-4. Luke Little pitched a scoreless inning whiffing a pair, and Austin Vernon threw the final 2, allowing a run and striking out a pair. The win reduces the magic # to 3.

Game 2: The division coronation will be delayed at least an extra night as the Orioles bounced back from last night's beating and turned the tables in a 6-1 win. It was quite the pitching matchup as Tyler Glasnow faced Bryar Johnson but it was the Baltimore hurler who was the better pitcher tonight. Glasnow gave up a 2-run HR to old friend Austin Meadows in the 1st, and then another 2-run shot to Druw Jones in the 3rd and a couple more runs in the 5th to finish with a rough 5 9 6 5 1 8 line as he was denied in his first bid this year to win #20. Johnson meanwhile struggled through the first few innings as the Rays put multiple baserunners on each time but couldn't get the hit they needed and he settled down from there, holding them to 7 3 0 0 4 8. Keibert Ruiz kept the Rays from being shut out with HR #20 in the 8th off Ruben Galindo but they only managed 4 hits on the night after scoring 18 runs the night before. Luke Little pitched another scoreless inning and Hayden Johns pitched a pair, getting out of a bases loaded jam with a rare 4-2-3 double play in the 8th. The magic # remains 3 and the Rays could still clinch this weekend but will now need to win both games to do so.

Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls dropped the opener of the IL Championship Series 5-3 to Indianapolis in a bizarre game. Jack Leiter got the start and was dealing, shutting out Indy through 4 with 7 whiffs. He gave up a 2-run HR in the 5th and then hit the next batter, triggering a brawl which led to his ejection. Deivy Florido came in and was terrible, allowing the hit batter to score along with 2 runs of his own and they were down 5-0. The Bulls battled back on a Nick Loftin HR and some fine hitting from Christian Knapczyk (2-5 with 2 steals) and Julio Cedillo (3-3 with a walk, steal and RBI) but it wasn't enough in the end. They'll need a Game 2 win to avoid falling into a serious hole.

Game 3: What a insane game. I'm posting this just to show the win probability chart:

So here's how it went in a nutshell: Spencer Torkelson hit a 3-run HR (#43) in the first, but Asa Lacy gave it right back and then some, giving up HRs to Austin Hays in consecutive innings and a 2-run HR to Austin Meadows as he went 1.2 7 6 5 2 2. Mitchell White relieved him and wasn't much better, allowing back-to-back HRs to Druw Jones and Jo Adell and it was 8-3 Orioles. The Rays rallied to get back within 8-6 but White gave up 2 more runs and it was 10-6. And it stayed there for awhile. Aaron Ashby had 2 strong scoreless innings for a change and 2-run HRs from Judson Fabian (#33) and the red-hot Tristan Casas (#14, his fifth in 5 games) tied the game at 10 in the 7th. Steven Casey struck out the side in a perfect bottom 7, and Wander Franco went deep (#37) to give them an 11-10 lead going into the bottom of the 8th. But Jose Alvarado crapped the bed, giving up 4 straight hits leading to a run and leaving with the bases loaded and nobody out. Enter Liam Hendriks, who struck out Austin Riley and got Jones to hit into the second 4-2-3 double play they've pulled off this week, keeping the game tied. And in the 9th, they mounted a 4-run, 2-out rally as Keston Hiura hit #25 to break the tie and then after hits from Casas and Brandon Marsh, Vidal Brujan (who ended with a 4-hit, 4-RBI day) blasted #9 to make it 15-11. Hendriks stayed on and got a 1-2-3 9th and a well-deserved 5th win to reduce the Rays' magic #1, meaning they clinch the division tomorrow with a win.

MLB Note: San Francisco's Paul Campbell pitched a no-hitter against St. Louis, walking 5 and whiffing 10 and going 143 pitches to do so. Campbell was once a Rays farmhand, lost to Washington in the Rule 5 draft back in the 2020-21 offseason. He's pitched decently for the Nats and Giants over the years, nothing spectacular - except for tonight.

Durham Playoff Update: Things look bleak for the Bulls after Indianapolis trounced them 9-2 tonight to go up 2-0 in their best-of-5 Championship Series. The game was tied at 1 going into the 6th before Indy erupted for 5 runs off Emerson Hancock and Tommy Mace, and the Bulls squandered several scoring opportunities in the early innings which doomed them. They'll have to win in Indianapolis in two days' time or their season is over.

Game 4: The ball was flying out of Camden Yards as usual, and Rays pitching allowed 8(!) homers in a 14-5 shellacking today. Matt Manning had the bad combo of issuing walks and giving up homers, with 3 of the former and 4 of the latter on his way to a horrid 5.1 7 7 7 3 6 line, Austin Vernon continued to show he's not ready for prime time by allowing 3 more homers in 1 inning of work for 4 runs, and Hayden Johns gave up a 3-run shot in his 1 2/3 innings. The Rays hit 3 longballs of their own: Spencer Torkelson (#44), Wander Franco (#38) and Judson Fabian (#34). If the Orioles win their wild card game it's going to be a wild ALDS with them, especially Games 3 and 4. For now the division championship celebration is put on hold for a day or two.

Team record: 103-46. Next up: An off-day (on which they can still clinch if Baltimore loses to Boston), then mercifully back home for 3 games vs the Yankees.

Art Deco · 11-02-2020, 03:59 PM

Lots to report on this off-day, including the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays are the 2026 AL East Champions! They clinched the division on an off-day at home as the Orioles fell 8-5 to Boston. That makes 5 straight division titles and 6 in 7 years. Here are the MLB wild card standings since all the division races seem well in hand:

The Orioles have clinched a wild card and will host the Wild Card Game, but who's coming to Baltimore is anyone's guess with 4 teams within one game of the second wild card. Texas has been much better since we sent them Heston Kjerstad and they also picked up Danny Santana from the Blue Jays. The Rays travel to Chicago and Texas next week to end the season so they could have a say in who makes it. The wildcard race is wild as well in the NL, with Washington holding a slight advantage and 3 other teams within a game for the second wild card.

September 21: Sent P Christian Little (herniated disc) to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment.

Here we go again with Little, who will start the do-or-die Game 3 for the Bulls tonight in Indianapolis.

This in from the league office:

Durham Playoff Update: Good news and bad news from Indianapolis. The good news is that the Bulls won 7-0 to stay alive and force a Game 4 of the International League Championship Series. The bad news: Christian Little started and had to leave after striking out the first batter with a recurrence of his herniated disc, and will miss another 1-2 weeks. It's looking dicey now for his playoff prospects. Relieving Little was our top pitching prospect and no it wasn't Jack Leiter. Andy Aparicio is ranked the #2 prospect overall in baseball by BNN and I don't know how much I've talked about him here but he spent this season at AA Montgomery, mostly in the bullpen although he made a few starts late in the season. Tonight he took over in the 1st after the original plan was to take over around the 4th or 5th, and he was brilliant going 5 1 0 0 1 2, leaving after he allowed the first Indy hit of the game in the 6th inning. He has a shot of making next year's team but will probably start at Durham. Jhon Diaz was 2-4 with an RBI and Juan Mendez was 2-5 with 3 RBI as Little, Aparicio, Cole Patten, Nick Frasso (who got the final out in the 8th when it was 4-0 and two men were on) and Wesley Sweatt combined for the shutout.

Art Deco · 11-02-2020, 04:42 PM

Game 1: The Rays used a 5-run 8th inning to beat the Yankees 10-5 today, but there was a little disappointment sprinkled in as Shane McClanahan has likely missed out on a shot at winning 20 games. Coming in 17-5, Mac was a mixed bag today, giving up a 2-run HR to Gleyber Torres (#50) in the first but settling down after with a 4-2 lead until the 6th, when a sequence of hits saw the Yankees tie it and he ended 6 6 4 4 4 8. Still when Spencer Torkelson hit #45 in the bottom of the 6th to re-establish the lead, it looked like he'd still be on track for the win. But while Evan Godwin got through a 1-2-3 7th, Liam Hendriks gave up Torres' 2nd HR of the game to tie it in the 8th. The Rays then loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning and a walk to Keston Hiura forced in a run before the unconscious Triston Casas went deep again (#15) for a grand slam. Luke Little loaded the bases with one out in the 9th and a 5-run lead, and with Torres and Aaron Judge due up, Jasseel De La Cruz came in and got them both for save #29 while Hendriks vultured the win, his 6th. Earlier Judson Fabian hit a 3-run shot in the 1st for HR #35.

Durham Playoff Update: We're going back to Durham! And not just to clean out lockers either, as the Bulls downed Indianapolis 9-4 to even their best-of-5 IL Championship Series at 2 games and force a deciding 5th game in Durham in two days. It was a back-and-forth affair through 6 until the Bulls scored 3 times in the 7th to break a 3-3 tie. Juan Mendez's 2-run double was key, and Nick Loftin broke the game open in the 8th with a 3-run HR. Domingo German started and went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs and Nick Anderson ended up picking up the win in relief. Fightin' Jack Leiter will be on the mound for Game 5.

Game 2: The Rays wasted a great performance from Mack Anglin and saw Jose Alvarado blow it again as they fell 5-3 to the Yankees in 13 innings. Anglin was the story, no-hitting the Yankees through 5 innings and ending up 8 4 1 1 0 10. It looked like he wouldn't have a shot at the win, though, as the Rays struggled with Deivi Garcia, who allowed nothing but Alec Bohm's 7th HR of the year going into the bottom of the 8th. But with 2 out Judson Fabian beat out an infield single and the Yankees went to Luis Severino, who served up a 2-run HR to Bramdon Perez, his 9th of the year. With two lefties leading off the 9th, Alvarado got the call but once again he failed. After retiring the leadoff man, he gave up a double to Joe Allen, which meant he had to face Gleyber Torres with a man on, and the Yankee slugger took him deep for #52 to tie the game. The Rays had glorious chances to win in extras, but Perez was stranded at 3rd in the 11th after a one-out triple, and they loaded the bases with one out in the 12th only for Judson Fabian to ground into a 4-2-3 double play. Hayden Johns couldn't get it done in his 2nd inning of relief, and gave up a 2-run double to Wilmer Flores for the winning runs. The main takeaway from the otherwise-meaningless game is that Alvarado has truly become unreliable, now with 5 blown saves to go with his 8 losses on the season, and a 4.81 ERA with 26 walks in 48.2 innings and 8 HRs allowed, something I'm not sure is possible for someone who is rated 75 for movement. He had only allowed 3 HR in 95 innings over the last 2 seasons combined and while the ball is definitely juicier this year this is kind of ridiculous.

Game 3: After missing out on getting win #20 in his last start, Tyler Glasnow was going to leave nothing to chance today by turning in his most dominant performance in a season of dominant performances in an 8-0 win over the Yankees. Glasnow struck out the first 5 Yankees, 8 through 3 innings and 10 in 4 on his way to a 7 2 0 0 0 14 outing on only 98 pitches. He's now 20-5, 2.58 with a 51/235 BB/K ratio in 202.2 innings, good for 6.1 WAR. He'll have one more start next week in Chicago before he toes the rubber for Game 1 of the ALDS. Gerrit Cole was the opposition and the Rays batters had their way with him today, hitting 3 longballs off him. Brandon Marsh took him deep for #14 in the 3rd to kick off the scoring, Judson Fabian hit #36 in the 4th to make it 2-0, and after a Triston Casas double Bramdon Perez joined the double-digit club on the team with HR #10, a 2-run blast as he seems to own Cole (I need to look up their head-to-head #s). Patrick Bailey later hit #9 off the Yankee bullpen as he and Vidal Brujan could make it 13 Rays with 10 or more HRs if they each hit one more. Austin Vernon finished up the shutout with 2 scoreless innings, whiffing 3 including Gleyber Torres to end the game, giving them a 17-strikeout team game.

Team record: 105-47. Next up: The final 3 regular season home games, vs. Boston.

Art Deco · 11-02-2020, 07:26 PM

The Bulls pulled off the miracle comeback down 0-2 in the series with a 6-1 win over Indianapolis in Game 5 as they won their first International League title since going back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. Fightin' Jack Leiter (my new nickname for him after he was ejected in a Game 1 brawl) pitched great, going 6 6 1 1 2 9 and leaving with a 2-0 lead. Cole Patten allowed a Leiter runner to score but got a big strikeout to end the inning and went 2 scoreless (Patten was great this postseason with a combined 12 11 0 0 0 11 line) and then the Bulls blew it open in the bottom of the 6th. Noah Cardenas led off the inning with a homer, Nick Loftin had a 2-run single, and series MVP Juan Mendez drove in a run after driving one in earlier. Nick Frasso struck out the side in the 9th and here's a look at the celebration:

Art Deco · 11-03-2020, 08:38 AM

Game 1: A dull game tonight at the Trop that the Rays lost to Boston 3-2. Asa Lacy wasn't particularly effective, going 5.1 9 3 3 1 6 and allowing all 3 runs in the first 3 innings. The bullpen (Aaron Ashby, Jose Alvarado and Steven Casey) 1-hit the Sox over the final 3 2/3, keeping them in the game, but the offense could only muster a 2-run HR from Spencer Torkelson (#46) in the 6th off Justin Dunn and Boston's pen. At least we're one day closer to the end of the season.

Some retirement news: Nick Anderson announced his retirement. It was a great 8-season run with Nick as one of the premier setup men in the league and he'll retire with a couple of rings. Another Durham Bull announcing his retirement was the great Madison Bumgarner, who spent the last year and a half with the Bulls and was a great mentor to the younger pitchers on the staff, including Mack Anglin. I'd like to think the Giants will retire his number considering his huge role in 3 World Series wins. More notable retirements around baseball: Jacob deGrom (#48 retired by the Mets), Aroldis Chapman, Sonny Gray, Oscar Mercado (still with the longest hitting streak in this save, 38 games), Patrick Corbin, and some former Rays: Avisail Garcia, Matt Duffy, Jalen Beeks, and Andrew Kittredge.

