The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

It's been a different kind of season with all the roster turnover as we bade farewell to much of the franchise core which got us to 4 World Series in the previous 5 years (Wander Franco, Brandon Marsh, Keston Hiura, Matt Manning, Hunter Bishop, Triston Casas, and later Vidal Brujan). And after an extremely frustrating 11-13 start to the season, there was plenty of cause for question. But this roster on paper appeared even more talented than some of those mid-2020s teams, and the team's 45-10 run since that slow start has more than answered any questions. So now that we're at the halfway point of the season, here's the annual look at where we stand, position-by-position.

C: (C+) Keibert Ruiz is not the hitter he was as recently as last year as his ratings are in decline. His 223/275/353 still sells him short, though. Ryan Jeffers hasn't hit much either as this position has - at least in the first half of the season - declined to its pre-Keibert days.

1B: (B-). Yordan Alvarez has heated up recently but he still isn't the fearsome slugger he was with Houston. He's drawing more walks this year but 262/346/480 is still not what I'd hoped I was getting a year and a half ago.

2B: (A) Gavin Lux got off to a slow start but he's come around in a big way and is now second in the AL in WAR. No complaints here.

SS: (A-) Ricky Widmar has been everything I hoped for, hitting 292/345/428 with an MLB-best 27 steals and good defense. Definite contender for Rookie of the Year.

3B: (C+) Bobby Witt Jr., although finally showing some signs of life at the plate over the last week or two, has been a big disappointment at 222/299/377. Looking for some big-time positive regression in the 2nd half.

LF: (A-). Judson Fabian hasn't hit with the power he's shown before, but he's been an on-base machine this year at 322/407/488. I know he can do better than the 8 HR he hit in the first half so I'm looking for a big 2nd half.

CF: (A) This has been a 2-headed monster this year. Julio Cedillo was brilliant before his season-ending injury, proving he was the real deal. So then came Jasson Dominguez, who's merely hit 316/350/745 with 11 HR in 25 games.

RF: (B+): Jhon Diaz has been solid, even if he's cooled off a bit lately and he's been filling in at CF with Dominguez's injury.

DH: (A) Nate Clark can rake, and that is all. .297-20-65 and 295/364/554 will do fine.

Bench: (A). Issac DeLeon, Joe Barker and Connor Kirkley, rookies all, have produced when called upon and it's hardly apparent when the regulars get a rest.

Starters: (A-). Alec Sachais, Blake Money and Christian Little are just ridiculous and make this the best rotation in baseball. And it's saying something when the reigning Cy Young winner is our 4th best starter this year. McClanahan has been solid as well. The minus is for Jack Leiter's OK but not great season so far (too many HRs) and Mack Anglin's struggles with injuries and effectiveness (but looking back in form lately).

Bullpen (B): The ERAs look terrible (outside of Espino), but the K/IP and BB/K numbers look great and the team's 1-run record is excellent. So overall the bullpen has been pretty good, but subject to some big-time meltdowns from time-to-time. Newcomer Jeremy Bowers has impressed in his first two outings.

Here are the team stats:



An offensive juggernaut as usual, the pitching is solid despite the high bullpen ERA, but despite upgrading the D at SS, 3B and CF, we still have issues turning batted balls into outs. I'm scratching my head - maybe I don't do a good enough job shifting - but again it's not exactly costing us games.

Here's a look at the midseason MLB standings and leaders:



Surprised at how good the Tigers and Phillies are this year, the Rangers are starting to come on after slumbering most of the season (more on why in a minute) and the overall play of the AL East has been disappointing (and therefore good for the Rays).

Also want to take a look at how some of our recently departed Rays are doing, and there are some surprises.

Wander Franco: I'm sure he'll be fine eventually, but he has to be regarded as a bust in Texas off this year's first half after they gave him a $39M/year contract. His numbers: 261/301/438 with 9 HR, and he's been good for 0.1 WAR. Not a typo. Oof.

Keston Hiura: Hiura fractured his thumb in spring training and missed the first 2 months of the season, but has hit like usual since coming back: 289/340/522.

Brandon Marsh: He's had a bit of a down year at 250/308/424 with 10 HR and 1.3 WAR so far, but he's still playing on a team that wins twice as much as it loses.

Matt Manning: He's pitched pretty well for Arizona. While his 4-4, 4.23 numbers don't look that impressive, he has a 35/103 BB/K ratio in 93 innings and is good for 2.4 WAR already this season.

Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas: The duo we dealt to KC for Witt has been a mixed bag. Bishop has bounced back from his disappointing final year with us to some extent, hitting 266/309/536 with 19 HR and 1.5 WAR. Casas has regressed to the low-average version we had from 2024-2026, hitting 225/320/449 with 10 HR and 0.7 WAR although he's heated up a bit lately with 3 HR this week.

Vidal Brujan: Brujan was finally activated by the Yankees a couple of weeks ago, and he's been dynamite since coming back, hitting for some unusual power (maybe it's the stadium): In 8 games he's 371/450/771 with 3 doubles, a triple and 3 homers in only 35 AB. Not looking forward to facing him.

[Art Deco]

June 30: Released P Aaron Ashby.

He cleared waivers but refused a minor league assignment, so he's now a free agent. Hasta la vista, Aaron. UPDATE: Ashby signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh.

Game 1: The "at" is in parentheses above since the Rays were the road team at the Trop for Game 1 of today's doubleheader vs the Royals as it was a makeup of a game rained out in Kansas City. It was weird seeing them bat first at the Trop, but it didn't affect the hitters any as they bashed four homers in an 11-4 rout of the Royals. Gavin Lux led the charge with another 2 dingers and 5 RBI, giving him 20 for the year. His 2-run HR in the third after Jhon Diaz hit #13 to lead off the inning gave the Rays a 3-2 lead they'd never relinquish, and he added a 3-run blast in the 8th to complete the rout. Yordan Alvarez also hit #20, a 2-run HR in the 7th, as part of a 3-RBI day. Nate Clark had a sac fly and Diaz an RBI single for the other runs. This was plenty of support for Jack Leiter, back in the rotation after a couple of relief outings. Leiter had his usual game with a great BB/K ratio (0/11) but 4 runs allowed in 7 innings on a 2-run triple and a pair of solo HRs as his homer-proneness continues with 20 now allowed in 89 innings. Christian Chamberlain pitched 2 perfect innings to close out the game.

Game 2: Alec Sachais continued his run of dominance as the Rays swept the doubleheader from Kansas City with a 6-1 win. He went 8 4 1 1 1 9, allowing only a Hunter Bishop homer, to go to 7-0 and lower his ERA to 2.09, which now leads MLB as he's finally pitched enough innings to qualify. Judson Fabian, whom I mentioned in the midseason report card was due for more homers, hit #9 leading off the 2nd, and Bobby Witt Jr singled in a run later in the inning to give Sachais all the run support he'd need. Of course, they added to that with RBI singles from Ryan Jeffers and Nate Clark, a bases-loaded walk to Joe Barker, and a run on a wild pitch. Connor Kirkley, getting a rare start, was on base 3 times with 2 singles and a walk and scored a run. Jeremy Bowers pitched the 9th and had a chance to have a 4-strikeout inning when his first whiff came on a wild pitch allowing the runner to reach. Alas, the final batter grounded out so Bowers had to settle for a 3-K inning, giving him now 7 in 2 2/3 innings spanning his first 3 Rays appearances.

Well here's a scary development for the rest of the league. As if Christian Little wasn't already dominating enough:



Some monthly awards, befitting a team that went 20-5 in June:




Sachais was also named AL Rookie of the Month.

Game 3: Christian Little took a no-hitter into the 7th inning as the Rays cruised to yet another victory, 8-2. Former Ray Xavier Edwards singled leading off the 7th to break up the no-no and another former Ray farmhand Ian Lewis singled home Edwards to cost Little the shutout (or more accurately, 7 shutout innings). Little ended up a still-brilliant 7 2 1 1 1 12 to improve to 8-3, 2.23. It was the 5th straight start and 7th in his last 8th in which Little picked up a win. Jack Filby gave up a run in the 8th and Evan Godwin pitched a scoreless 9th to end it. The big hit of the game came in the 2nd inning when Ricky Widmar hit his first MLB grand slam, HR #7 of the year, to turn a 1-0 game into a 5-0 one. Luis Berdin's sac fly had put them on the board earlier, and Keibert Ruiz, Gavin Lux and Nate Clark each had RBI singles. Lux continued ludicrously hot, going 3-4 with a double and a steal as well to raise his BA over .300 for the first time this season at .304.

Game 4: The winning streak continues as the Rays made it 9 straight with a come-from-behind 4-3 win in 10 innings over the Royals. The winning run came when yet another former Ray on the Royals, Mitch Keller, issued a walk-off walk to Yordan Alvarez after he had already walked 2 earlier in the innings. We got to extra innings because Nate Clark hit HR #21 off still another ex-Ray, Luke Little, in the 8th inning. Blake Money got the start and finally saw his perfect run of winning starts since joining the rotation end at 11, mainly thanks to a 3-run HR he allowed in the 2nd inning to Coby Mayo. Money was solid after that, going 7 2 3 3 4 5, and at least avoided his first loss of the season when Clark hit his homer. The bullpen was on today, with Daniel Espino pitching a scoreless 8th, Jasseel De La Cruz going 1 1/3 and Jose Alvarado getting the final 2 outs in the 10th to pick up win #3. Earlier Clark doubled in a run in the 6th before a second run scored on a wild pitch in that inning, getting the Rays back in the game. Before then they were being shut down by KC's Daniel Tillo, one of the better pitchers of the decade, but the AI inexplicably took him out after 5 innings and only 58 pitches so the Rays went to town on the Royals pen. Meanwhile, now that it's ended, here's a game-by-game look at Money's amazing streak:



Game 5 (seems weird typing "Game 5"): All of the buzz around Tampa Bay and MLB has been about the Rays' "young guns" - Christian Little, Blake Money and Alec Sachais - but 31-year-old vet Shane McClanahan has every right to say "what about me?" as he waves his Cy Young Award over his head. And the wily McClanahan was in charge today, going 7 6 1 1 1 7 in a 6-3 win over Kansas City to sweep the unusual 5-game series and make it 10 wins on the trot. With the win Mac goes to 8-2 and is now an astounding 45-13 over the last 2 1/2 seasons. On the offensive side of things, Gavin Lux continued his unconscious hot streak with two more HRs today, the first putting the Rays on the board in the opening frame and the second (#22) making it 3-0 in the 3rd. Bobby Witt Jr, against his old team, had his best game of the year since the 2-HR, 6-RBI game early in the season by going 3-4 with a double and his own solo HR (#11) in the 4th as the Rays scored a single run in each of the first 4 innings (Keibert Ruiz's RBI single in the 2nd was the other one). Luis Berdin later added a sac fly and another run scored when Witt made his only out of the day and hit into a twin killing. Christian Chamberlain came on for the 8th and made a bit of a mess, allowing two runs, one of which resulted from a Ruiz fielding error. Jeremy Bowers got him out of it by whiffing Khalil Lee with the bases loaded and the score 6-3. Jasseel De La Cruz came on for the 9th and put a couple of men on to make it interesting again but got out of it for save #15. By the way, it's been a while since I mentioned the division race, mainly because there isn't one as the Yankees are now 18 games behind as they might as well be in the International League. Soon I'll throw out the magic # but we're barely into the second half and it's already down to 60. Lux, meanwhile, is as hot as they come. His average dropped to .254 on June 3, and since then he's gone 38 for 87 (.437) with 10 HR and 20 RBI. He now leads the AL in WAR at 4.1 and is third in the majors behind Juan Soto and Columbus's Victor Mesa Jr.

Team record: 61-23 (50-10 since late April). Next up: Who better to play on July 4 than the team from our nation's capital? The Nationals come to town for a pair and the scheduled starter (after we just faced a team that seemed 50% former Rays) is another ex-Ray, Dustin May. He's had two very good years with Washington since we dealt him there in early 26, but has struggled this year at 2-5, 6.10.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: A pitchers' duel between Mack Anglin and German Marquez ended up a big Washington win when the Rays' bullpen and defense let them down in the late innings in an 8-4 loss. Anglin was brilliant, shutting out the Nats on 3 hits through 6 innings before best-player-in-baseball Juan Soto drilled a homer off him to lead off the 7th. Anglin would have been out of it with a 2-1 lead but Ricky Widmar and Gavin Lux combined for two errors which allowed the Nats to equalize. Meanwhile the Rays were no-hit by Marquez for the first 4 innings until they strung four hits together to score a pair on Keibert Ruiz's bases-loaded single. Evan Godwin came on for the 8th inning and things continued to go wrong. He put a man on 2nd with two out and Gleyber Torres due up. I made a rare decision to issue and intentional walk to the righty Torres with 1st base open and lefty Josh Ellis on deck. It backfired when Ellis drilled a 3-run HR to LCF to make it 5-2, and another lefty, former Blue Jay Ryan Noda, went back-to-back with Ellis to make it 6-2. The Nats' own error set up Yordan Alvarez to drive in 2 with a double in the bottom of the 8th to make it 6-4, but Jeremy Bowers faltered for the first time as a Ray, giving up a 2-run double to Soto to make it 8-4. In the bottom of the 9th, the Rays hit 3 singles to load the bases with two out and bring Nate Clark up as the tying run, but his flyball to deep RF couldn't quite make it out and the Rays' 10-game winning streak was over. The one consolation in the loss is that Anglin is rounding back into form, he went 6.2 5 2 1 0 5 tonight against some tough hitters.

July 5: Activated OF Jasson Dominguez from the 10-day IL, optioned OF Luis Berdin to AAA Durham.

Berdin impressed in his couple of weeks up, hitting 279/298/512 with 2 HR in 43 AB and will probably be back in September (or sooner if another OF gets hurt).

Game 2: Alec Sachais had a rough first inning and that was all Washington needed to take a 2-1 win and a 2-game series sweep of the Rays. Sachais loaded the bases with nobody out in the first for Gleyber Torres, and he delivered a 2-run double. He managed to get out of the inning with no further damage, and ended up with something approaching his typical outing, 6 7 2 2 1 7. But the Rays had trouble scoring against old teammate Dustin May and even more trouble against Leonardo Pestana, who relieved May in the 5th and no-hit them for 3 innings. The Rays did manage 7 hits in 4 1/3 against May, but despite all the baserunners the only run they scored came when Nate Clark hit the ball out of the park for #22 this season. Jack Filby, Jose Alvarado and Christian Chamberlain each threw a perfect inning of relief to keep it close, and although the Rays had a runner on in both the 8th and 9th, they couldn't get him across so Sachais suffered his first MLB loss after starting his career 7-0.

Team record: 61-25. Next up: An off-day before Toronto comes to town for a 3-game weekend series.

[Art Deco]

The rich get richer (or should I say the moderately well-off get more moderately well-off as we're still only 18th in payroll) with our new July 2 signing:



Our head scout Rob Metzler says "if all goes according to schedule, Cedillos will be at the top of the rotation someday." Of course, one has to keep in mind TNSTAAPP as well as the fact he's 16, but barring his arm falling off he'll be a valuable property and is already ranked by BNN as the #18 prospect in MLB.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays tried their darndest to give this game away, but held on for a 6-5 win over Toronto in the opening game of the series. Christian Little got off to a bit of slow start, but settled in to go 5 3 1 1 3 8 but racked up his usual # of full counts and had to leave at 99 pitches. By this time he and the Rays were ahead 4-1 thanks to a 1st inning rally that saw a 2-run Yordan Alvarez single, a Bobby Witt Jr sac fly and a Jhon Diaz RBI single. Back in the bullpen (temporarily at least), Jack Leiter came on in the 6th, promptly gave up a run and then continued with his gopher ball issues (a whopping 21 in 91 IP) by allowing a 2-run Adanson Cruz shot in the 7th to tie it up. But Isaac DeLeon, giving Ricky Widmar a day off, came to the rescue with a 2-run HR (#6) in the 8th inning to make it 6-4. Evan Godwin and Daniel Espino (after loading the bases) got them through the 8th, and with lefties up Jose Alvarado got the call for the save. He ended up giving up a couple of hits and a run, so Jasseel De La Cruz had to get the final out for save #16. Espino picked up win #5 in a game where I wasn't thrilled I had to use 6 pitchers.