Also David Dahl signed a 5-year extension with Boston so he'll be continuing to kill us 18-19 times a year (he had an RBI single last night).

Game 2: The Rays rode the longball to an 8-3 win over Boston tonight. Triston Casas's mammoth shot to center field (#16) off former Ray and lefty Anthony Banda broke a 3-3 tie in the 7th and Keibert Ruiz hit a 3-run shot (#21) later in the inning to propel them to victory. Matt Manning got the start and pitched great through 6 innings, only allowing 1 run and 3 hits, but ran into some trouble in the 7th with two Boston hits, and Evan Godwin came on. Godwin did not get the job done, giving up a pinch-hit RBI double to another former Ray, Abraham Toro, and then allowing a sac fly to enable the Red Sox to tie. But Casas's heroics meant Godwin vultured win #3. Godwin stayed on through the 8th and Hayden Johns had a 1-2-3 9th to finish it off. Earlier the Rays had scored on a 2-run single from Brandon Marsh in the 2nd and a Keston Hiura solo homer (#26) in the 4th. Wander Franco picked up his 200th hit of the season in the 1st.

September 27: Optioned P Austin Vernon to Durham, recalled OF Jhon Diaz from AAA Durham.

Wanted to get an extra bat up to give some of the OFs rest during the final week of the season, so Diaz is back after a brief stint earlier this season. He was Durham's best player, going 306/388/550 with 25 HR, 90 RBI and 18 SB, 4.9 WAR for what WAR is worth at the AAA level.

Game 3: Shane McClanahan put the Rays in an 8-0 hole from which they nearly climbed out only to lose 9-8. Mac had a nightmare first inning, allowing 5 runs (3 earned) as he couldn't get the first 6 batters of the game out. He settled down from there until the 5th, when he gave up 3 more runs and ended 4 6 8 6 3 6, perhaps not as into it today as 20 wins is out of reach. Meanwhile the bats couldn't get anything done against Cionel Perez until the 6th when they scored 6 times including a 2-run single from Patrick Bailey and a 2-run double from Vidal Brujan. Mitchell White, who took over for Mac, gave up a HR in the top of the 8th to make it 9-6 and it proved to be the decisive run as in the bottom of the 8th Bailey went deep with a man on for his 10th of the year to make it 9-8. Bailey became the 12th Ray to hit double-digit homers, with Brujan sitting on 9. Jhon Diaz got a start and looked good, going 2-4 with a double.

Team record: 106-49. Next up: 4 games in the Windy City against the White Sox, which are huge games for Chicago who are currently sitting in the second wild card spot but only 1/2 game up on Texas and Kansas City and 1 up on Cleveland.

Art Deco · 11-03-2020, 12:58 PM

Game 1: One team played like its playoff lives depended on it, and one team played like it had clinched its division a week earlier as the White Sox pummeled the Rays 12-0. Mack Anglin started and was OK after giving up 3 early runs, finishing 6 6 3 3 0 7. But Luke Little and Hayden Johns were terrible in relief, giving up 9 runs combined in the 7th and 8th. Collin Montez was 3-4 with 2 HR and 7 RBI for the White Sox, while the Rays offense could barely get on base, getting only 6 hits and one walk. 6 games left to go.

Game 2: If the White Sox make the Wild Card Game and beat Baltimore, and then beat the Rays, the Rays will only have themselves to thank as they lost to Chicago again, this time 5-4 in 10 innings on a walk-off HR by (who else?) Collin Montez off Evan Godwin. As you can tell by the score the Rays made a better showing of themselves even with key players like Wander Franco, Keibert Ruiz, Brandon Marsh and Keston Hiura rested. Tyler Glasnow made his final regular season start and began shaky just like Mack Anglin last night and like Anglin he gave up 3 early runs and then settled down. He was finally pulled with two out in the 6th with a couple of runners on and Aaron Ashby balked one in, leaving Glasnow with a 5.2 7 4 3 4 5 line and final regular season numbers of 20-5, 2.64 with 55/240 BB/K in 208.1 innings and 6.1 WAR. They were down 4-3 at that point but Anthony Rizzo had an RBI single in the 8th to tie the game, Steven Casey got 'em through the 8th, Liam Hendriks the 9th, but Godwin started the 10th to face the lefty Montez and that was that. Earlier the Rays put 3 runs on the board courtesy of Jhon Diaz. His 2-run double in the 2nd tied the game at 2, and he doubled and scored on a Nick Gonzales single in the 5th to tie it again at 3.

Game 3: New day, same story as the White Sox beat the Rays 6-1. Asa Lacy started and like Mack Anglin and Tyler Glasnow the two nights before, gave up 3 early runs. This time they came in the first as that guy Collin Montez singled in a run and then Tanner Craig hit a 2-run HR. Lacy did not allow another hit the rest of the way and ended 6 2 3 3 3 4. But of course the offense did little (tonight's nights off went to Vidal Brujan and Judson Fabian) with only Spencer Torkelson's 47th HR of the year in the 4th putting them on the board. And after Steven Casey pitched a scoreless 7th, Aaron Ashby came in and was terrible yet again, giving up a 3-run HR to - who else? - Montez to make the final 6-1 as the White Sox continue to hold down the 2nd wild card. Montez now has 4 HR and 12 RBI in the 3 games so far this series, gonna have to start intentionally walking him.

MLB Note: The Yankees' Joe Allen extended his hitting streak to 34 games today, which is the second longest in this save since Oscar Mercado's 38 in 2021 (or was it 2022?).

Game 4: Disgusted with their performance in the first 3 games of the series, today I went with the full regular lineup. And it might have been the worst game yet of this series as the White Sox crushed them again 10-2 to sweep the 4-game series. Like his starter mates before him, Matt Manning put the team in an early hole and raised the ante by giving up 6 runs in the first 3 innings and ending up 4.1 9 7 7 3 5 to finish the year a mediocre 12-8, 4.69. Manning's ERAs have risen from 2.68 in his 2024 Cy Young season to 3.62 to 4.69 the past three years, not a great trend. Meanwhile the offense made Alex Faedo and his 5.72 ERA on the season look like Bob Gibson as he retired the first 13 Rays before Spencer Torkelson (the only one still hitting) blasted #48. Later Vidal Brujan and Keibert Ruiz hit doubles for the other run. Hayden Johns went 1 2/3 scoreless, but Luke Little was ripped for 3 runs in his 2 innings of work. I didn't expect them at their best this series, but this was ridiculous.

Team record: 106-53. Next up: The regular season mercifully ends with 3 games in Texas.

MLB Note: As usual, once you mention a hitting streak it ends, and so it did with Joe Allen who went 0-4 today snapping his 34-game streak.

Here is where the wild card races stand going into the final weekend. It looked like chaos a week ago, but now it's going to take some dramatic turnarounds to keep it from being Baltimore-Chicago in the AL and Washington-San Diego in the NL:

Art Deco · 11-03-2020, 06:37 PM

October 2: Activated P Ben Bowden from the 15-day IL, optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham.

Game 1: The Rays acquitted themselves a little better, but lost their sixth straight game 6-4 to Texas. The pattern of the starter putting them in an early hole continued as Shane McClanahan allowed 3 runs in the first three innings and the Rays trailed 3-1 through 5. But they actually rallied for 3 runs in the 5th (and it would have been more had Heston Kjerstad not thrown Nick Gonzales out at the plate) on a 2-run double from Gonzales and an RBI double from Judson Fabian, his 2nd RBI of the night. Mac made it through the 5th on 96 pitches going 5 6 3 3 1 5 and keeping his season ERA below 4 at 3.96. But Steven Casey loaded the bases in the 6th on 2 hits and a hit batter and the rusty Ben Bowden allowed them all to score, including on a couple of bases-loaded walks. Probably not the best move to go to Bowden there in the key situation right off the IL but I wanted him to get some work before the playoffs. The bats could do nothing off the Texas bullpen in the final 3 innings and that was all she wrote. It would sure be nice to win at least once before the playoffs begin. Amazingly this team's going to win at least 106 games while suffering losing streaks of 7 and (at least) 6 games.

Wild card race update: The White Sox got a 3-run walk-off HR from Tanner Craig to beat Minnesota 8-5 and keep their one-game lead for the 2nd WC over Cleveland, which also won 12-1 in Kansas City and eliminated the Royals. The Rangers with their win stay 2 behind Chicago but are pretty much out of it. Interestingly, the White Sox could force a tie for the division if they beat Minnesota the next two days, and they'd then play a 4th game on Monday to see who takes the Central and who plays at Baltimore. It would be quite the collapse by the Twins who had looked to have the division wrapped up for a while now. Over in the NL, the Mets lost and San Diego beat Arizona, so the Padres have wrapped up the 2nd wild card and will play the Nationals in the NL Wild Card Game.

Game 2: The beat(ings) goes on as with the full regular lineup in tonight they lost 6-0 and were one-hit by Lucas Giolito and Ryan Feltner. An Anthony Rizzo double in the 5th was the only hit they could muster, as it continues to be Groundhog Day for the Rays in a bad way. Mack Anglin gave up 5 runs in the first 3 innings, 4 of which came off a pair of homers, although he did settle down after that and go 6 5 5 5 1 8. Hayden Johns struck out the side in the 7th and I gave Jasseel De La Cruz some work, as he hadn't made an appearance in over a week and it took him 31 pitches to get through the 8th, allowing a run. The 7-game losing streak matches the one from back in May, and if they don't win tomorrow they'll go into the playoffs with about as much negative momentum as can be imagined. They lost the first game in this streak by a run but over the last 6 they've been outscored 45-11. Unbelievable.

Wild Card Race Update: High drama in Chicago as Mitch Haniger's 2-run HR in the 8th gave the White Sox a 3-2 win over Minnesota. Combined with Cleveland's loss to Kansas City (courtesy of 5 hits from former Rays farmhand Xavier Edwards), the White Sox clinch the second wild card, eliminating Cleveland and Texas. And Chicago can force a tie for the AL Central if they beat Minnesota on the final day tomorrow, so their aspirations are higher now.

October 4: Activated P Christian Little from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned P Hayden Johns to AAA Durham.

Here's hoping Little can stay healthy, having twice cut short rehab assignments with a recurring herniated disc issue. We're going to have him pitch at some point today to a) make sure he can get through a game without re-injuring himself, and b) to have him as ready as we can get him for the playoffs.

Game 3: THE RAYS WIN! THE RAYS WIN! Never thought I'd be so excited over a meaningless win, but avoiding heading into the playoffs on an 8-game losing streak is at least good for my psyche. They got a pretty decent start from Mitchell White and some dominating relief pitching from injury returnees Christian Little and Ben Bowden to take a 3-1 win over the Rangers. The bench was emptied today with only Fabian, Marsh, Brujan, Casas and Rizzo among regulars starting. They got on the board first in the 2nd inning on a Patrick Bailey HR (#11) off Chris Paddack who otherwise was outstanding against his old team (6.2 5 1 1 2 7). White meanwhile allowed plenty of runners but kept going out of it until Sam Huff homered off him leading off the 6th, which after another hit was his cue to come out having gone 5 8 1 1 1 4. Little came on and did Christian Little things: 2 1 0 0 1 5 on 35 pitches and picking up the win when Anthony Rizzo delivered a two-out, two-run double to give the Rays the lead in the top of the 8th. Bowden then pitched the 8th, striking out the side. With Jasseel De La Cruz wiped out from last night and lefties due up, Jose Alvarado came in, and did make things interesting by walking a pair but got through the 9th for save #9.

Final Regular Season Record: 107-55, their second-best regular season ever to the 115 won in 2023. Next up: the ALDS, against an opponent to be determined, either Baltimore, Chicago or Minnesota.

AL Playoff Race Update: The White Sox defeated the Twins 4-2, winning their 8th straight and forcing a 1-game playoff tomorrow for the AL Central title with the loser traveling to Baltimore to play the Orioles in the Wild Card Game and the winner facing the Angels in the ALDS. They scored their 4 runs in the most improbable fashion: Back-to-back-to-back-back HRs, something that as of 2020 has only been done 10 times in MLB history. I can't speak for my save since it's quite possible it's happened but I would have no way of determining that. Anyway, Collin Montez, Tanner Craig, Corey Seager and Mitch Haniger hit consecutive homers in the 4th inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead which stood up.

Art Deco · 11-03-2020, 10:03 PM

The final standings and leaderboards:

Some insane HR totals out there as the ball was juiced again this year. I will be de-juicing it again next year.

Final team stats:

Still ended up 1st in most of the pitching categories but the team ERA went up about 1/3 of a run over the last month or two. Heck, the way the last week went it might have gone up that much just then. Still great overall numbers except that in conjunction with the ERA going up, the defensive numbers really tailed off, going from mediocre to bad with BABIP rising and efficiency and zone ratings dropping.

Final hitting stats, sorted by WAR:

We were tops in all the hitting categories, and that was despite 1B being a black hole as Bohm, Diaz, Casas and Rizzo combined for -1.2 WAR. Ouch.