Game 2: One of the axioms in baseball is that a team's record in one-run games is in large part based on the strength of its bullpen. Lately with the Rays, though, it's been the bullpen that's been turning games into one-run games as once again today the Rays eked out a 4-3 win that they should have won relatively comfortably. Blake Money was back on the hill today and although his consecutive starts won streak ended, he remained undefeated and was brilliant again today, going 7 5 0 0 1 7. The Rays took a 2-0 2nd inning lead on Jhon Diaz's 14th HR of the season, and Ricky Widmar hit his 8th to make it 3-0 in the 6th. So when Nate Clark singled in a run to make it 4-0 in the bottom of the 8th it looked like it would only mean no save situation for the pen. Jack Filby and (mostly) Jeremy Bowers made sure there was one, though. Filby had pitched a perfect 8th and stayed on to face the leadoff righty, giving up a single. With three lefties due up, Bowers came on and proceeded to give up 3 straight hits, the last of which was a 2-RBI double by Jorge Polanco to cut the lead to 4-2 and put the tying runs in scoring position with nobody out. After looking great in his first few outings with the team, this was Bowers' second straight meltdown. So in came Jasseel De La Cruz and he got the job done with two groundouts (the first of which allowed the lead runner to score) and a whiff to end the game and pick up save #17 while Money is now 13-0, 2.19. To get an idea of how dominant the big 3 of Money, Christian Little and Alec Sachais have been, take a look at the AL pitching leaderboard:



Little is also tied for 3rd in wins at 8 but is cut off alphabetically.

Game 3: The Blue Jays had to be feeling good about themselves when they got to Shane McClanahan for 5 runs by the 4th inning and took a 5-0 lead. Those good feelings were short-lived, though, as the Rays had their biggest inning of the season in the bottom of the 4th, throwing up a 9-spot on the scoreboard and never looking back in a 13-9 win. They loaded the bases with nobody out and Brody Westbrooks walked in Jhon Diaz (it seems like he has about 5 bases-loaded walks this year) to start the scoring, then Bobby Witt Jr singled to make it 5-2, Jasson Dominguez's 2-run single made it 5-4, a Keibert Ruiz sac fly tied it, and then Ricky Widmar hit HR #9 with a man on to put the Rays up 7-5. A couple of batters late Nate Clark hit #23 with a runner aboard and it was suddenly 9-5. Connor Kirkley, getting a rare start, launched a 2-run shot (#3) to make it 11-5 in the 5th. Mac hung in there and although he gave up another run in the 6th, got the win go to 9-2 after a 6 8 6 6 3 6 day. Diaz hit a 2-run double in the 6th to make it 13-6, and Christian Chamberlain took over for Mac. After two scoreless innings on 23 pitches, I left him out there for the 9th with a 7-run lead. He ended up giving up a 3-run HR to Greyson Jenista (Jenista's 2nd of the game) with two out, but he managed to get the final out for his first MLB save (albeit an ugly one). Not that there's a division race anymore but FYI the Rays are now up 20 games on the 2nd-place Yankees.

Team record: 64-25. Next up: An off-day, then a week in New York with 2 games at the Mets and 4 at the Yankees before the All-Star break.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Play enough games in this here OOTP and you never know what you'll see. Tonight the Rays made 7 - count 'em, 7 - errors. They were of all kinds: wild throws, dropped balls, outfielder overrunning a single, muffed grounders (although I don't think there was a dropped popup or flyball). The most I think I've ever seen from them in the nearly 1500 games I've managed them is 3 or 4. But despite the worst display of defense in team history, they still won the game 7-4. And while they couldn't handle the ball in the field, they instead decided to hit it out of the park for all 7 runs. It all started in the 1st when they loaded the sacks with nobody out only for Yordan Alvarez and Judson Fabian to whiff. But Bobby Witt Jr bailed out those two by hitting a grand slam (#12) off Eduardo Rodriguez. Gavin Lux hit #23 in the 3rd to make it 5-0, and former Ray Emerson Hancock came on and gave up #12 (#20 overall) to Jasson Dominguez in the 4th and #10 to Fabian to make it 7-1 in the 5th. Then it was time to survive the onslaught of errors. I'm not going to catalog them but Mack Anglin was hurt the most; with all the extra baserunners he could only get through 5 innings with a 5 6 4 1 2 5 line on 95 pitches although he made one of the errors himself on a dropped toss. He still got the win to go to 4-3. Jack Filby pitched two scoreless innings, Jose Alvarado made a mess in the 8th that Daniel Espino cleaned up, and JDLC got save #18 with error #7 being erased on a game-ending double play.

Game 2: The Rays exploded for 5 runs in the 6th and 7th to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 win today at CitiField and swept the mini-series from the Mets. Former Rays ace Blake Snell started for the Mets and after allowing a Yordan Alvarez RBI single in the 1st gave them little after that and was up 2-1 and pitching a 1-hitter through 5. But they finally got to him in the 6th on a Jud Fabian sac fly and Bobby Witt Jr's RBI double. They then added 3 more in the 7th off the Mets bullpen thanks to another RBI single from Alvarez, a Witt sac fly and Jasson Dominguez's RBI single. Alec Sachais got the start and struggled at the outset, giving up a Miguel Andujar (who seemed to kill us in our 4 games with the Mets this season) RBI single and then a Danny Santana homer in the 2nd. But all he did after that was limit the Mets to 1 hit over the next 6 innings and finish 8 4 2 2 0 7 in yet another bravura performance. He's now 8-1, 2.16 with an eye-popping 12/110 BB/K in 96 innings. Jack Leiter pitched a 1-2-3 9th to finish out the game.

Team record: 66-25. Next up: 4 games at the Stadium against the Yankees where we reunite with old friend Vidal Brujan. Brujan has been impressive since being activated, hitting 322/382/556 with 4 HR in 90 AB, the most recent of which came tonight in a 10-8 loss to Texas. Also homering in the game was Wander Franco, who had a rare big game for the Rangers as he's still struggling at 253/298/403 and has -0.1 WAR right now. Not at all what Texas thought they were paying $39M/year for.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays made it 9 out of 10 this year against the Yankees with a 4-3 win in the first of their 4-game series at Yankee Stadium. Gavin Lux hit HR #24 off Antoine Kelly in the 7th to break a 3-3 tie and give Christian Little his 9th win of the season. It was an unusual game for Little, who wasn't getting his normal quota of strikeouts but still pitched well, going 7 4 3 3 1 5. The Rays had taken an early 3-0 lead off Forrest Whitley on a Jud Fabian RBI single and a 2-run single from Lux, but old friend Vidal Brujan doubled with 2 out in the 3rd bringing up Victor Robles, who took Little deep and the Yanks added a run in the 4th. Daniel Espino had a quick 1-2-3 8th on 9 pitches and stayed in to face Vlad Jr., but gave up a single to him. Jose Alvarado came in, gave up an infield single of his own to put men on 1st and 2 with nobody out, but he got the next 3 Yankees to close it out for save #7.

Game 2: Never count this team out. Down 8-3 going into the top of the 9th, the Rays scored 6 times to pull out an improbable 9-8 win over the Yankees. The rally was primarily due to the wildness of Yankee relievers. Roansy Contreras loaded the bases with nobody out on two walks and a single, walked pinch-hitter Joe Barker to force in a run, Mike Tudor came in for New York and walked Ricky Widmar to force in another, Gavin Lux singled to make it 8-6, and Judson Fabian walked to make it 8-7. Tudor recovered to whiff Yordan Alvarez and get Bobby Witt Jr to hit into a force at the plate, but just when it looked like he might get out of it Jhon Diaz delivered a 2-run single to give the Rays the lead, which Jasseel De La Cruz preserved with a 1-2-3 9th for save #19. Before the comeback it looked like the big story of the game would be Blake Money suffering his first loss of the season as he was battered by the Yankees. He was given a 3-0 lead on homers from Witt (#13, a solo shot in the 2nd) and Lux (#25, a 2-run blast in the 3rd) but let the Yankees score 6 times in the bottom of the 4th, including HRs from Victor Robles and Juan Mendez, the latter a grand slam. And he stayed in to give up two more in the 5th before Jack Leiter came on, and finished with an ugly 4.2 7 8 8 3 0 line with the lack of strikeouts notable. Leiter was brilliant in long relief, going 3.1 1 0 0 1 6 on only 40 pitches and earned his 9th win of the season. So it's now 10 of 11 this year against New York and a gargantuan 22 1/2 game lead.

Speaking of Blake Money, I Googled him and IRL he's about to start pitching at LSU. But he was part of an internet meme I somehow missed in 2013 when he pitched in the Little League World Series. It turns out he has a brother named Cash - yes, Cash Money - and well, here's Cash at that 2013 LLWS:



Game 3: The Rays keep winning, making it 8 straight with a 7-5 triumph over the Yankees. Ricky Widmar's 8th-inning grand slam (#10) broke a 3-3 tie, and as is often the case the bullpen made it interesting but hung on. Shane McClanahan started and while he didn't have his best stuff he was the prototypical crafty lefty today, hanging around long enough to get the win (now 10-2) by going 7 5 3 3 2 2. Jack Filby took over for him in the 8th and loaded the bases with nobody out, and Evan Godwin allowed two of those runners to score on a groundout and wild pitch. Jose Alvarado started the 9th, got two quick strikeouts, but walked the next two batters ahead of Vlad Jr (who hit #31 earlier in the game off Mac). So it was Jasseel De La Cruz time, and JDLC got Vlad to fly to left to end the game for save #20. Earlier the Rays had put runs on the board with Nate Clark's 24th HR of the year and his sac fly, along with Yordan Alvarez's 21st round-tripper. Widmar also stole his 32nd base in the game as he's proved to be a more than able replacement for Wander Franco as an all-around force and he's on pace for 6.2 WAR this season.

Game 4: A rare loss for the Rays as the Yankees scored 5 times in the first inning on their way to a 6-2 win over Tampa Bay. Mack Anglin regressed somewhat to being very hittable again, although a Connor Kirkley error meant that first inning was a 5-run inning instead of a 2-run inning (although Anglin is to blame for the subsequent 2-run Alfonso Rivas homer). Anglin went 5 10 6 3 2 5 and dropped to 4-4. With Jack Leiter's impressive long relief outing the other day, it's really Anglin vs Leiter for the 5th spot right now. Of course the offense didn't exactly distinguish itself either, only managing 6 hits with both runs coming on Isaac DeLeon's 7th HR of the year. Still the loss was only their 13th in the last 71 games.

Team record: 69-26. Next up: The All-Star break, then Boston comes to town for a weekend series.

[Art Deco]

Here are the AL All-Star Rosters:




The Rays are very well-represented as usual with the 3 young guns, Espino, our double play combination, and a complete outfield (counting Clark as LF) plus the injured Julio Cedillo. This leaves only Yordan Alvarez, Bobby Witt Jr, Jhon Diaz and Keibert Ruiz as regulars who are not going to the game.

In the NL:




Give it up for Matt Manning and especially Emerson Hancock.

Gleyber Torres beat Pete Alonso in the finals of the Home Run Derby 16-13.

As for the All-Star Game itself, the NL beat the AL 12-2 in 12 innings with a 10-run 12th. The AI left poor Simon Rosenblum-Larson in there to get pounded after burning through most of the staff. As for the Rays, Judson Fabian led off the game for the AL with a homer to dead center, Christian Little started and struck out a pair in a perfect inning, Alec Sachais and Blake Money each had perfect innings with 1 strikeout, and Daniel Espino pitched a scoreless inning although he put two men on. Fabian was the only Ray to get a hit, Gavin Lux started and was 0-2, Nate Clark started and was 0-3, while Jasson Dominguez was 0-3 as a sub and Ricky Widmar was 0-1 as a sub.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays returned from the All-Star break as winners again, even if it took a tortuous route to get there. It ended a 7-6 win in 11 innings after the bullpen blew a 5-1 lead and after they had to come back from being down 6-5 in the 9th. It was a matchup of the 2026 and 2027 Cy Young winners with Tyler Glasnow facing Shane McClanahan, and the Rays chased Glasnow with 5 runs in the 2nd inning aided by a walk, two infield hits and a passed ball allowing a run to score. Jasson Dominguez's infield single scored a run, Gavin Lux doubled in a run, and Nate Clark singled one in. McClanahan fared better although he ran up a pitch count and had to leave in the 6th, going 5.1 5 1 1 3 4. Evan Godwin gave up a 2-run HR to Ryan Mountcastle to get Boston within 5-4 in the 7th, and then Daniel Espino had a nightmarish 8th, giving up 2 runs with the assistance of a Yordan Alvarez error. But Dominguez singled in a run in the 9th to tie it, and then he and Keibert Ruiz hit back-to-back doubles in the 11th to win it. Jack Leiter, who got the last two outs in the top of the inning after Jeremy Bowers had to leave with a wrist issue, picked up win #10.

Game 2: The Rays took down Boston 8-4 in a game that started looking like yesterday's until Jack Leiter came to the rescue again. Once again the Rays raced out to an early big lead, this time by scores of 3-0 and 5-2, only to see Boston come back within 5-4. Jud Fabian's 11th of the year with 2 men on against Chris Paddack in the 1st made it 3-0, and an RBI single from Yordan Alvarez and an RBI double from Bobby Witt Jr made it 5-2 after 4. But Mack Anglin continues to struggle, giving up way too many hits (98 in 78 innings this season and 9 in 5 1/3 tonight) and Boston loaded the bases against him in the 6th. Leiter came on to relieve him, and although he walked Pierson Gibis to force in a run, he got out of it and didn't give Boston anything thereafter, finishing out the game with 3 2/3 innings of 1-hit, 4-strikeout ball to get his first career save. And Alvarez (who was 3-3 with a walk) was in the middle of a 7th inning rally that gave them breathing room with another RBI single followed later by a 2-run knock by Jhon Diaz. Despite the shaky performance, Anglin got the win and is now 5-4 although we are definitely trending toward Leiter back in the rotation with Anglin moving to the bullpen.

Game 3: The Rays made it a sweep of Boston with a 5-2 win behind Christian Little. The probable latest winner in a line of Rays Cy Young winners went 6 3 1 1 2 11 to improve to 10-3, 2.28. Jack Filby and Christian Chamberlain pitched scoreless innings while Daniel Espino allowed a 9th inning run. Ricky Widmar supplied the big hit of the game, a 2-run HR (#11) in the 2nd to put the Rays up to stay, and in the 7th Isaac DeLeon singled in a run and Jhon Diaz had a big, late 2-run single for the second straight day.