Final pitching stats, sorted by ERA:

Art Deco · 11-03-2020, 11:04 PM

Nick Senzel's one-out homer in the 9th off Minnesota's Jack Filby gave Chicago a 3-2 win over Minnesota and the AL Central title as the White Sox beat the Twins on four consecutive days and 9 straight games in all to pull it out. After the White Sox took a 2-0 lead off rookie sensation Jon Hayes in the 3rd, Yairo Munoz hit a 2-run HR off Tyler Mahle to tie it up. Both Hayes and Mahle were great tonight, going 7 innings and allowing only 2 runs. The Twins had a chance to tie or win in the 9th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Travis Swaggerty hit into a force at home place and Royce Lewis took a called strike 3 from Danny Pena to end the game. The White Sox, who also had an improbable run to a World Series title in 2021, will travel to Anaheim to open the ALDS against the Angels in a few days while the Twins will now have to travel to Baltimore for the AL Wild Card Game.

Also, this:

10-28-2020, 07:06 AM	#341
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	August 14-16, 2026: at NY Yankees (3) Game 1: Although they started the season playing well in AL East ballparks, lately it's been a problem as they lost their 7th in their last 10 such games in a meek performance tonight, dropping a 4-0 decision to the Yankees. And it wasn't like they were facing Gerrit Cole, instead it was Cody Deason and Zack Pop who held them to 5 hits tonight. Matt Manning got the start and met the bare definition of a quality start going 6 5 3 3 2 7, Aaron Ashby gave up a run in his brief outing, and Jack Perkins looked strong again, going 1 2/3 and whiffing a pair, giving him 5 shutout innings with 0 runs or walks and 9 whiffs in his 3 appearances. Unfortunately I have to start mentioning the division again because as the Rays have dropped 3 of their last 4 Baltimore keeps winning and the 12-game lead is down to 8 1/2. Still in good shape, but not a good trend. Some trade news: After half a season, I finally pulled the plug on Lewin Diaz, who just never could hit. It was kind of fitting he made the final out of a shutout in last night's game as he ended his Rays tenure 198/237/374. Despite his underlying skills supporting much better numbers, I finally had it as he showed no signs of snapping out of it as a Ray. The return isn't that bad considering he's a FA at year's end. Florido has 60 stuff and 55 control, but has to clear waivers to be sent to Durham as he's out of options. For now, he'll sit in my DFA area for the 7 days and I'll see if we have some kind of injury opening that allows him to join the big club, otherwise he'll go on waivers. Kash was the Padres' 4th round pick in 2025, a 1B who's hit for average with potential 60 power and will go to Class-A Bowling Green. Doubt he ever amounts to a lot, but he's got some mild potential. To take Diaz's spot on the active roster, welcome back Alec Bohm, who will now platoon with Triston Casas at 1B. Although Bohm did hit 17 HR in 227 AB at Durham, he only hit .227 doing so but some of that was probably due to being pissed at being sent down. Either way I expect this combo to do at least what Diaz did, and probably more. Casas had been heating up with a couple of homers this week. Game 2: Another uninspiring performance as they suffered their third walk-off loss in 5 games and fourth overall as they fell 4-3 to the Yankees in 10 innings. The offense was lame again, only managing 6 hits. Those hits did lead to 3 runs today, with Keibert Ruiz's RBI double in the first and Keston Hiura's 2-run HR in the 3rd (#18) giving them an early 3-0 lead. But the Yankees chipped away at Mack Anglin, and although technically none of the 3 runs he allowed were unearned, 3 errors behind him didn't help him either as the rookie went 6 6 3 3 2 6. Steven Casey struck out the side in a 1-2-3 inning, Liam Hendriks got a couple of outs as did Jose Alvarado, but the Yankees got to Jasseel De La Cruz in the 10th when Tommy Edman doubled with 2 out and scored on an Andrew Knizner single as the pair of former Cardinals teamed up to give New York the win. Triston Casas celebrated his new job as the regular 1B against RHP by striking out all 4 times up, while Judson Fabian also got the golden sombrero with 4 whiffs in an 0-5 day. And the Orioles won their 7 straight so the lead is now down to 7 1/2. Game 3: Like their real-life counterparts in 2020's just-concluded postseason, the Rays today could only score via the HR. Fortunately they hit 5 of them to beat the Yankees 7-5. Two were courtesy of Wander Franco: he hit #26 off Gerrit Cole in the 1st inning to put the Rays on the board, and then launched #27 with Nick Gonzales aboard to make it 4-2 in the 3rd. After the Yankees tied it at 4, Triston Casas hit #6 in the 6th to give him 3 for the week (3 more than Lewin Diaz has hit recently) to make it 5-4. But for the third time in the game the Yankees leveled the score again, this time on a Chase Davis HR off Ben Bowden in the 7th (a same-handed blast). But in the top of the 8th, Hunter Bishop hit #20 leading off the inning and Bramdon Perez (playing for Judson Fabian) immediately followed with #8, and Jack Perkins and Jose Alvarado held on to the fourth lead of the day for the win. Shane McClanahan started and wasn't very good (6 8 4 4 3 4), surrendering the lead twice, and after Bowden gave up another lead Perkins came on and pitched well once again, going 1 2/3 and allowing only a walk to pick up his first MLB win. With four lefties in a row leading off the 9th, Alvarado came in and got save #5 despite walking one of them. And to further calm the nerves, Baltimore was shut out in San Francisco so the lead is back up to 8 1/2. Team record: 80-36. Next up: back home for 3 with the San Diego Padres in a rematch of the 2023 World Series, which went well. It starts a homestand where we face recently traded Rays, the Padres with Lewin Diaz and after that Heston Kjerstad and the Rangers come to town. Kjerstad has been raking for Texas, hitting 368/422/671 with 7 HR in 76 AB, while Diaz homered in his Padres debut of course (remember he hit a pair in his Rays debut and how well that ended up going). Last edited by Art Deco; 10-28-2020 at 12:25 PM.

10-28-2020, 01:42 PM	#342
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	August 17-19, 2026: vs San Diego (3) Game 1: Tyler Glasnow had a hard time with the San Diego lineup and the Rays continued their inability to score outside of the HR in a 5-2 loss to the Padres. Glasnow, who had been on quite the roll, was touched for runs in the first two innings and after the Rays had tied the game on HRs from Nick Gonzales (#7) and Keibert Ruiz (#15) in the 4th, gave up another run in the 5th to allow San Diego back in front, and then allowed a 2-run HR to Cesar Marin (with Lewin Diaz aboard, who had doubled) to give us our final 5-2 score. Glasnow was 6 7 5 5 2 2, with the lack of strikeouts standing out. The two homers were all the Rays could muster against soft-tossing lefty Reid Detmers, who otherwise befuddled them in an 8 6 2 2 0 6 outing. Alec Bohm celebrated his return to MLB and the Rays lineup by going 0-3 with a strikeout, dropping his BA below .200 and making him a true 2026 Rays first baseman. Aaron Ashby had 2 shutout innings in relief and Nick Anderson got through the 9th. Baltimore was idle so the lead is 8 games. Game 2: So which was the worst part of today's game? That they lost 6-4 and have now dropped 6 of 8? That the big hit of the game that erased a 3-1 Rays lead in the 6th inning was a 3-run HR by Lewin Diaz? That Baltimore won to cut the lead to 7 games? Or that Jack Perkins had to leave the game with what turned out to be a torn flexor tendon and will be out 10-11 months? It all went wrong today for the Rays. They took a 3-1 lead through 5 on a Spencer Torkelson RBI single and sac flies from Patrick Bailey and Wander Franco, but it all fell apart in the 6th when Diaz took Asa Lacy deep with 2 on and the Padres added another run. Perkins took over for Lacy, who went a not-so-great 5 7 4 4 4 2 and went 1 1/3 with 3 whiffs before having to leave with that major injury. San Diego then added 2 more in the 8th off Ben Bowden, who's been struggling of late. Judson Fabian hit HR #24 to cut it to 6-4 in the 8th but they could do nothing against Padres closer Andres Munoz and the downward spiral continues. August 19: Placed P Jack Perkins on the 60-day IL with a torn flexor tendon, optioned IF Nick Loftin to AAA Durham; activated 2B Vidal Brujan from the 15-day IL and added P Deivy Florido to the active roster. It's a shame about Perkins, he was pitching so very well. Hopefully he can come back with his stuff and contribute late next season. Also a shame about Loftin, it's not every day guys hitting .542 are demoted, even if it was only 24 at-bats. But it's not a shame that Brujan is back although Nick Gonzales filled in well in his stead. Florido, acquired in the Lewin Diaz deal, gets a chance to go on the active roster after all. He'll be used in long relief. Game 3: Holy marathons, Batman! The Rays snapped out of their funk with a 5-4 win over San Diego in 19 innings (!). Brandon Marsh tripled in Triston Casas in the bottom of the 19th to pull out the win after they were sent to extras when Judson Fabian hit HR #25 with 2 out in the 9th after San Diego took the lead in the top of the inning when Luis Campusano singled in a runner that had reached with 2 out when Marsh dropped a fly ball. Earlier Wander had hit #28 off MacKenzie Gore and the Rays had a 2-0 lead through 5 for the second straight day. But Matt Manning, who was one-hitting the Padres through 5, had it all unravel when San Diego picked up 3 runs in the 6th. Hunter Bishop hit #21 in the bottom of the 6th to tie it up before the drama in the 9th. I said before the game that Deivy Florido would pitch long relief, but I had no idea he'd immediately get the chance as he went 4.1 4 0 0 1 2 before I took him out with 2 out in the 18th after he went into the red. Ben Bowden came in despite showing as somewhat tired and he ended up with the win after amazingly striking out all 4 Padres he faced. Baltimore lost too, so the lead goes back up to 8. Team record: 81-38. Next up: A much-needed off-day before the Rangers come to town for a weekend series. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-28-2020 at 08:20 PM.

10-28-2020, 09:38 PM	#343
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	August 21-23, 2026: vs Texas (3) Game 1: The Rangers have been playing some good baseball lately, pulling to within 1/2 game of the AL West-leading Angels, but they were no match for the Rays tonight in a 12-2 drubbing. After falling behind 2-0 in the 2nd, the Rays went on to blast 5 homers, including a pair from Spencer Torkelson who was 0-8 in the 19-inning marathon Wednesday and had lost about 15 points off his BA recently. But he hit #s 36 & 37 today with his first a 2-run shot capping a 4-run 3rd that put the Rays out in front 5-2 and they never looked back. Keston Hiura had hit #19 to get the Rays within 2-1 in the 2nd, Wander hit #29 in the 5th and Judson Fabian (April-May hot again) blasted #26 late in the game and had an RBI double in that 3rd that put the Rays in front to stay. Mack Anglin started and was roughed up a bit early, giving up a pair of RBI doubles in the first 2 frames but cruised after that, putting up an outstanding 7 4 2 2 2 10 line which makes him 10-2, 3.40. Nick Anderson pitched the final two innings. Baltimore won last night while the Rays were idle and won again tonight to get within 7 1/2 but the magic # is down to 35. Game 2: The bats came out to play again as the Rays beat the Rangers 9-5. Vidal Brujan was in the middle of it all as he often is, going 2-4 with a walk, scoring 2 runs, driving in another and stealing a base. After falling behind 2-1 in the top of the 3rd (with a Jud Fabian RBI triple in the 1st), they exploded for 4 runs in the 3rd to take control of the game. Brujan started it off with a single, and it eventually led to a pair of 2-RBI doubles from Keibert Ruiz and Keston Hiura. They tacked on another in the fourth when Brandon Marsh led off with a triple and Brujan singled him home. Shane McClanahan started for the Rays and although he gave up single runs in the 1st and 3rd, he settled down and cruised through the middle innings. He was tiring in the 7th and I left him in one batter too long as he gave up a 2-run shot to Danny Santana to cut it to 6-4, and left 6.2 8 4 4 1 9 but still went to 12-5 although his ERA has ticked up to 4.02. But the offense picked him up in the bottom of the 7th, taking advantage of a Rangers error that kept the inning alive. With a lefty pitching, Texas intentionally walked Spencer Torkelson to put two on to face the lefty-hitting Hunter Bishop, but he made that move backfire by launching HR #22 into the RF stands to make it 9-4. Steven Casey took over for McClanahan and was nasty, whiffing 3 of the 4 batters he faced and retired. Ben Bowden allowed a Texas run in the 9th but nothing else. A Baltimore win keeps the lead at 7 1/2 but the Rays win lowers the magic number to 34 as their record is now a palindromic 83-38. Game 3: Another early deficit, another furious rally, and another blowout in the end of the Rangers as the Rays put up a 9-spot in the 5th inning to beat Texas 12-5 and sweep the series. Judson Fabian continued his scorching hot run of late by hitting a 2-run HR in the 1st, #27, but Tyler Glasnow allowed Texas to chip away with a couple of two-out runs in the top of the 5th to take a 3-2 lead with the third run coming on a Heston Kjerstad single. That lead was extremely short-lived, though, as the Rays went bonkers in the bottom of the frame. It all kicked off with an Alec Bohm single, his first hit since being called back up. Bohm then scored on a Texas error to tie it, and with Vidal Brujan on 2nd, Texas intentionally walked Wander Franco, another mistake as a Keibert Ruiz walk loaded the bases for Fabian, who ripped a 2-run double to give the Rays the lead. Hunter Bishop followed with a 2-run single, Keston Hiura had an RBI single and then Bohm cleared the bases with a 3-run HR, his 5th of the year and of course the 1st since his return, and 3-2 became 11-3. Brujan and Wander had consecutive doubles in the 8th for the final Rays run, while Texas got a couple off Deivy Florido in the 8th thanks to a Hiura error. Glasnow got the win to 16-3 in a 6 5 3 3 3 7 performance, and Florido just missed a 3-inning save in the 9th when he walked a couple and got into the red, so Aaron Ashby got Kjerstad on a fly ball to end the game. Baltimore lost, increasing the lead to 8 1/2 and reducing the magic # to 32. Team record: 84-38. Next up: 4 games at home vs Boston. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-29-2020 at 12:18 PM.