Team record: 72-26, which is ridiculous but not as ridiculous as the fact they're 61-13 after that 11-13 start. Right now they're on pace for 119 wins, and that includes the 11-13 start, which would eclipse the Mariners' record of 116 in 2001. Next up: Minnesota comes to town for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The refrain of "money, money, money, money" from the O'Jays "For the Love of Money" was playing over the PA at the Trop tonight as Blake Money turned in one of his most dominant performances of the year to go to 14-0 in a 4-1 win over the Twins. Money was shutting down the Twins almost all night, going 7 4 1 1 0 12 with only a couple of 3rd inning Minnesota doubles for a run blemishing his record. Jose Alvarado had a perfect 2K 8th and JDLC picked up save #21 with a 2K shutout inning of his own as Rays pitching struck out 16 Twins. The offense didn't generate a whole lot (5 hits) but 4 walks and 2 HBP from Twins pitching helped out. Bobby Witt Jr put them on the board in the 2nd with #14, they scored a run without a hit in the 3rd on 2 walks, an HBP and Jud Fabian's sac fly, and got some separation in the 7th on Nate Clark's sac fly and Fabian's RBI single. Ricky Widmar saw his 17-game hitting streak snapped when he had to leave the game on one of those HBPs but he'll only miss a couple of days with a bruised shoulder.

Game 2: In almost a carbon copy of yesterday's game, it was Alec Sachais' turn to shine as the rookie went to 9-1 with a 3-1 win over Minnesota. Sachais threw 7 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits, walking none and whiffing 5 to lower his MLB-leading ERA to 2.01. Daniel Espino had a shaky 8th, allowing a run, but JDLC came through again in the 9th, allowing only a walk with 2 whiffs in picking up save #22. Like last night the Rays were largely held in check at the plate, but got all the offense they'd need (and all they'd get) when Judson Fabian hit a bases-clearing double in the first inning. These games could be a preview of the ALDS as the Twins are solidly in a wild card spot at the moment (although playing the Rays isn't helping them).

Game 3: Had the bullpen done its job the Rays might have pulled this one out, but it didn't and they lost 6-3 to Minnesota. For the first six innings it was a pretty good duel between Zac Gallen and Shane McClanahan, with Gallen having a 2-1 edge on his 3-hit, 9-K performance. Mac went 6.1 7 2 2 1 6 and left with nobody on for Jack Filby, who crapped the bed. Filby gave up 3 runs after Mac left, including a 2-run blast from Julio Rodriguez, his 2nd of the game, and it was 5-1. Jhon Diaz singled in a run to get it back to 5-2, but Jeremy Bowers served up a same-handed HR to Matt Olson to make it 6-2. Jud Fabian answered leading off the bottom of the 9th with #12 but it was too little, too late. Isaac DeLeon had knocked in the first Rays run, and at least Christian Chamberlain pitched a 1-2-3 9th.

Team record: 74-27. Next up: An off-day then a 10-day road trip begins in Chicago against the White Sox.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays snapped back from a rare loss with a 9-3 drubbing of the White Sox in Chicago. Gavin Lux led the way 2 HR and 5 RBI, including a 2-run blast in the 1st to put them on the board and a 3-run shot (#27) in the 6th to blow open a 4-0 game into a 7-0 one. Also going deep was Jasson Dominguez (#13/#21) with a solo shot in the 2nd, and Jud Fabian (#13) with a 2-run blast in the 7th. Nate Clark added an RBI single and that was more than enough offense for Mack Anglin, who was much better this time out until the ran out of gas in the 7th, going 6.1 6 2 2 3 2 for win #6. Christian Chamberlain pitched the final 2 2/3, only allowing a Corey Seager homer.

Game 2: Christian Little was sharp and the bullpen sharper in a 3-2 win over the White Sox. Little went a typical 6 5 2 2 1 10 and that would have been 6 3 1 1 1 10 had I not brought him out for the 7th on 92 pitches and left him in to give up a leadoff homer and a double in the 7th. Evan Godwin came in and got through the 7th and picked up 2 outs in the 8th before giving up a hit and giving way to Jose Alvarado. Alvarado finished the 8th and got the first 2 out in the 9th, but then put two on, so JDLC came in, gave up an infield single to load the bases but got Nick Madrigal to ground out to end the game and get save #23. Little improved to 11-3, 2.61. There wasn't much offense, but there was enough as Bobby Witt Jr scored on a wild pitch in the 2nd, Nate Clark hit #25 in the 6th to make it 2-1, and Witt's sac fly later in the inning made it 3-1.

Game 3: Blake Money went to 15-0 as the Rays swept the series from the White Sox with a 6-2 win. Money trailed 2-1 in the 3rd but his teammates eventually got him the lead and and built on it to keep his perfect record intact. Of course Money held up his end too, going 7.1 3 2 2 1 10, and Jose Alvarado got the final five outs for save #8 while a 3-2 game became a 6-2 one in the 9th. Ricky Widmar, on a recent power surge, led off the game with HR #12 before the White Sox briefly went ahead. Connor Kirkley in a rare start singled in a run in the 5th to tie it, and Isaac DeLeon gave them the lead to stay with HR #8 in the 6th. A 3-run rally in the 9th put it away on RBI singles from Jhon Diaz, Ryan Jeffers and Nate Clark.

Team record: 77-27. Next up: The road trip moves to Seattle for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Another slow start turned into a middle-innings rally to give the Rays a 6-3 win over Seattle as the beat goes on. Alec Sachais toed the rubber against his old team and struggled through the first 4 innings, allowing 3 runs including a 2-run HR from Luke Raley. But once Nate Clark blasted HR #27, a 3-run shot in the 5th to give the Rays a 5-3 lead, Sachais settled down and retired the Mariners in order in the 5th and 6th, departing with a "quality start" by going 6 6 3 3 2 4 and upping his record to 10-1. Gavin Lux added #28 in the 7th to make it 6-3, Daniel Espino struck out all 4 batters he faced in relief and Evan Godwin went the final 1 2/3 perfect to pick up his 2nd save of the season. Earlier the Rays scored on a Jasson Dominguez solo HR (#14/#22) and a Yordan Alvarez RBI single.

From the league office:



Game 2: Sometimes the AI gives you one, and that's kind of what happened tonight in a 5-3 Rays win. Seattle led 2-1 going into the 8th and the Rays could not solve Evan Fitterer, who had only allowed them 3 hits and 1 run (Keibert Ruiz's 8th HR of the year in the 3rd) and struck out 9. He was only on 89 pitches (with 60 stamina) after getting the leadoff man in the 8th but the AI took him out and brought in Luis Pena, much to the relief of Rays hitters. Ruiz greeted him with a single, then Ricky Widmar took him deep for #13 to give the Rays a 3-2 lead, and three batters later Yordan Alvarez hit #22 with a man on to make it 5-2. Shane McClanahan started, and like Alec Sachais the night before got off to a shaky start but limited the damage. Mac ended up a pretty good 6.2 6 2 2 3 4 and missed out on the win by one batter as he put two on in the 7th with righty-hitting AL HR leader Rece Hinds due up. Jack Filby got Hinds looking on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat (and pick up win #2), Jeremy Bowers had a 1-2-3 2K 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz wasn't sharp, giving up 2 hits and a walk for a run, but held on for save #24.

Game 3: Deja vu all over again as Seattle took an early 2-0 lead, and the Rays came back in the 6th and 7th to go ahead for good. This time they won despite the best (worst) efforts of the bullpen, which turned a 6-2 game into a 6-5 nail-biter. The Rays had trouble stringing hits together off Seattle starter Marcos Diplan through 5, but decided to the best way to go through was to go above, or something like that, as Yordan Alvarez hit #23 to make it 2-1, and then a few batters later Jasson Dominguez hit a 3-run shot (#15/#23) to make it 4-2. Jhon Diaz added his customary 2-run single in the 7th to increase the lead 6-2 and it turned out they'd need those runs when the pen struggled. Speaking of struggling, Mack Anglin had a brutal 1st inning, failing to retire the first 4 batters he faced as Seattle took a 2-0 lead. He was helped by Jarred Kelenic's decision to run into an out at 2nd, and after getting past that inning he pitched some of his best ball the rest of the way, finishing 7 6 2 2 1 4 to go to 7-4 and get his ERA down to 5.12 (baby steps). Jack Filby came on in the 7th and walked the first two men he faced, both of whom came around to score, one on a grounder Filby got and the other when Evan Godwin allowed an RBI single. With JDLC showing tired, Daniel Espino came in for the save in the 9th and gave up a Luke Raley homer with one out to cut the lead to 6-5 but managed to get the final two outs and pick up save #3.

Team record: 80-27. Next up: 4 games in Houston.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Stop the presses! The Rays lost! Christian Little didn't have one of his better outings (although it wasn't terrible) and the offense couldn't get enough done against Patrick Sandoval as the Astros prevailed 5-3. Little was down 3-1 after 4, but some of it was due to his own fielding error, and some to a Nate Clark dropped fly ball. Mix in a couple of walks and a balk and Little ended up 5 5 3 2 3 8. Jack Leiter pitched the final 3 innings and gave up a 2-run HR to Eloy Jimenez, which turned out to be the difference in the end. Keibert Ruiz had RBI singles in the 3rd and 5th for the Rays' first two runs, but he hit into a double play to short-circuit a 9th-inning rally that saw Jasson Dominguez single in a run and put two on with nobody out.

Game 2: After last night's aberration the Rays were back in the win column tonight with a 5-1 decision as Blake Money went to 16-0. Money took a no-hitter into the 6th but he was wild, walking 5, so even if Alex Bregman hadn't singled with 2 out in the 6th he wouldn't have been long for the game. Bregman went to 2nd on Nate Clark's error and scored on a single, but with thanks to a wild pitch later in the inning the run was earned so Money went 6 2 1 1 5 6 and lowered his ERA to 2.62. Jeremy Bowers, Daniel Espino and Evan Godwin each pitched a scoreless inning to finish out the game. Ricky Widmar kick-started the offense in the same manner he's done quite a bit lately, with the longball. He led off the game with HR #14 and that stood up until the top of the 6th when Nate Clark doubled the advantage with HR #27 and later in the inning Jhon Diaz went yard with a man on for #16. Gavin Lux added an RBI triple in the 7th to round out the scoring. Jasson Dominguez tweaked something in his back and has a "moderate" 1-2 week injury so he'll probably go on the IL with Diaz shifting back to center and Luis Berdin coming up again.

August 5: Placed OF Jasson Dominguez on the 10-day IL with a strained back, recalled OF Luis Berdin from AAA Durham.

Game 3: The Rays jumped out to an 8-0 lead by the 4th inning but had to hang on for a 9-7 win after a weird 5th inning that saw Houston score 6 times. Alec Sachais got the start and like Blake Money last night no-hit the Astros early but threw a lot of pitches in doing so. Also like yesterday Alex Bregman broke up the no-hitter, this time leading off the 5th and after a walk the newly-re-recalled Luis Berdin dropped a fly ball. Houston picked up a couple of runs on groundouts and another on a single, and then with two out Eloy Jimenez homered to make it 8-5 and Ramon Laureano went back-to-back with him to make it 8-6. Sachais ended up going 6 6 6 1 2 6 so with only one run earned he lowered his ERA to 2.11 and improved to 11-1. Christian Chamberlain pitched a perfect 7th but Daniel Espino gave up another homer, Laureano's 2nd of the game, before Jose Alvarado had a perfect 9th to get save #9. The offense mostly came early with Bobby Witt Jr taking one-time Ray farmhand Taj Bradley deep for #15 in the 2nd, and then Gavin Lux kick-started a 7-run 3rd with a 2-run HR, #29. Jud Fabian doubled in a run, Witt singled in another, Jhon Diaz had a 2-run triple, and Berdin scored one with a groundout. After Houston pulled to within 8-6, Fabian had his 2nd RBI double of the game in the 6th.

Game 4: The Rays won a wild one in 10 innings 7-6 after coming back, blowing the lead in the 9th and coming back again. Ryan Jeffers' 2-out RBI single in the 10th to score Bobby Witt Jr turned out to be the game-winner. Shane McClanahan looked good through 3 innings and then the wheels fell off in the 4th as he allowed Houston to bat around and score 5 times including the obligatory Eloy Jimenez 2-run HR. This put the Rays down 5-2 but they came back with a 2-run HR from Connor Kirkley (his 2nd of the game and 5th of the year) to cut it to 5-4, and Joe Barker's sac fly in the 6th tied it at 5. We stayed there until the 9th when Barker took Jorge Guzman deep (#8) to put the Rays on top, but Jose Alvarado gave up a Jimenez hit with 2 out and with Ramon Laureano coming up, Jasseel De La Cruz came in and promptly gave up 3 straight hits including one to score the tying run. He did get out of the bases-loaded jam to get us to extras, and stayed on and walked the leadoff man in the 10th which was enough for me. Evan Godwin came in and got two out but had to leave with back spasms (he'll be fine for the next game in 2 days) and Jeremy Bowers ended up getting his 1st Rays save. Earlier in the game Yordan Alvarez hit #24 for the Rays, and Jack Leiter went 2 1/3 in relief of Mac and whiffed 5.

Team record: 83-28. Next up: An off-day then it's finally back to the Trop with 3 against the Yankees.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays must seem like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees to their opponents as you think you have them dead but they spring back to life. Today was a case in point as the Rays tied the game with a 2-run HR from Gavin Lux (#30) down to their final out in the 9th and won it 7-6 on Bobby Witt Jr's 16th HR of the year in the bottom of the 10th. After Vlad Guerrero Jr hit a grand slam off Mack Anglin in the 3rd to make it 5-2 Yankees, it looked like a rare Rays loss as New York took a 6-4 lead into the 9th. But Mike Tudor's walk to Keibert Ruiz haunted him as Lux went deep. Anglin pitched OK aside from the sequence where he loaded the bases and gave up the slam, going 6.1 7 5 5 1 8, Jack Filby looked good over his 1 2/3 (3 Ks), but after Christian Chamberlain gave up a run in the 9th after the Rays had clawed back within 5-4, it looked over. Daniel Espino pitched around a leadoff double in the 10th to get his 6th win. Before the Lux and Witt homers, Ricky Widmar was the offense, going 3-4 with an RBI single and a triple on which he scored off a wild pitch. Earlier, Yordan Alvarez had an RBI single and Ruiz a sac fly. 84-28, what more can I say?

Game 2: In contrast to yesterday's wild game tonight was all about the pitching, especially Christian Little's pitching. The likely Cy Young winner went 7 3 0 0 1 12 in another dominant performance as the Rays beat the Yankees 2-0 to make it 13 of 15 over the Bronx Bombers this season. Little went over 200 strikeouts (now 205 in 128 2/3 innings) in the win which ups his record to 12-4. Jose Alvarado pitched a scoreless 8th for hold #20 and Jasseel De La Cruz had a 1-2-3 9th including the tough Victor Robles and Vlad Jr. to earn save #25. The Rays couldn't do much with the Yankees' Brennan Malone but Jhon Diaz's 17th HR of the year in the 3rd put them on the board, and they added insurance in the 8th when Nate Clark singled, stole second, went to third on a grounder and scored on Jud Fabian's RBI single.

Game 3: Blake Money tasted defeat for the first time this year as the offense couldn't bail him out in a 4-1 loss. Money, who was 16-0 coming in, was dominating through the first three innings with 6 whiffs, but he lost the plot (and the plate) in the 4th inning as he allowed 3 runs on only one Yankee hit. That's because he walked 4 batters and threw a pair of wild pitches. He ended up with a bizarre 5 1 3 3 5 10 line, something perhaps teammate Bobby Witt Jr saw his dad do when he was a kid. Unlike in a previous rough outing or two of Money's in the past, the bats could not come back and get him off the hook. They only managed 5 hits on the night (2 more than the Yankees' 3) and the only run scored was a manufactured one when Ricky Widmar singled, stole second, went to third on a fly ball and scored on a wild pitch from Kodi Whitley, who stifled the Rays for the most part tonight. Jack Leiter took over for Money and went 3 innings, giving up the other two hits and a run on back-to-back doubles from Victor Robles and Joe Allen in the 8th. Christian Chamberlain pitched a perfect 2K 9th but there was no rally today.