10-29-2020, 04:21 PM	#344
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	August 24-27, 2026: vs Boston (4) First, this: Game 1: Asa Lacy turned in what might have been his most dominant performance of the season and the Rays clubbed 3 homers in a 4-1 win over Boston. Lacy was perfect through the first 3 1/3, and outside of a stretch in that 4th inning where he gave up 3 hits, a walk and a run, he only allowed one other baserunner in a 7 4 1 1 1 7 outing. Lacy goes to 9-2, 3.22, numbers most teams would want from their ace and here he's the 5th starter. Vidal Brujan was the star on offense tonight, finishing a double shy of the cycle. He led off the game with HR #8, singled and stole second ahead of Wander's 30th HR of the year in the 3rd, with Hunter Bishop hitting #23 later in the inning to cap the scoring. Brujan now leads the AL in batting average at .346. Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched around a 2-out single to nail down save #24 as with a Baltimore win the magic # drops to 31. August 25: Traded minor-league 3B Tanner Witt to the Chicago Cubs for 1B Anthony Rizzo. Optioned OF Bramdon Perez to AAA Durham. Our 1B search continues with our second waiver trade of the month. Rizzo is a free agent at year's end, having signed a 1-year deal to return to the Cubs this year after spending 4 with the Angels. His numbers weren't overwhelming (235/341/411) but the OBP is better than Casas and Bohm and he's hit well over the last month. Even if he can go 260/350/450 it'll be an improvement. Bramdon will be back when the rosters expand in a week, as Casas needs to stay up as the only other guy who can play 3B and I still want to use Bohm against lefties. We'll see how the next month or so goes to figure out which one of those 4 gets left off the playoff roster. As recently as a year ago, I envisioned Witt as a possible 3B of the future, but he's regressed this year and he's been 6 years in the minors now meaning he's a MiLB free agent at year's end and I didn't see him having much of a chance of getting a spot on the 40-man. Also the AI started using him as a pitcher in the low minors, as sure a sign as any that the bat isn't coming around. And the deal was certainly a hit in the clubhouse (plus the fan interest increased "significantly" as if 3 straight WS trips left it such room): Game 2: Matt Manning had one of his best outings of the season and the offense made the 4 hits they managed tonight count in a 3-1 win. Manning was dealing, going 7.2 4 0 0 1 10 and was never really in trouble, only coming out after giving up a 2-run single in the 8th with lefties due up and his pitch count over 100. Jose Alvarado got him out of the 8th and stayed on to face those lefties, giving up a 2-out solo HR to the same-handed David Dahl (who has owned the Rays this year) to lose the team shutout but still got save #6. Offensively it was a struggle, but Spencer Torkelson hit HR #38 and became the first Ray with 100 RBI this season with a solo blast in the 2nd, Brandon Marsh walked, went to third on Vidal Brujan's single and scored on a Keibert Ruiz sac fly in the 6th, and then Keston Hiura launched HR #20, a solo shot in the 7th. Hiura became the 5th Ray with 20 HR or more this year, joining Tork, Wander Franco, Hunter Bishop and Judson Fabian. Manning is now 10-6, 4.28 but has 181 whiffs in 155.2 innings this year to temporarily take over the league lead in Ks (he's been in a 4-way fight with teammates Tyler Glasnow and Shane McClanahan and Baltimore's Bryar Johnson). And who said Dustin May was done helping the team? He helped the Nationals beat Baltimore 6-2 tonight to up the lead to 9 1/2 and lower the magic # to 29. May has been great for Washington, going 8-3, 3.64 for them as they fight for a wild card in the NL. Game 3: The bullpen coughed up its first game in a while, allowing Boston to tie in the 9th and win in the 10th 5-4. The Rays took a 4-3 lead into the 9th and Ben Bowden, having pitched the 8th, stayed on to face the first lefty batter and whiffed him. The Red Sox pinch-hit Raudy Read for lefty Didi Gregorius so Jasseel De La Cruz came in and Read greeted him with a HR just inside the LF foul pole to tie the game. And in the 10th, Jasseel gave up a leadoff single to Gabriel Arias and with one out David Dahl (who else? he had hit a 2-run HR in the first as well) singled to send Arias to 3rd. With De La Cruz at 30 pitches, Steven Casey came in to face Ryan Mountcastle and whiffed him, but walked Abraham Toro to load the bases and then walked Josh Naylor to force in the go-ahead run. The loss spoiled the Rays debut of Anthony Rizzo, who was 1-4 with a single and a run scored. The Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead off Mack Anglin in the first 3 innings, but like his last start Anglin settled down and finished with a fine 7 6 3 3 0 8 line. The Rays got a pair back quickly in the bottom of the 3rd on a 2-run Keibert Ruiz single, and Wander Franco's sac fly in the 5th tied it up. It looked like they'd win again when Hunter Bishop doubled home Judson Fabian in the bottom of the 8th but it was not to be. Baltimore beat Washington so no reduction of the magic # tonight. Game 4: Shane McClanahan was brilliant today and the offense did just enough for the Rays to win 4-0, but the win came at a price. Mac was dealing, going 7 5 0 0 2 7 to improve to 13-5, 3.85 and re-took the AL strikeout lead with 184 from Matt Manning and Bryar Johnson who were tied on 181. Aaron Ashby and Liam Hendriks finished off the team shutout with an inning apiece. After Anthony Rizzo singled in the 2nd, Triston Casas, playing 3B today, hit HR #7 into the RF stands to make it 2-0, and then in the 3rd Judson Fabian launched #28 with a man on to make it 4-0, and that was our scoring. But the Rays did suffer a key injury in top of the 3rd inning. Going all-out to make a diving catch, Hunter Bishop strained his hamstring and will be out 6 weeks, ending his regular season and costing him the ALDS as well. It was a breakout season for Bishop, going 309/373/638 with 23 HR and 69 RBI, impressive numbers considering he only played 90 games as he missed quite a bit of time early in the season as well. The sending down of Bramdon Perez the other day left me thin in the OF, and very thin when our 4th OF is Spencer Torkelson and he's in the lineup at DH. So the Trop crowd was treated to the sight of Keston Hiura making his MLB debut in LF. Fortunately he only had to catch a couple of easy fly balls and didn't face any tough plays. Going forward Tork will take over in LF and we'll have a rotating cast at DH including Perez who will come back up, Nick Gonzales, Alec Bohm, etc. Baltimore won so the magic # drops to 28. Team record: 87-39. Next up: 3 games in Houston, then we play 26 consecutive games against AL East teams including 2 series vs Baltimore (one home, one away) before we close with a 6-game road trip against the White Sox and Rangers. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-29-2020 at 08:43 PM.

10-30-2020, 06:36 AM	#345
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	August 28-30, 2026: at Houston (3) Game 1: Just go ahead and give Tyler Glasnow his 2nd Cy Young Award. He probably pretty much locked it up tonight with a 4-hit shutout of the Astros in Minute Maid Park, a tough place to pitch. Glasnow went 9 4 0 0 1 9 and finished with a flourish as he struck out the side in the 9th even as his pitch count hit 123. He's now 17-3, 2.47. The final was 5-0 Rays and Keibert Ruiz got him the only run he'd need in the 1st inning with HR #16 off Forrest Whitley. Triston Casas and Brandon Marsh had RBI singles in the 4th to make it 3-0, and Spencer Torkelson put the cherry on top with a 2-run HR (#39) in the 8th inning. Baltimore continues to win (they're now 80-48, the 2nd best record in baseball, here's hoping they lose the Wild Card game), so the magic # only drops one to 27. Game 2: The Rays took their 9th win in 10 games with an 11-5 hammering of Houston. They scored 4 in the 3rd and 4 in the 5th to put this one away, and there were plenty of offensive standouts. Triston Casas was 3-4 with a walk and 2 RBI, Wander Franco was 4-6 with 3 RBI and 2 SB, Keibert Ruiz drove in 3 with a couple of hits, Vidal Brujan was 2-5 with a walk, an RBI and a steal, and Brandon Marsh was 2-4 with a walk and 3 runs scored. Asa Lacy was the grateful beneficiary of all this run support, and he pitched decently going 7 7 4 4 1 5 with his main problem allowing a couple of homers as he went to 10-2 on the season. Deivy Florido went 1 1/3, gave up a HR in the 8th and loaded the bases with one out in the 9th, but Steven Casey got a whiff and a liner back at him to end the game. Baltimore went up 14-0 on the Yankees in the 2nd inning and held on for a 15-11 win so the magic # is now 26. Game 3: Trailing 8-2 after 7 innings and looking deader than disco, the Rays scored 8 times in the final two innings to pull off one of their most improbable wins of the year, 10-9 over Houston. Matt Manning got the start and wasn't very good, giving up HRs to Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez (you didn't think we'd get out of a 3-game series without Alvarez hitting one?) and went 4.2 7 4 4 2 6. Spencer Torkelson's 2nd HR of the game (giving him 41) cut it to 4-2 in the top of the 6th and it seemed at that point a comeback could be in the cards, but Aaron Ashby proceeded to give up a 3-run HR to fellow lefty Brice Turang and then Bregman's 2nd of the game right after that and it was 8-2 Houston. It was so bad that I brought in Nick Anderson (now downgraded to 50 stuff and 92-94 mph velocity, yikes!) to pitch the 7th which he somehow got through. Anthony Rizzo had his first big hit as a Ray, an RBI double, in the top of the 8th and Patrick Bailey doubled in two more to halve the lead to 8-5, but in the bottom of the frame Anderson put a couple of men on ahead of Yordan Alvarez, and Ben Bowden was brought in to pitch to him. Alvarez dumped a single to right, though and made it 9-5 so once again comeback hopes seemed futile. Wander led off the 9th with HR #31 to make it 9-6 and Houston brought on closer Junior Fernandez. But Fernandez didn't have it, walking Judson Fabian, and after striking out Tork gave up Bramdon Perez's 3rd hit of the day before Rizzo came through again with an RBI double to score Fabian and make it 9-7. So with two men on up stepped Triston Casas, 0-4 with 3 Ks on the day, and he blasted a Fernandez pitch into the RF stands (#8) to complete the comeback. With lefties due up, Jose Alvarado got the call and retired Houston 1-2-3 to grab save #7 while Bowden picked up win #4. Baltimore lost for a change so the magic # is now 24. Random notes: Torkelson becomes the first Ray to have a 40-HR season since Austin Meadows (45) and Hunter Renfroe (44) both did it in 2021. Casas has 8 RBI in his last 4 games. Team record: 90-39. Up next: 3 games at Fenway. Also, a look at the standings as we approach the final month, the wildcard version: And here's the AL strikeout leaderboard, guess the leader will be whoever started last for the Rays: Last edited by Art Deco; 10-30-2020 at 12:31 PM.

10-30-2020, 11:40 AM	#346
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	Black Monday August 31: Designated Ps Nick Anderson and Deivy Florido for assignment; activated P Mitchell White from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham; purchased the contract of P Austin Vernon from AAA Durham; activated P Christian Little from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham and placed him on the 15-day IL. Time to get the playoff-eligible roster in order, and the big news here is the DFAing of Nick Anderson. It's a sad moment, considering how much of a fixture he's been with the team since 2019 and how dominating he was up until this year. For 6 seasons he & Jose Alvarado were the best righty/lefty setup tandem in baseball and there were a kind of security blanket for me as manager. But as has been chronicled, Anderson's stuff has dropped precipitously, from his perennial 80 to a pedestrian 50 and he's lost about 5 miles off his fastball at age 36. I could no longer trust him in high-leverage situations and he doesn't offer enough length to use in long relief/mop-up duty. That role, which I was also using Florido in the past couple of weeks, will now go to Mitchell White, who got his 2 rehab starts in and should be ready. Also I had to get Christian Little back on the 40-man so he's playoff eligible, where I plan to use him as a multi-inning weapon assuming he's ready to come back in 3 weeks and shows he can be effective. The big news here, though, is the promotion of Austin Vernon. Vernon was acquired as a throw-in in the Brandon Marsh deal with the Cubs back in 2022. He has 70-75 stuff and has whiffed 137 in 92 innings as a setup man over the last two years at Durham. Control is a little bit of an issue as he has a BB/9 a little over 4, but he's someone to bring in when you need a strikeout. The other aspect of it was that he was minor-league free-agent eligible in the offseason and I didn't want to lose him with that arm. He probably doesn't make the playoff roster as both Little and Evan Godwin are due back but with the division pretty much wrapped up I'd like to get a good MLB look at him in September. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-30-2020 at 11:41 AM.

10-30-2020, 12:26 PM	#347
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	August 31-September 2, 2026: at Boston (3) Game 1: It's just something about playing in AL East parks that's given the Rays trouble this year, and today was a brutal example of such struggles as the Red Sox crushed the Rays 15-5, and it wasn't even that close as the Rays scored 4 in the 9th. Mack Anglin had his troubles, and I tried to get him through one more batter and that backfired spectacularly as Didi Gregorius hit a grand slam off him in the 5th to make it 8-1 and Anglin left with a 4.1 7 8 7 3 4 line, his first bad start in a long time. And welcome to the show, Austin Vernon. He got the last 2 outs in the 5th but had all kinds of trouble in the 6th and he too was victimized by Gregorius, who blasted a 3-run HR off him as Vernon allowed 6 runs in 1 inning of pitching. Ben Bowden stopped the bleeding with 1 2/3 scoreless, and rather than use anyone else I went with Triston Casas for the 3rd time this year to pitch and once again he acquitted himself well, allowing only an unearned run in his inning thanks to Wander's 2nd error of the game. Early on Judson Fabian hit HR #29 in the second to tie the game at 1, and in the 9th Keston Hiura and Alec Bohm each hit 2-run doubles. In between those Rays runs old friend Anthony Banda dominated them going 6.2 3 0 0 1 5 as a follower. Still despite the thorough beating they still shaved 1 off the magic number as Baltimore's loss to Toronto dropped it to 23. Random notes: Fabian's HR made him the 2nd Ray after Spencer Torkelson to reach the 100 RBI mark this season. Casas has now allowed only 1 earned run in 3 innings, maybe we should make him a 2-way guy. Second month in a row for this guy: Also down on the farm: As mentioned before, Diaz is firmly in the mix for a job with the big club next season, especially if we make Tork the full-time 1B next year. September 1: Recalled P Christian Chamberlain from AAA Durham. I will probably call up Hayden Johns in a couple of days when he's rested from the start he made 3 days ago as the 2nd roster expansion player. For now, Chamberlain is up, giving us another lefty in the pen. He continued to pitch well at Durham after he was sent down from his cameo with us earlier this season. Game 2: The Rays doubled up the Red Sox today, both literally (they won 8-4) and figuratively (they hit 7 doubles). Shane McClanahan had a solid start today going 6 6 3 2 2 8 to go to 13-5, 3.82 and once again retook the AL strikeout lead, today from Bryar Johnson. The Rays scored twice in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings to open up a healthy lead, with Brandon Marsh and Wander Franco singling in runs in the 3rd, Anthony Rizzo hitting the first of his 2 doubles to score one in the 4th followed by another coming home on a Boston error, and Judson Fabian and Spencer Torkelson RBI doubles accounting for the runs in the 5th. Wander tripled to lead off the 7th and scored on a Keibert Ruiz sac fly, and Nick Gonzales led off the 9th with his 8th HR of the year for the other runs. Things got a little dicey in the 7th when McClanahan left after putting the leadoff man on and Aaron Ashby ran into some trouble including that guy again - David Dahl - doubling in a run off him and cutting the lead to 7-4. Liam Hendriks calmed things down with 2 outs on 4 pitches and pitched through the 8th, and Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 2K 9th to end it. Baltimore dropped another one to Toronto so the magic # is down to 21. Game 3: The bats took the day off in a 4-1 loss to Boston, denying Tyler Glasnow a shot at win #18. Glasnow pitched well, except when Ryan Mountcastle came to the plate. The Boston 1B homered off him in the 2nd and delivered an RBI single in the 6th, and also homered again in the 7th off Aaron Ashby, who has been not great recently. When he wasn't facing Mountcastle, Glasnow was dealing, going 6 5 3 3 3 12 to once again become the temporary AL strikeout leader with 195. Although David Dahl went 0-4 today, he still hurt the Rays by gunning down Brandon Marsh at the plate in the 6th and keeping the Rays from tying the game at 1. They did finally break through in the 7th on a Bramdon Perez RBI single, and even at 4-1 had a golden chance to come back in the 9th when Dillon Maples loaded the bases with a couple of walks and nobody out. But Keston Hiura whiffed, and Perez then hit into a double play to end the game. Steven Casey pitched a 1-2-3 7th after relieving Glasnow, then Christian Chamberlain came on for the 8th and after getting one out had to leave with a strained back, reminiscent of his getting injured in his prior Rays appearance. Ashby had to come in and gave up the 2nd homer to Mountcastle. Baltimore won so no reduction of the magic #. Team record: 91-41. Next up: An off-day, then 3 at home this weekend against Toronto. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-30-2020 at 07:32 PM.

10-31-2020, 09:20 AM	#348
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 4-6, 2026: vs Toronto (3) September 4: Recalled P Hayden Johns from AAA Durham. Assigned Ps Nick Anderson and Deivy Florido to AAA Durham. As predicted, Johns was called up. Acquired from Texas in the Heston Kjerstad deal, Johns had a 4/33 BB/K ratio in 29 innings with Durham and had a 10 6 1 1 5 16 line in 8 outings with the Rangers earlier this year. Ultimately he's a starter though. Anderson and Florido cleared waivers and both accepted the assignments so they should be helping the first-place Bulls in the IL playoffs. Game 1: The offense could only manage 4 hits, and Asa Lacy ran out of gas in the middle innings as the Jays beat the Rays 8-4. Down 1-0 going into the 5th, Lacy was touched for a 2-run HR by Adrian Hernandez and then a solo blast by Vlad Jr. back-to-back. He got through the inning and the leadoff man in the 6th reached on an error and he left with two on and 0 out, going 5 9 6 5 2 5. Hayden Johns came in and after getting a whiff, allowed a double to score the 2 Lacy runners and another double for one of his own but he stayed in and got through the next two innings going 3 2 1 1 0 4. Mitchell White gave up a homer in the 9th in his lone inning. Meanwhile the offense had 1 hit into the 7th, a Keibert Ruiz RBI double, but scored 2 in the 5th without a hit as Griffin Canning walked 4 straight with Brandon Marsh forcing in the run and Wander had a sac fly. Triston Casas hit #9 in the 7th and Tork had an RBI groundout in the 8th but it wasn't their night. The Yankees beat Baltimore behind a 3-HR game from Gleyber Torres, so the magic # drops to 20. Game 2: The Rays exceeded their hit total of 4 last night in a 5-run first inning as they routed the Blue Jays 8-1. Vidal Brujan led off with a single, Wander Franco doubled him to 3rd, Brujan scored on a wild pitch, Judson Fabian singled in Franco, and Keston Hiura hit HR #22 with two on and it was 5-0. In the 6th, Anthony Rizzo hit his first Rays homer, and Hiura went back-to-back with him for his 2nd of the game (#23), and Rizzo singled in a run in the 7th. Matt Manning (11-6) got the start and was effective but wild, going 6 4 1 1 5 7, Ben Bowden had a 1-2-3 inning and Austin Vernon bounced back from his terrible debut in Boston to throw 2 innings with only 1 hit allowed, 0 walks and 3 whiffs, including Vlad Jr on a nasty pitch. Baltimore pulled out a 9th inning win so the magic # is now 19. Game 3: Shane McClanahan was on his game today, and the offense did just enough in a 4-3 win. Mac was dealing, and except for a 500+ ft HR from Vlad Jr (#52 for him) shut down the Jays to the tune of 7 4 1 1 1 8. McClanahan is now 15-5, 3.72 and is the first AL pitcher to 200 strikeouts. The bats struck early against one-time nemesis Jordan Romano, back with the team he hurt the Rays with. Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run and Bramdon Perez had an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, and Alec Bohm went deep for #6 in the 2nd to make it 3-0. Bohm would later double and triple but missed his chance for the cycle by striking out in the 8th. After Vlad's HR got Toronto within 3-1, nothing much happened until the 8th when Liam Hendriks took over and got a double play to finish that inning and in the bottom of the frame Wander Franco had a sac fly for an insurance run. That run proved key when Jasseel De La Cruz, pitching for the first time in 11 days, looked the rust and gave up a couple of runs before whiffing Ryan Noda with the tying run on 2nd to end the game and still get save #25. The Orioles lost to the Yankees so the magic # drops to 17. Team record: 93-42. Next up: 3 games at home vs those Orioles, so we won't have to scoreboard-watch. And how about the AL pitching leaderboard?: Might have to skip a Mac start so Glasnow can win the pitching triple crown. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-31-2020 at 12:12 PM.

10-31-2020, 02:22 PM	#349
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 7-9, 2026: vs Baltimore (3) Game 1: The two best teams in baseball met at the Trop on Labor Day, and the Orioles took a 5-3 decision. Rays pitching was overpowering tonight with 17 total strikeouts, but the Orioles made hard contact when they did hit the ball and did enough to win. The best example of this was starter Mack Anglin, who struck out the side in the first and second but gave up a run on 4 hits in those 2 innings and ended up with a schizophrenic 5 7 4 4 2 10 line (he also struck out the side in the 5th). One of those four runs came via an Austin Meadows homer, of course. Hayden Johns came on in relief of Anglin in the 6th and whiffed 5 in 2 perfect innings, continuing his impressive run, Steven Casey had a scoreless inning, and Mitchell White was touched for a run but the runner reached on Keibert Ruiz's passed ball on a strikeout. The offense was fairly quiet, although Ruiz hit #17 in the first to give the Rays a brief lead, and we were treated to the sight of an Anthony Rizzo triple and he scored on a Keston Hiura RBI groundout. A Judson Fabian single drove in their other run. Baltimore's bullpen shut them down, though, going a combined 4 2 0 0 0 6 down the stretch. So obviously no reduction of the magic #, which stays at 17. Game 2: Tyler Glasnow and 2 relievers combined on a 4-hit shutout as the Rays beat Baltimore 4-0, evening up the series and dropping their magic # for clinching the division to 15. AL Cy Young-elect Glasnow went to 18-4, 2.45 (5.8 WAR) on a masterful 7 4 0 0 2 11 performance as he continues to make his case in a contract year. Jose Alvarado pitched 1 1/3 and Liam Hendriks got the final two outs to complete the team whitewash. The offense wasn't exactly hitting the cover off the ball as they only managed 5 hits for the night, but a pair of Orioles errors helped them score 3 times in 2nd. Keston Hiura's RBI grounder scored Anthony Rizzo, who had doubled again (6 in 46 AB), and Hiura reached on an error. Then Druw Jones dropped Triston Casas's sac fly for a run and Vidal Brujan's infield hit scored the third run. In the 4th Hiura doubled and scored on Brandon Marsh's RBI single. Game 3: The Rays moved closer to their fifth straight division title and sixth in seven years with a 5-3 win over Baltimore, reducing the magic # to 13. Outside of a couple of HRs allowed Asa Lacy was brilliant, going 7 4 3 3 1 6 on only 80 pitches and victimized by a 2-run Jo Adell HR and a solo shot by Adley Rutschman. The Rays grabbed 3 first-inning runs off Brenan Hanifee, making his MLB debut and apparently a bit nervous as he walked 4 in his 3 2/3. Vidal Brujan welcomed him to the show with a double, Nick Gonzales singled him to 3rd and Anthony Rizzo singled in Brujan. Apparently the sight of seeing his pitches get hit led Hanifee to nibble and he walked Spencer Torkelson to load the bases and then Bramdon Perez to force in run #2. Keston Hiura's sac fly added the 3rd run, and they tacked on runs in the 4th and 6th courtesy of Gonzales on a groundout and RBI single. Keibert Ruiz, Wander Franco, Judson Fabian and Triston Casas all got days off today as the bench was emptied, but the reserves came through as seen here, especially Gonzales and Perez. Patrick Bailey was 1-3 with a walk but was erased from the bases twice by Austin Hays, once at home trying the score and the other time trying to stretch a single into a double. Ben Bowden pitched a scoreless 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz whiffed Austins Hays and Riley and got a Rio Ruiz groundball to 1st to end the game and grab save #26. Lacy is now 11-3, 3.58 as he can credibly stake his claim to the title of best 5th starter in the league. Random notes: Rizzo was 3-4 with an RBI today and is 320/404/540 in 50 AB with the Rays, so maybe the third time is the charm in acquiring a veteran 1B after the Renato Nunez and Lewin Diaz flops. Perez was also on 3 times in 4 trips today with a pair of walks and continues to be a supersub with a 320/412/529 slash line in 153 AB. Team record: 95-43. Next up: a 10-game AL East road trip (ugh) starts with 4 at Yankee Stadium. Last edited by Art Deco; 10-31-2020 at 04:13 PM.