Team record: 85-29. Next up: Baltimore comes to town to play 3 this weekend.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The bats continue to snooze (3 runs total in the last 3 games) as the Rays drop consecutive games for the first time in over a month with tonight's 4-0 loss to Baltimore. Kevin Abel wasn't overpowering as he didn't strike out a single Ray, but he shut them out over 7 innings allowing 4 hits and only 1 walk. Junior Fernandez, whom the Rays abused earlier in the year when he pitched for Houston, did strike out 3 over the final two innings to close it out. Alec Sachais started and pitched very well again, going 7 4 2 2 0 9 with a tough sequence in the 2nd with a double, a walk and a wild pitch allowing the Orioles to score twice. He drops to 11-2 and his MLB-leading ERA slightly ticks up to 2.14. Jeremy Bowers allowed 2 runs in the 8th to put it out of reach while Christian Chamberlain had another scoreless frame.

Game 2: The offensive funk continues as the Rays could only scratch out one run and six hits in a 4-1 loss to Baltimore, their third straight defeat. This marks the first time they've dropped at least 3 in a row since they lost 5 straight after winning on Opening Day. Shane McClanahan started and was in a 1-0 duel until he allowed single runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th before departing, ending 6.1 7 4 4 1 6. Jack Filby and Jeremy Bowers combined for 2 2/3 scoreless to finish the game, but the offensive woes continue with the only run coming in the 6th on a bases-loaded walk to Keibert Ruiz, only their 4th run in the last 4 games. They did draw 7 walks, but an inability to consistently get base hits meant they didn't do anything with them. Over 162 games things like this are bound to happen (as it did at times in April), so better now than in the postseason.

Game 3: The Rays bounced back to snap their 3-game losing streak and salvage a game of this series with a 7-2 win over Baltimore. The offense, which had scored only 4 runs total in the last 4 games, didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball but did get some key hits in a 6-run 5th inning to break open a game they led 1-0. Ricky Widmar continues to hit the longball, and deposited #15 into the LF stands in the 3rd inning to give them their first lead in several games, and then with the help of the Orioles botching what would be have been an easy double play ball hit by Keibert Ruiz, they went to town in the 5th. Judson Fabian had a 2-run single after the error, Yordan Alvarez and Isaac DeLeon had RBI singles, and Joe Barker, DHing in place of a slumping Nate Clark, ripped a 2-run double to the RF corner to cap the inning. Mack Anglin got the start and had some of his best stuff of the season, shutting out the Orioles on 3 hits through 5 with 8 strikeouts. He tired a bit in the 6th and gave up a 2-run HR to old friend Austin Meadows, but went to 8-4 off a 6 5 2 2 0 8 outing. Jack Leiter pitched 3 scoreless innings to get his 2nd save, with the Orioles helping him out of an 8th inning jam by getting a man thrown out at the plate by Fabian. Haven't mentioned the magic # since the division is a fait accompli, but it's down to 18 and they should clinch before the end of the month.

Team record: 86-31. Next up: On the road again starting with 4 games in Cleveland.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Christian Little had one of his worst games of the season tonight and the bats did little to help in a 7-2 loss at Cleveland. Little was roughed up for 3 runs on 5 hits in the 1st inning and things didn't get much better from there, as he limped through to the tune of 5 8 5 5 1 5. After a couple of scoreless innings from Christian Chamberlain (who's really pitched well lately), Jack Filby had the Hyde version of one of his Jekyll/Hyde outings with 2 runs allowed in the 8th. But by then it was a lost cause as outside of a Judson Fabian HR (#14) and a Gavin Lux (1 for his last 19) sac fly, the offense couldn't do anything against Luis Castillo, who came in with a 5.80 ERA but went 6 5 2 2 0 6 against them.

Game 2: The offense came back to life with 5 HRs and Blake Money bounced back in a big way from his first loss of the season as the Rays routed Cleveland 10-2. Nate Clark's 3-run HR in the 1st was the first of two for him as part of a 4-hit, 4-RBI night, giving him 29 on the season and snapping his recent slump. Jud Fabian went deep for the second straight night (#15), Yordan Alvarez had a 3-run shot (#25) to turn a 5-2 game into an 8-2 one, and Gavin Lux hit #31 with a man on. Meanwhile Money went to 17-1 by going 7 4 2 2 3 13, with the 13 whiffs being a season (and career) high. He threw 108 pitches and didn't look tired in his final inning in the 7th as he struck out the side. Evan Godwin and Jack Filby finished up.

Game 3: It was a wild, weird game that saw the Rays finally prevail 6-5 in 13 innings, but we got there in a strange way. It started out as a pitching matchup between two of the top young pitchers in the league, Alec Sachais and Cleveland's Hayden Durke, who came in at 11-4, 2.71. And as often happens, the matchup didn't live up to billing as it was 5-4 Cleveland in the 3rd inning. Ricky Widmar led off the game with #16 off Durke, and a few batters later Yordan Alvarez hit #26 to make it 3-0. But Sachais gave it right back with 5 runs in the next 2 innings including Austin Hendrick's 3rd HR in as many games in this series. Nate Clark hit #30 in the top of the 3rd to cut it to 5-4, and then the scoring basically stopped. Sachais settled down to go 6 6 5 5 0 7, and with the score still 5-4 in the 8th, Clark hit an inside-the-park homer for #31 to tie it. While all this was going on, Rays batters were striking out like they had holes in their bats. Cleveland pitching ended up with 22 whiffs over the 13 innings, including 5 apiece from Gavin Lux and Isaac DeLeon, both of whom tied the team record. Jud Fabian went down swinging 4 times as well. Meanwhile, Jhon Diaz was 4-6 with 3 stolen bases but somehow managed to neither score nor drive in a run. Anyway the bullpen was great as you'd imagine, not allowing a run in the last 7 innings and going 7 2 0 0 2 11 combined. Daniel Espino's 5 whiffs in 2 perfect innings led the way, and finally in the 13th Bobby Witt Jr singled in a run to put the Rays on top. Jack Leiter, who got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 12th, had a 1-2-3 13th to get win #11.

Game 4: The less said about this one the better as the Rays were trounced 12-3 by Cleveland. Shane McClanahan simply didn't have it, and was beaten up to the tune of 4 8 10 8 5 3. Oof. Including among the runs against him was a 3-run shot by former Rays catcher Ronaldo Hernandez, bag in the bigs after Cleveland suffered injuries to their top two catchers, Bo Naylor and Tyler Soderstrom. Jeremy Bowers gave up a couple of more runs in his 2 innings of pitching. Offensively the 3 runs came on a pair of homers, a solo shot by Luis Berdin (#3) and a 2-run jack from Gavin Lux (#31). Otherwise, it's burn-the-tape time.

Team record: 88-33. Next up: The road trip continues with 3 games in Toronto.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays prevailed 7-5 in 10 innings thanks to the longball, but the win was a costly one as Bobby Witt Jr's disappointing first season with the Rays came to a disappointing end. While beating out an infield single in the 9th, Witt strained his groin and will be out 2 months. Theoretically he could be ready if we make the World Series but practically he's done. He did hit HR #17 to tie the game up at 4 in the 7th before having to leave and ends his maiden Rays season an underwhelming 236/305/411 with 17 HR and 65 RBI, good for 1.8 WAR. Fortunately we have a capable replacement in Isaac DeLeon, who should be able to at least duplicate those numbers if not exceed them, and he's a 65 defender at 3B as well. As for the game, Nate Clark continued his HR binge (6 in his last 4 games) by hitting his 2nd of the night (#33), a 2-run shot in the 10th. Gavin Lux also hit #33 tonight, a solo shot in the 3rd which was his 300th career round-tripper. Keibert Ruiz's RBI single was the only non-homer scoring for the Rays. Mack Anglin started and was mediocre, going 6 8 4 4 2 6, and after Daniel Espino pitched a scoreless 7th, Jose Alvarado blew the lead in the 8th. Jack Filby pitched a 1-2-3 9th and got a man in the 10th for his 3rd win, and JDLC got the final two outs for save #26. With the Yankees losing, the magic # is down to 13.