10-31-2020, 07:40 PM	#350
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 10-13, 2026: at NY Yankees (4) Game 1: Keibert Ruiz had himself a night, and so did his teammates as they pummeled the Yankees 14-2. The Rays' catcher had his first career 5-hit night, going 5-for-5 with a walk, scoring 4 times and driving in 3. His night started with a solo HR in the 1st inning, his 18th, he added an RBI single in a 6-run 4th that broke the game open, and finished with an RBI double in the 9th. Judson Fabian hit HR #30, a 3-run shot, Anthony Rizzo had a 2-run double in that 4th inning and drove in 3, as did Keston Hiura. The beneficiary of all this run support was Matt Manning, who did allow the Yankees to briefly tie in the first on a Joe Allen homer, but gave up nothing after that, finishing 7 3 1 1 2 9 and is now 12-6, 4.15 with 203 strikeouts. Christian Chamberlain made his first appearance in 3 with the Rays without leaving hurt, pitching a scoreless 8th but allowing a hit to start the 9th which Austin Vernon allowed to score. Baltimore was off so the magic # is now 12. Durham Playoff Update: Another year, another great season from Durham, another playoff series with Gwinnett. The Bulls were about as good as the Rays this year, going 94-46, which earned them a matchup with wildcard team Gwinnett, the Braves' affiliate. Tonight they faced the IL's top pitcher, Trey Riley, and beat him and the Stripers 6-3 to take Game 1 of their first round best-of-5. Jimmy Lewis got the start, and aside from a bad 4th inning in which he allowed 3 runs, pitched great going 7 3 3 3 1 10. Nick Anderson got the hold with a scoreless 8th and Nick Frasso picked up the save. The big hit in the game was a 2-run HR from Chris Sharp that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead in the 5th. Sharp was a kind of throw-in in the Evan Godwin deal last year with the Cubs, but he has 70 current/80 potential contact and 80 gap power to go with 55 HR power. He seems like a Mark Grace-type hitter and he went 309/361/500 with the Bulls this season, and potentially could be a solution to our 1B problems. Game 2: Another day, another rout of the Yankees. The final was 10-6, but that was deceiving because Andrew Knizner hit a 3-run HR off Steven Casey with two out in the 9th. Wander Franco had a monster day, going 4-5 with a HR (#32) and 3 RBI and he joined Spencer Torkelson and Judson Fabian (who ironically each went 0-5 tonight) in the 100-RBI club. Keibert Ruiz continued his hot hitting as well, going 2-3 with 2 RBI on the heels of his 5-5 yesterday, and Brandon Marsh hit HR #12, a 2-run shot, to go with a bases-loaded walk for a 3-RBI night. Shane McClanahan was battling throughout his 6 innings, not even getting his first whiff until the 5th but gutted out a 6 8 3 3 3 3 performance for win #16, keeping his outside shot at 20 wins alive. Mitchell White came in with the idea of the 3-inning save, but had to throw a lot of pitches getting through the 7th and 8th and then he walked the first two in the 9th before Casey came on. Casey struck out Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge but gave up the HR to Knizner before getting Wilmer Flores to ground out to end the game. Baltimore won again so the magic # drops to 11. Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls have taken a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-5 series thanks to a 4-1 win over Gwinnett. There will certainly be wailing and gnashing of teeth when Tyler Glasnow goes to free agency this winter but the reason we can let him is the pitching pipeline we have. Mack Anglin and Christian Little have already demonstrated it, and next up is Jack Leiter (Al's son), ranked the #47 prospect in baseball by BNN. Tonight he was brilliant, going 7 5 1 1 1 9 and was par for the course with his 10-3, 3.41 season with a 25/128 BB/K ratio in 129 innings. The star on offense tonight was Christian Knapczyk, 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBI. We'll head to Gwinnett with a chance to sweep in two days' time. Game 3: The Rays blew an early 6-3 lead, but still came out on top with an 8-6 win to make it 3 straight at the Stadium. 2-run HRs from Wander Franco (#32) and Judson Fabian (#31) helped stake them to the lead, but Mack Anglin struggled again today although he did leave after 5 up 6-4. He went 5 8 4 4 2 6 as he saw his ERA rise above 4 for the first time in a long time. Speaking of struggling, Aaron Ashby came on in the 6th and relinquished the lead by giving up another homer to a lefty, this time a 2-run shot from Chase Davis. The homer was Davis's 40th of the season, making him maybe the best Rule 5 pickup since George Bell as the Yankees nabbed him from the Mets system this winter. Ashby meanwhile has allowed 8 runs in 3 1/3 innings over his last 5 appearances, and isn't going to be trusted in a high-leverage situation for the foreseeable future. Hayden Johns relieved Ashby in the 6th and then made a mess in the 7th, loading the bases but Ben Bowden got him out of it, and then in the top of the 8th the Rays struck back. Keston Hiura led off with HR #23 to make it 7-6 and a few batters later Vidal Brujan singled in a run. Liam Hendriks had a clean 8th and then Jasseel De La Cruz got save #27 with a 1-2-3 effort. Bowden picked up his 5th win. And although Keibert Ruiz got the afternoon game off after a night game, Patrick Bailey picked right up where Keibert left off with a 3-3 day with a walk and an RBI. The magic # is now 10 as Baltimore won. Game 4: The Rays completed a 4-game sweep in a place that's been tough on them over the years thanks to an 8-5 win. It looked like a pitchers' duel on paper with Tyler Glasnow facing Gerrit Cole, but the Rays got to Cole for 5 runs in 3 2/3 innings with Wander Franco homering for the third straight game. Wander's 34th in the 1st gave the Rays a quick lead, and he added sac flies off Cole in the 3rd and 4th to give him 105 RBI on the season. The big blow in the game was another Keston Hiura HR, #24, a 3-run shot in the 5th that turned a 5-3 game into an 8-3 one. Glasnow had his issues with the bandbox that is Yankee Stadium, allowing 3 solo HRs but limited the damage to that in a 6.2 7 3 3 2 7 performance that earned him his 19th win of the season as he looks to win 20 for the second straight year. Ben Bowden got a whiff of Joe Allen to get Glasnow out of the 7th but Steven Casey ran into some trouble in the 8th which wasn't helped by Spencer Torkelson dropping a fly ball. Jose Alvarado came in with the bases loaded and 2 out and gave up a hit to score one and a wild pitch to score another (both unearned), but got the final out and stayed on for a 1-2-3 9th and picked up his 8th save. The magic # only drops to 9 because Baltimore keeps winning, and if they go 13-7 the rest of the way we'll have 2 100-win teams in the same division for the first time since 2018. Team record: 99-43. Next up: 3 games in Toronto. Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls couldn't quite pull off the sweep as their 9th inning rally fell just short in a 4-3 loss. They had a run in, and loaded the bases with two out but Chris Sharp struck out. Gwinnett scored 3 times in the 1st off Emerson Hancock on an RBI double from ringer Jose Ramirez (on a rehab assignment) and a 2-run HR from former Rays 1st-round draft pick Garrett Whitley. Ramirez added a sac fly for the 4th Stripers run. Jhon Diaz homered for Durham, and speaking of ringers Evan Godwin pitched a scoreless inning on his own rehab assignment, allowing only a hit and striking out 1 on 10 pitches. Game 4 will be tomorrow in Gwinnett as the Bulls get their second chance to advance. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-01-2020 at 12:09 PM.

11-01-2020, 01:50 PM	#351
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 14-16, 2026: at Toronto (3) Game 1: Asa Lacy and the Rays were pounded by the Jays 11-3 today as their first bid for win #100 was denied. Lacy lived dangerously in the first 2 innings but got out of them but it wasn't to be the case in the 3rd when Toronto put 7 on the board against him and Austin Vernon. Lacy yielded a 3-run HR to Gabriel Moreno and then after giving up another run and putting two more on, Vernon came in and let Ryan McKenna take him deep as Lacy ended an ugly 2.2 9 6 6 1 3. Vernon proceeded to give up 2 more solo HRs in his 2.1 innings (he did whiff 4), and Hayden Johns gave up a 2-run HR to Jorge Polanco over his 3 innings. The Rays runs came on RBI doubles from Judson Fabian and Alec Bohm, and a Wander Franco RBI single. Baltimore won in Boston so the magic # remains 9. Durham Playoff Update: Well we're headed to a Game 5 as Gwinnett beat Durham 4-3 in 12 innings on a Garrett Whitley homer off Tommy Mace with 2 out in the 12th. The Bulls were done in by Gwinnett's Christian Rodriguez, who retired all 15 batters he faced over the final 5 innings with 6 whiffs. Noah Cardenas had given Durham a 3-2 lead with a 2-run HR in the 5th, but Gwinnett tied it in the 6th off Madison Bumgarner and on to extras we went. Evan Godwin pitched another scoreless inning as he's just about ready to be activated. Jimmy Lewis will go in two nights' time as the Bulls try to avoid blowing a 2-0 series lead. Game 2: It was a strange game but the Rays won 7-6 in 10 innings with all 7 of their runs scoring on 6(!) HRs. Keibert Ruiz's 2-run shot (#19) in the 10th proved to be the winner, the first of their HRs that wasn't a solo shot. That bested a Victor Reyes HR off Jasseel De La Cruz in the bottom of the 10th. De La Cruz made it very interesting on the way to save #28 by giving up a hit with one out and Vlad Jr coming to the plate, but Jasseel got him to ground into a 4-6-3 DP to end the game. Earlier, the Rays hit 5 solo shots off the notoriously homer-prone Griffin Canning who started off by no-hitting them through the first 3 innings. But once Wander hit #35 to kick things off, they just kept going. And in the 5th, they went back-to-back-to-back with Triston Casas (#10, into the upper deck), Brandon Marsh (#13) and Nick Gonzales (#9). This gave the Rays a 4-2 lead but Matt Manning was struggling all night, especially with his control, and was charged with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning and ended up 4.1 5 4 4 5 4. Christian Chamberlain came in and gave up the double that scored the last run off Manning, but then Mitchell White took over in the 6th with 2 1/3 shutout innings featuring 5 whiffs and Gonzales hit his 2nd of the game (#10) in the 7th to put them up 5-4. Liam Hendriks pitched the 8th and stayed in to face the leadoff man in the 9th but gave up a hit, and Jose Alvarado allowed the runner to come around and score to send us to extras. Nevertheless Alvarado picked up win #5 when they won it in the 10th. The win was the team's 100th of the season, marking the 4th time in the last 5 years they've reached that total. Baltimore lost so the magic number drops to 7. Random notes: Alvarado is now 5-7, and his 7 losses actually lead the team, one ahead of Manning's 6, a pretty remarkable stat that we're in mid-September and no starter has more than 6 losses. With Casas and Gonzales hitting double digits, the Rays now 10 players with at least 10 HRs, and could be joined by Vidal Brujan and Bramdon Perez with 8 each. September 16: Activated P Evan Godwin from his rehab assignment AAA Durham, optioned P Christian Chamberlain to AAA Durham. Game 3: Shane McClanahan was brilliant in a tough place to pitch as the Rays ended up taking 2 out of 3 in this series with a 4-1 win. Mac went 7 4 1 1 1 8 but it didn't look like he'd end up with a line like that in the first few innings. He gave up a double and a walk in the first inning for the lone Jays run, and in the 3rd he allowed a double and a single to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with nobody out but got a Vlad Jr grounder at a drawn-in infield and a couple of whiffs to get out of it and was never troubled the rest of the way. The win moves him to 17-5, 3.65 with 211 Ks in 187 innings and keeps his hopes of winning 20 alive. The offense wasn't overpowering today but did enough. They got some help from Jays pitcher Lyon Richardson in the 2nd when he balked runners to 2nd and 3rd, then threw a wild pitch which was followed by a Brandon Marsh RBI double. And then Triston Casas continued to torment the Jays with his 6th HR against them (out of 11 total) leading off the 7th, immediately followed by Patrick Bailey's 8th shot of the year. Steven Casey pitched a perfect 8th, and with lefties due up Ben Bowden was given a save chance but had to leave after striking out the first man he faced with bicep tendinitis which will keep him out 1-2 weeks so look for an IL stint. Speaking of injured pitchers, Evan Godwin replaced him and got the final two outs to end the game (but didn't qualify for a save since the lead was 3 and nobody was on base). Baltimore lost in 16 innings at Boston, tiring their pen ahead of our game with them tomorrow and reducing the magic # to 5. If the Rays can take 3 of the 4 games in Charm City they'll clinch the division there. Team record: 101-44. Next up: As I just mentioned, 4 games in Baltimore. Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls weren't about to let Gwinnett complete the 0-2 comeback as they beat the Stripers in the decisive 5th game of their first round International League playoff series 6-2. As in Game 1, they got to Gwinnett ace Trey Riley early, scoring three times in the first 2 innings. It was a team effort on offense with six different players driving in a run. Noah Cardenas was 3-4 with an RBI, Christian Knapczyk was 1-2 with two walks, an RBI and a steal, and catcher Juan Mendez was 2-3 with an RBI to lead the way. Jimmy Lewis got the start and was dealing, going 4.1 4 1 1 1 8 before having to leave with a sore ankle. Tommy Mace took over and got the win despite allowing a run in his 1 2/3 innings, Cole Patten had 2 scoreless, and Nick Anderson closed it out with three groundballs in the 9th. The Bulls will take on Indianapolis in the championship round as they swept Lehigh Valley in 3. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-01-2020 at 08:13 PM.

11-01-2020, 08:42 PM	#352
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 17-20, 2026: at Baltimore (4) September 17: Placed P Ben Bowden on the 15-day IL with biceps tendinitis, recalled P Luke Little from AAA Durham. Decided to go with Little instead of bringing back Chamberlain as Little had pitched much better in the 2nd half of the season at Durham and deserved a callup. Game 1: Since tonight was kind of a big deal, I'll post the game story from the box: The cycle was the second of Wander's career after getting one early in his rookie season in 2021. The Rays can smell the division title as they throttled the Orioles 18-3. Aside from Wander, here were the other offensive stars tonight: Triston Casas was 3-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI, giving him 13 HRs on the year; Judson Fabian was 3-6 with a HR (#32), double and 3 RBI; and Keibert Ruiz was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Spencer Torkelson, in a deep slump, managed to hit #42 for his only hit in 5 trips tonight. All this run support allowed Mack Anglin to get the win as he had his best start for a while going 6 4 2 2 4 7 and improved to 11-4. Luke Little pitched a scoreless inning whiffing a pair, and Austin Vernon threw the final 2, allowing a run and striking out a pair. The win reduces the magic # to 3. Game 2: The division coronation will be delayed at least an extra night as the Orioles bounced back from last night's beating and turned the tables in a 6-1 win. It was quite the pitching matchup as Tyler Glasnow faced Bryar Johnson but it was the Baltimore hurler who was the better pitcher tonight. Glasnow gave up a 2-run HR to old friend Austin Meadows in the 1st, and then another 2-run shot to Druw Jones in the 3rd and a couple more runs in the 5th to finish with a rough 5 9 6 5 1 8 line as he was denied in his first bid this year to win #20. Johnson meanwhile struggled through the first few innings as the Rays put multiple baserunners on each time but couldn't get the hit they needed and he settled down from there, holding them to 7 3 0 0 4 8. Keibert Ruiz kept the Rays from being shut out with HR #20 in the 8th off Ruben Galindo but they only managed 4 hits on the night after scoring 18 runs the night before. Luke Little pitched another scoreless inning and Hayden Johns pitched a pair, getting out of a bases loaded jam with a rare 4-2-3 double play in the 8th. The magic # remains 3 and the Rays could still clinch this weekend but will now need to win both games to do so. Durham Playoff Update: The Bulls dropped the opener of the IL Championship Series 5-3 to Indianapolis in a bizarre game. Jack Leiter got the start and was dealing, shutting out Indy through 4 with 7 whiffs. He gave up a 2-run HR in the 5th and then hit the next batter, triggering a brawl which led to his ejection. Deivy Florido came in and was terrible, allowing the hit batter to score along with 2 runs of his own and they were down 5-0. The Bulls battled back on a Nick Loftin HR and some fine hitting from Christian Knapczyk (2-5 with 2 steals) and Julio Cedillo (3-3 with a walk, steal and RBI) but it wasn't enough in the end. They'll need a Game 2 win to avoid falling into a serious hole. Game 3: What a insane game. I'm posting this just to show the win probability chart: So here's how it went in a nutshell: Spencer Torkelson hit a 3-run HR (#43) in the first, but Asa Lacy gave it right back and then some, giving up HRs to Austin Hays in consecutive innings and a 2-run HR to Austin Meadows as he went 1.2 7 6 5 2 2. Mitchell White relieved him and wasn't much better, allowing back-to-back HRs to Druw Jones and Jo Adell and it was 8-3 Orioles. The Rays rallied to get back within 8-6 but White gave up 2 more runs and it was 10-6. And it stayed there for awhile. Aaron Ashby had 2 strong scoreless innings for a change and 2-run HRs from Judson Fabian (#33) and the red-hot Tristan Casas (#14, his fifth in 5 games) tied the game at 10 in the 7th. Steven Casey struck out the side in a perfect bottom 7, and Wander Franco went deep (#37) to give them an 11-10 lead going into the bottom of the 8th. But Jose Alvarado crapped the bed, giving up 4 straight hits leading to a run and leaving with the bases loaded and nobody out. Enter Liam Hendriks, who struck out Austin Riley and got Jones to hit into the second 4-2-3 double play they've pulled off this week, keeping the game tied. And in the 9th, they mounted a 4-run, 2-out rally as Keston Hiura hit #25 to break the tie and then after hits from Casas and Brandon Marsh, Vidal Brujan (who ended with a 4-hit, 4-RBI day) blasted #9 to make it 15-11. Hendriks stayed on and got a 1-2-3 9th and a well-deserved 5th win to reduce the Rays' magic #1, meaning they clinch the division tomorrow with a win. MLB Note: San Francisco's Paul Campbell pitched a no-hitter against St. Louis, walking 5 and whiffing 10 and going 143 pitches to do so. Campbell was once a Rays farmhand, lost to Washington in the Rule 5 draft back in the 2020-21 offseason. He's pitched decently for the Nats and Giants over the years, nothing spectacular - except for tonight. Durham Playoff Update: Things look bleak for the Bulls after Indianapolis trounced them 9-2 tonight to go up 2-0 in their best-of-5 Championship Series. The game was tied at 1 going into the 6th before Indy erupted for 5 runs off Emerson Hancock and Tommy Mace, and the Bulls squandered several scoring opportunities in the early innings which doomed them. They'll have to win in Indianapolis in two days' time or their season is over. Game 4: The ball was flying out of Camden Yards as usual, and Rays pitching allowed 8(!) homers in a 14-5 shellacking today. Matt Manning had the bad combo of issuing walks and giving up homers, with 3 of the former and 4 of the latter on his way to a horrid 5.1 7 7 7 3 6 line, Austin Vernon continued to show he's not ready for prime time by allowing 3 more homers in 1 inning of work for 4 runs, and Hayden Johns gave up a 3-run shot in his 1 2/3 innings. The Rays hit 3 longballs of their own: Spencer Torkelson (#44), Wander Franco (#38) and Judson Fabian (#34). If the Orioles win their wild card game it's going to be a wild ALDS with them, especially Games 3 and 4. For now the division championship celebration is put on hold for a day or two. Team record: 103-46. Next up: An off-day (on which they can still clinch if Baltimore loses to Boston), then mercifully back home for 3 games vs the Yankees. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-02-2020 at 01:02 PM.

11-02-2020, 03:59 PM	#353
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 21: A busy off-day. Lots to report on this off-day, including the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays are the 2026 AL East Champions! They clinched the division on an off-day at home as the Orioles fell 8-5 to Boston. That makes 5 straight division titles and 6 in 7 years. Here are the MLB wild card standings since all the division races seem well in hand: The Orioles have clinched a wild card and will host the Wild Card Game, but who's coming to Baltimore is anyone's guess with 4 teams within one game of the second wild card. Texas has been much better since we sent them Heston Kjerstad and they also picked up Danny Santana from the Blue Jays. The Rays travel to Chicago and Texas next week to end the season so they could have a say in who makes it. The wildcard race is wild as well in the NL, with Washington holding a slight advantage and 3 other teams within a game for the second wild card. September 21: Sent P Christian Little (herniated disc) to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment. Here we go again with Little, who will start the do-or-die Game 3 for the Bulls tonight in Indianapolis. This in from the league office: Durham Playoff Update: Good news and bad news from Indianapolis. The good news is that the Bulls won 7-0 to stay alive and force a Game 4 of the International League Championship Series. The bad news: Christian Little started and had to leave after striking out the first batter with a recurrence of his herniated disc, and will miss another 1-2 weeks. It's looking dicey now for his playoff prospects. Relieving Little was our top pitching prospect and no it wasn't Jack Leiter. Andy Aparicio is ranked the #2 prospect overall in baseball by BNN and I don't know how much I've talked about him here but he spent this season at AA Montgomery, mostly in the bullpen although he made a few starts late in the season. Tonight he took over in the 1st after the original plan was to take over around the 4th or 5th, and he was brilliant going 5 1 0 0 1 2, leaving after he allowed the first Indy hit of the game in the 6th inning. He has a shot of making next year's team but will probably start at Durham. Jhon Diaz was 2-4 with an RBI and Juan Mendez was 2-5 with 3 RBI as Little, Aparicio, Cole Patten, Nick Frasso (who got the final out in the 8th when it was 4-0 and two men were on) and Wesley Sweatt combined for the shutout. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-02-2020 at 04:16 PM.

11-02-2020, 04:42 PM	#354
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 22-24, 2026: vs NY Yankees (3) Game 1: The Rays used a 5-run 8th inning to beat the Yankees 10-5 today, but there was a little disappointment sprinkled in as Shane McClanahan has likely missed out on a shot at winning 20 games. Coming in 17-5, Mac was a mixed bag today, giving up a 2-run HR to Gleyber Torres (#50) in the first but settling down after with a 4-2 lead until the 6th, when a sequence of hits saw the Yankees tie it and he ended 6 6 4 4 4 8. Still when Spencer Torkelson hit #45 in the bottom of the 6th to re-establish the lead, it looked like he'd still be on track for the win. But while Evan Godwin got through a 1-2-3 7th, Liam Hendriks gave up Torres' 2nd HR of the game to tie it in the 8th. The Rays then loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning and a walk to Keston Hiura forced in a run before the unconscious Triston Casas went deep again (#15) for a grand slam. Luke Little loaded the bases with one out in the 9th and a 5-run lead, and with Torres and Aaron Judge due up, Jasseel De La Cruz came in and got them both for save #29 while Hendriks vultured the win, his 6th. Earlier Judson Fabian hit a 3-run shot in the 1st for HR #35. Durham Playoff Update: We're going back to Durham! And not just to clean out lockers either, as the Bulls downed Indianapolis 9-4 to even their best-of-5 IL Championship Series at 2 games and force a deciding 5th game in Durham in two days. It was a back-and-forth affair through 6 until the Bulls scored 3 times in the 7th to break a 3-3 tie. Juan Mendez's 2-run double was key, and Nick Loftin broke the game open in the 8th with a 3-run HR. Domingo German started and went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs and Nick Anderson ended up picking up the win in relief. Fightin' Jack Leiter will be on the mound for Game 5. Game 2: The Rays wasted a great performance from Mack Anglin and saw Jose Alvarado blow it again as they fell 5-3 to the Yankees in 13 innings. Anglin was the story, no-hitting the Yankees through 5 innings and ending up 8 4 1 1 0 10. It looked like he wouldn't have a shot at the win, though, as the Rays struggled with Deivi Garcia, who allowed nothing but Alec Bohm's 7th HR of the year going into the bottom of the 8th. But with 2 out Judson Fabian beat out an infield single and the Yankees went to Luis Severino, who served up a 2-run HR to Bramdon Perez, his 9th of the year. With two lefties leading off the 9th, Alvarado got the call but once again he failed. After retiring the leadoff man, he gave up a double to Joe Allen, which meant he had to face Gleyber Torres with a man on, and the Yankee slugger took him deep for #52 to tie the game. The Rays had glorious chances to win in extras, but Perez was stranded at 3rd in the 11th after a one-out triple, and they loaded the bases with one out in the 12th only for Judson Fabian to ground into a 4-2-3 double play. Hayden Johns couldn't get it done in his 2nd inning of relief, and gave up a 2-run double to Wilmer Flores for the winning runs. The main takeaway from the otherwise-meaningless game is that Alvarado has truly become unreliable, now with 5 blown saves to go with his 8 losses on the season, and a 4.81 ERA with 26 walks in 48.2 innings and 8 HRs allowed, something I'm not sure is possible for someone who is rated 75 for movement. He had only allowed 3 HR in 95 innings over the last 2 seasons combined and while the ball is definitely juicier this year this is kind of ridiculous. Game 3: After missing out on getting win #20 in his last start, Tyler Glasnow was going to leave nothing to chance today by turning in his most dominant performance in a season of dominant performances in an 8-0 win over the Yankees. Glasnow struck out the first 5 Yankees, 8 through 3 innings and 10 in 4 on his way to a 7 2 0 0 0 14 outing on only 98 pitches. He's now 20-5, 2.58 with a 51/235 BB/K ratio in 202.2 innings, good for 6.1 WAR. He'll have one more start next week in Chicago before he toes the rubber for Game 1 of the ALDS. Gerrit Cole was the opposition and the Rays batters had their way with him today, hitting 3 longballs off him. Brandon Marsh took him deep for #14 in the 3rd to kick off the scoring, Judson Fabian hit #36 in the 4th to make it 2-0, and after a Triston Casas double Bramdon Perez joined the double-digit club on the team with HR #10, a 2-run blast as he seems to own Cole (I need to look up their head-to-head #s). Patrick Bailey later hit #9 off the Yankee bullpen as he and Vidal Brujan could make it 13 Rays with 10 or more HRs if they each hit one more. Austin Vernon finished up the shutout with 2 scoreless innings, whiffing 3 including Gleyber Torres to end the game, giving them a 17-strikeout team game. Team record: 105-47. Next up: The final 3 regular season home games, vs. Boston. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-02-2020 at 06:56 PM.

11-02-2020, 07:26 PM	#355
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	Congratulations, Durham! The Bulls pulled off the miracle comeback down 0-2 in the series with a 6-1 win over Indianapolis in Game 5 as they won their first International League title since going back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. Fightin' Jack Leiter (my new nickname for him after he was ejected in a Game 1 brawl) pitched great, going 6 6 1 1 2 9 and leaving with a 2-0 lead. Cole Patten allowed a Leiter runner to score but got a big strikeout to end the inning and went 2 scoreless (Patten was great this postseason with a combined 12 11 0 0 0 11 line) and then the Bulls blew it open in the bottom of the 6th. Noah Cardenas led off the inning with a homer, Nick Loftin had a 2-run single, and series MVP Juan Mendez drove in a run after driving one in earlier. Nick Frasso struck out the side in the 9th and here's a look at the celebration: Last edited by Art Deco; 11-02-2020 at 07:28 PM.

11-03-2020, 08:38 AM	#356
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 25-27, 2026: vs Boston (3) Game 1: A dull game tonight at the Trop that the Rays lost to Boston 3-2. Asa Lacy wasn't particularly effective, going 5.1 9 3 3 1 6 and allowing all 3 runs in the first 3 innings. The bullpen (Aaron Ashby, Jose Alvarado and Steven Casey) 1-hit the Sox over the final 3 2/3, keeping them in the game, but the offense could only muster a 2-run HR from Spencer Torkelson (#46) in the 6th off Justin Dunn and Boston's pen. At least we're one day closer to the end of the season. Some retirement news: Nick Anderson announced his retirement. It was a great 8-season run with Nick as one of the premier setup men in the league and he'll retire with a couple of rings. Another Durham Bull announcing his retirement was the great Madison Bumgarner, who spent the last year and a half with the Bulls and was a great mentor to the younger pitchers on the staff, including Mack Anglin. I'd like to think the Giants will retire his number considering his huge role in 3 World Series wins. More notable retirements around baseball: Jacob deGrom (#48 retired by the Mets), Aroldis Chapman, Sonny Gray, Oscar Mercado (still with the longest hitting streak in this save, 38 games), Patrick Corbin, and some former Rays: Avisail Garcia, Matt Duffy, Jalen Beeks, and Andrew Kittredge. Also David Dahl signed a 5-year extension with Boston so he'll be continuing to kill us 18-19 times a year (he had an RBI single last night). Game 2: The Rays rode the longball to an 8-3 win over Boston tonight. Triston Casas's mammoth shot to center field (#16) off former Ray and lefty Anthony Banda broke a 3-3 tie in the 7th and Keibert Ruiz hit a 3-run shot (#21) later in the inning to propel them to victory. Matt Manning got the start and pitched great through 6 innings, only allowing 1 run and 3 hits, but ran into some trouble in the 7th with two Boston hits, and Evan Godwin came on. Godwin did not get the job done, giving up a pinch-hit RBI double to another former Ray, Abraham Toro, and then allowing a sac fly to enable the Red Sox to tie. But Casas's heroics meant Godwin vultured win #3. Godwin stayed on through the 8th and Hayden Johns had a 1-2-3 9th to finish it off. Earlier the Rays had scored on a 2-run single from Brandon Marsh in the 2nd and a Keston Hiura solo homer (#26) in the 4th. Wander Franco picked up his 200th hit of the season in the 1st. September 27: Optioned P Austin Vernon to Durham, recalled OF Jhon Diaz from AAA Durham. Wanted to get an extra bat up to give some of the OFs rest during the final week of the season, so Diaz is back after a brief stint earlier this season. He was Durham's best player, going 306/388/550 with 25 HR, 90 RBI and 18 SB, 4.9 WAR for what WAR is worth at the AAA level. Game 3: Shane McClanahan put the Rays in an 8-0 hole from which they nearly climbed out only to lose 9-8. Mac had a nightmare first inning, allowing 5 runs (3 earned) as he couldn't get the first 6 batters of the game out. He settled down from there until the 5th, when he gave up 3 more runs and ended 4 6 8 6 3 6, perhaps not as into it today as 20 wins is out of reach. Meanwhile the bats couldn't get anything done against Cionel Perez until the 6th when they scored 6 times including a 2-run single from Patrick Bailey and a 2-run double from Vidal Brujan. Mitchell White, who took over for Mac, gave up a HR in the top of the 8th to make it 9-6 and it proved to be the decisive run as in the bottom of the 8th Bailey went deep with a man on for his 10th of the year to make it 9-8. Bailey became the 12th Ray to hit double-digit homers, with Brujan sitting on 9. Jhon Diaz got a start and looked good, going 2-4 with a double. Team record: 106-49. Next up: 4 games in the Windy City against the White Sox, which are huge games for Chicago who are currently sitting in the second wild card spot but only 1/2 game up on Texas and Kansas City and 1 up on Cleveland. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-03-2020 at 10:22 AM.

11-03-2020, 12:58 PM	#357
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	September 28-October 1, 2026: at Chicago White Sox (3) Game 1: One team played like its playoff lives depended on it, and one team played like it had clinched its division a week earlier as the White Sox pummeled the Rays 12-0. Mack Anglin started and was OK after giving up 3 early runs, finishing 6 6 3 3 0 7. But Luke Little and Hayden Johns were terrible in relief, giving up 9 runs combined in the 7th and 8th. Collin Montez was 3-4 with 2 HR and 7 RBI for the White Sox, while the Rays offense could barely get on base, getting only 6 hits and one walk. 6 games left to go. Game 2: If the White Sox make the Wild Card Game and beat Baltimore, and then beat the Rays, the Rays will only have themselves to thank as they lost to Chicago again, this time 5-4 in 10 innings on a walk-off HR by (who else?) Collin Montez off Evan Godwin. As you can tell by the score the Rays made a better showing of themselves even with key players like Wander Franco, Keibert Ruiz, Brandon Marsh and Keston Hiura rested. Tyler Glasnow made his final regular season start and began shaky just like Mack Anglin last night and like Anglin he gave up 3 early runs and then settled down. He was finally pulled with two out in the 6th with a couple of runners on and Aaron Ashby balked one in, leaving Glasnow with a 5.2 7 4 3 4 5 line and final regular season numbers of 20-5, 2.64 with 55/240 BB/K in 208.1 innings and 6.1 WAR. They were down 4-3 at that point but Anthony Rizzo had an RBI single in the 8th to tie the game, Steven Casey got 'em through the 8th, Liam Hendriks the 9th, but Godwin started the 10th to face the lefty Montez and that was that. Earlier the Rays put 3 runs on the board courtesy of Jhon Diaz. His 2-run double in the 2nd tied the game at 2, and he doubled and scored on a Nick Gonzales single in the 5th to tie it again at 3. Game 3: New day, same story as the White Sox beat the Rays 6-1. Asa Lacy started and like Mack Anglin and Tyler Glasnow the two nights before, gave up 3 early runs. This time they came in the first as that guy Collin Montez singled in a run and then Tanner Craig hit a 2-run HR. Lacy did not allow another hit the rest of the way and ended 6 2 3 3 3 4. But of course the offense did little (tonight's nights off went to Vidal Brujan and Judson Fabian) with only Spencer Torkelson's 47th HR of the year in the 4th putting them on the board. And after Steven Casey pitched a scoreless 7th, Aaron Ashby came in and was terrible yet again, giving up a 3-run HR to - who else? - Montez to make the final 6-1 as the White Sox continue to hold down the 2nd wild card. Montez now has 4 HR and 12 RBI in the 3 games so far this series, gonna have to start intentionally walking him. MLB Note: The Yankees' Joe Allen extended his hitting streak to 34 games today, which is the second longest in this save since Oscar Mercado's 38 in 2021 (or was it 2022?). Game 4: Disgusted with their performance in the first 3 games of the series, today I went with the full regular lineup. And it might have been the worst game yet of this series as the White Sox crushed them again 10-2 to sweep the 4-game series. Like his starter mates before him, Matt Manning put the team in an early hole and raised the ante by giving up 6 runs in the first 3 innings and ending up 4.1 9 7 7 3 5 to finish the year a mediocre 12-8, 4.69. Manning's ERAs have risen from 2.68 in his 2024 Cy Young season to 3.62 to 4.69 the past three years, not a great trend. Meanwhile the offense made Alex Faedo and his 5.72 ERA on the season look like Bob Gibson as he retired the first 13 Rays before Spencer Torkelson (the only one still hitting) blasted #48. Later Vidal Brujan and Keibert Ruiz hit doubles for the other run. Hayden Johns went 1 2/3 scoreless, but Luke Little was ripped for 3 runs in his 2 innings of work. I didn't expect them at their best this series, but this was ridiculous. Team record: 106-53. Next up: The regular season mercifully ends with 3 games in Texas. MLB Note: As usual, once you mention a hitting streak it ends, and so it did with Joe Allen who went 0-4 today snapping his 34-game streak. Here is where the wild card races stand going into the final weekend. It looked like chaos a week ago, but now it's going to take some dramatic turnarounds to keep it from being Baltimore-Chicago in the AL and Washington-San Diego in the NL: Last edited by Art Deco; 11-03-2020 at 04:40 PM.

11-03-2020, 06:37 PM	#358
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	October 2-4, 2026: at Texas (3) October 2: Activated P Ben Bowden from the 15-day IL, optioned P Luke Little to AAA Durham. Game 1: The Rays acquitted themselves a little better, but lost their sixth straight game 6-4 to Texas. The pattern of the starter putting them in an early hole continued as Shane McClanahan allowed 3 runs in the first three innings and the Rays trailed 3-1 through 5. But they actually rallied for 3 runs in the 5th (and it would have been more had Heston Kjerstad not thrown Nick Gonzales out at the plate) on a 2-run double from Gonzales and an RBI double from Judson Fabian, his 2nd RBI of the night. Mac made it through the 5th on 96 pitches going 5 6 3 3 1 5 and keeping his season ERA below 4 at 3.96. But Steven Casey loaded the bases in the 6th on 2 hits and a hit batter and the rusty Ben Bowden allowed them all to score, including on a couple of bases-loaded walks. Probably not the best move to go to Bowden there in the key situation right off the IL but I wanted him to get some work before the playoffs. The bats could do nothing off the Texas bullpen in the final 3 innings and that was all she wrote. It would sure be nice to win at least once before the playoffs begin. Amazingly this team's going to win at least 106 games while suffering losing streaks of 7 and (at least) 6 games. Wild card race update: The White Sox got a 3-run walk-off HR from Tanner Craig to beat Minnesota 8-5 and keep their one-game lead for the 2nd WC over Cleveland, which also won 12-1 in Kansas City and eliminated the Royals. The Rangers with their win stay 2 behind Chicago but are pretty much out of it. Interestingly, the White Sox could force a tie for the division if they beat Minnesota the next two days, and they'd then play a 4th game on Monday to see who takes the Central and who plays at Baltimore. It would be quite the collapse by the Twins who had looked to have the division wrapped up for a while now. Over in the NL, the Mets lost and San Diego beat Arizona, so the Padres have wrapped up the 2nd wild card and will play the Nationals in the NL Wild Card Game. Game 2: The beat(ings) goes on as with the full regular lineup in tonight they lost 6-0 and were one-hit by Lucas Giolito and Ryan Feltner. An Anthony Rizzo double in the 5th was the only hit they could muster, as it continues to be Groundhog Day for the Rays in a bad way. Mack Anglin gave up 5 runs in the first 3 innings, 4 of which came off a pair of homers, although he did settle down after that and go 6 5 5 5 1 8. Hayden Johns struck out the side in the 7th and I gave Jasseel De La Cruz some work, as he hadn't made an appearance in over a week and it took him 31 pitches to get through the 8th, allowing a run. The 7-game losing streak matches the one from back in May, and if they don't win tomorrow they'll go into the playoffs with about as much negative momentum as can be imagined. They lost the first game in this streak by a run but over the last 6 they've been outscored 45-11. Unbelievable. Wild Card Race Update: High drama in Chicago as Mitch Haniger's 2-run HR in the 8th gave the White Sox a 3-2 win over Minnesota. Combined with Cleveland's loss to Kansas City (courtesy of 5 hits from former Rays farmhand Xavier Edwards), the White Sox clinch the second wild card, eliminating Cleveland and Texas. And Chicago can force a tie for the AL Central if they beat Minnesota on the final day tomorrow, so their aspirations are higher now. October 4: Activated P Christian Little from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned P Hayden Johns to AAA Durham. Here's hoping Little can stay healthy, having twice cut short rehab assignments with a recurring herniated disc issue. We're going to have him pitch at some point today to a) make sure he can get through a game without re-injuring himself, and b) to have him as ready as we can get him for the playoffs. Game 3: THE RAYS WIN! THE RAYS WIN! Never thought I'd be so excited over a meaningless win, but avoiding heading into the playoffs on an 8-game losing streak is at least good for my psyche. They got a pretty decent start from Mitchell White and some dominating relief pitching from injury returnees Christian Little and Ben Bowden to take a 3-1 win over the Rangers. The bench was emptied today with only Fabian, Marsh, Brujan, Casas and Rizzo among regulars starting. They got on the board first in the 2nd inning on a Patrick Bailey HR (#11) off Chris Paddack who otherwise was outstanding against his old team (6.2 5 1 1 2 7). White meanwhile allowed plenty of runners but kept going out of it until Sam Huff homered off him leading off the 6th, which after another hit was his cue to come out having gone 5 8 1 1 1 4. Little came on and did Christian Little things: 2 1 0 0 1 5 on 35 pitches and picking up the win when Anthony Rizzo delivered a two-out, two-run double to give the Rays the lead in the top of the 8th. Bowden then pitched the 8th, striking out the side. With Jasseel De La Cruz wiped out from last night and lefties due up, Jose Alvarado came in, and did make things interesting by walking a pair but got through the 9th for save #9. Final Regular Season Record: 107-55, their second-best regular season ever to the 115 won in 2023. Next up: the ALDS, against an opponent to be determined, either Baltimore, Chicago or Minnesota. AL Playoff Race Update: The White Sox defeated the Twins 4-2, winning their 8th straight and forcing a 1-game playoff tomorrow for the AL Central title with the loser traveling to Baltimore to play the Orioles in the Wild Card Game and the winner facing the Angels in the ALDS. They scored their 4 runs in the most improbable fashion: Back-to-back-to-back-back HRs, something that as of 2020 has only been done 10 times in MLB history. I can't speak for my save since it's quite possible it's happened but I would have no way of determining that. Anyway, Collin Montez, Tanner Craig, Corey Seager and Mitch Haniger hit consecutive homers in the 4th inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead which stood up. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-03-2020 at 09:53 PM.

11-03-2020, 10:03 PM	#359
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	October 5, 2026: Final Regular Season Standings/Leaders & Rays Stats The final standings and leaderboards: Some insane HR totals out there as the ball was juiced again this year. I will be de-juicing it again next year. Final team stats: Still ended up 1st in most of the pitching categories but the team ERA went up about 1/3 of a run over the last month or two. Heck, the way the last week went it might have gone up that much just then. Still great overall numbers except that in conjunction with the ERA going up, the defensive numbers really tailed off, going from mediocre to bad with BABIP rising and efficiency and zone ratings dropping. Final hitting stats, sorted by WAR: We were tops in all the hitting categories, and that was despite 1B being a black hole as Bohm, Diaz, Casas and Rizzo combined for -1.2 WAR. Ouch. Final pitching stats, sorted by ERA: Last edited by Art Deco; 11-03-2020 at 10:22 PM.

11-03-2020, 11:04 PM	#360
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,932	October 5, 2026: The AL Central Playoff Nick Senzel's one-out homer in the 9th off Minnesota's Jack Filby gave Chicago a 3-2 win over Minnesota and the AL Central title as the White Sox beat the Twins on four consecutive days and 9 straight games in all to pull it out. After the White Sox took a 2-0 lead off rookie sensation Jon Hayes in the 3rd, Yairo Munoz hit a 2-run HR off Tyler Mahle to tie it up. Both Hayes and Mahle were great tonight, going 7 innings and allowing only 2 runs. The Twins had a chance to tie or win in the 9th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Travis Swaggerty hit into a force at home place and Royce Lewis took a called strike 3 from Danny Pena to end the game. The White Sox, who also had an improbable run to a World Series title in 2021, will travel to Anaheim to open the ALDS against the Angels in a few days while the Twins will now have to travel to Baltimore for the AL Wild Card Game. Also, this: Last edited by Art Deco; 11-04-2020 at 12:40 AM.