August 19: Placed 3B Bobby Witt Jr. on the 10-day IL, recalled 3B Mike Lammers from AAA Durham.

Considered putting Witt on the 60-day IL, but we already have two slots open on the 40-man after Spencer Torkelson and Julio Cedillo were put on it. Tork will be back in early September so we'll need one of those slots, but since we're past the trade deadline the only likely scenario I'd need the open slot would be to promote someone in the org already not on the 40-man and I don't really see any candidates in that situation. Lammers comes up and he's been what we expected when we acquired him from Milwaukee in a deal for Gustave D'Elia last summer: big-time power (75 rating), a decent eye (60 rating) and mediocre contact and defense (45 in each). He's hit 36 HR and driven in 116 in 166 games over the last year-plus with Durham and hit around .260-.270. DeLeon was the only other player on the roster who can play 3B aside from Witt, so the call-up here is a no-brainer.

Game 2: The Rays left it late but scored twice each in the 8th and 9th to beat Toronto 5-1 for win #90 behind another dominant performance from Christian Little. Snapping back from his rough outing in Cleveland to start the week, Little gave the Jays nothing except for a Justin Ellison homer in the 6th, going 7 4 1 1 1 12 and improving to 13-5, 2.43. Jose Alvarado and Christian Chamberlain finished out the game with a scoreless inning each. Isaac DeLeon, now the regular 3B, immediately responded to his new opportunity by blasting HR #9 in the 2nd inning to put the Rays up 1-0. Mike Lammers made his MLB debut starting at DH by singling in his first at-bat and was later walked intentionally. The 1-1 stalemate was broken in the 8th on a Gavin Lux RBI double and after he went to 3rd on the unsuccessful throw home he scored on a Nate Clark sac fly. They added 2 more in the 9th on a Ricky Widmar infield single with 2 out and the bases loaded before Lux walked to force home a run.

Game 3: The Rays swept their series with Toronto thanks to a second straight 5-1 win. Today it was Blake Money who shut down the Jays, going to 18-1, 2.60 off a 6 3 0 0 2 6 performance. He ran a lot of deep counts so it took 103 pitches to make it through 6 despite the limited number of baserunners. Now we're well beyond the point where wins are judged as the primary barometer of how good a starting pitcher is, but 18-1 is 18-1, and if Money ended his season today he'd tie Roy Face for the all-time winning percentage in a single season at .947, although Face primarily did it in relief back in 1959. Barring injury he should be a lock to win 20, and no 20-game winner in MLB history has lost fewer than 3 times, most notably Ron Guidry in 1978 when he went 25-3 for the Yankees. It'll be interesting to see his final record, and it's one of things to watch as there's no team drama with respect to the race and the playoffs (although the team is still on pace for 119 wins, which would break the MLB record of 116 set by the Cubs in 1906 and tied by Seattle in 2001, however the 06 Cubs' winning percentage of .763 is out of the question). Anyway, back to today's game. The dynamic duo of Gavin Lux and Nate Clark continued their power surge and battle for AL Player of the Week as both hit HR #34 today, with Lux going deep in the 7th to make it 3-0 and Clark homering after Lux had tripled in the 9th to give us the 5-1 final score. Before that the Rays scored twice in the first on a Jud Fabian sac fly and Isaac DeLeon's RBI single. Evan Godwin relieved Money and went 1 1/3 with a HR allowed, and Daniel Espino pitched the final 1 2/3, whiffing 3 and picking up his 4th save after Clark's homer took away a potential save situation in the 9th for JDLC.

Team record: 91-33. Next up: Back to the Trop for 3 against Boston.

[Art Deco]

First off, some not-so-surprising-news:



Game 1: Alec Sachais continues to do his thing and the Rays keep hitting the longball as they routed Boston 7-0. The rookie righty was masterful once again, going 7 3 0 0 1 9 and is now 12-2, 2.27. In a normal year, we'd be talking potential Cy Young, but he's at best the #3 starter on the team. He got his support today with more homers, as Yordan Alvarez led off the 2nd with #27 and Jhon Diaz followed shortly after with a 2-run blast (#18). Nate Clark continued to wield a hot bat with #35 to lead off the 6th, and they tacked on two more on a Keibert Ruiz single later in the inning. The final run scored when Alvarez hit into a double play. Jeremy Bowers went two scoreless innings to complete the team shutout.

Game 2: The Rays routed the Red Sox again with a rare double-digit outburst at the Trop 15-5. Joe Barker hit a 2-run shot in the 2nd (#9) to kick off the scoring, and Ricky Widmar added #17 in the 3rd to make it 3-0. Then the bases became turnstiles for the Rays in the 4th and 6th innings as they scored 5 and 7 times respectively. When the dust settled, Keibert Ruiz had a 5-RBI night with a 2-run single and bases-clearing double, Isaac DeLeon was 3-4 with 3 RBI, and Jhon Diaz was 4-5 with 2 RBI. Somehow Nate Clark lost his invitation to the party and was the only Ray not to get a hit, going 0-4. The struggling Shane McClanahan got the start and pitched great over the first 5 innings, allowing only 1 run and whiffing 5. But a bad sequence in the 6th marred his final numbers, as he gave up a couple of hits for a run, and then a 3-run HR to Ryan Mountcastle, so he ended 7 5 5 5 1 5 and saw his ERA rise to 4.55. Christian Chamberlain pitched the final two innings without incident.

Game 3: Mack Anglin pitched his best game of the year and the Rays got the better of an old friend in today's 5-1 win over the Red Sox. Anglin was in a bit of trouble over the first 2 innings but escaped with one run allowed and then settled down to go 7 4 1 1 1 8, with his 72 game score a season-best. He improves to 9-4 and finally gets his ERA under 5 at 4.94 after that series of brtual starts after he came back from injury. Speaking of pitchers coming back from injury, Tyler Glasnow missed the first half of the season with an ulnar nerve entrapment, lost some of his stuff coming back (he was downgraded from 70 to 60 stuff to be precise) and hasn't been the dominating pitcher he was with the Rays and in his first season in Boston. Still, he was shutting out the Rays through 4 until they got a couple of big hits in the 5th. Jhon Diaz, who leads in the AL in WPA, confirming my sense he always seems to come through in the clutch, doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a Mike Lammers triple, the just-recalled rookie's first MLB RBI. Lammers came home on a Ryan Jeffers groundout to give the Rays a 2-1 lead, and then Diaz launched #19 with a man on in the 6th to make it 4-1. Yordan Alvarez's RBI double in the 8th made it 5-1, as Daniel Espino and Jose Alvarado each had a scoreless inning in relief of Anglin. The Rays' magic # for clinching the division is down to 5 now.

Team record: 94-33. Next up: A day off, and then Philadelphia comes to town for a 3-game weekend series, giving the Rays a chance to avenge two of their tougher losses of the season in Philly earlier this year. It could also be a World Series preview as the Phillies are in control of the NL East. This reminds me, it's been a while since I provided the updated MLB standings, so here you go:



As you can see all the divisions are spoken for except the wild, wild NL West where it's a 3-team race with the 2 teams not in first in the lead for the wild card. There isn't even much of a wild card race in the AL, with Minnesota a near-lock and the Yankees holding a 2 1/2 game lead on 3 teams. As far the leaders go, Gavin Lux is leading the AL in WAR to put himself in the MVP race, while the Little/Sachais/Money trio is dominating the pitching categories and also are 1-2-3 in pitcher WAR, which is cut off in the graphic above.

[Art Deco]

August 25: Activated OF Jasson Dominguez from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned OF Luis Berdin to AAA Durham.

Game 1: The Phillies came to town as one of the few (only?) teams that could boast they've gotten the better of the Rays this year as they took 2 of 3 in come-from-behind fashion in Philadelphia earlier this season. But although they came back again today to tie up the game in the late innings, the Rays had the last laugh and evened the season series with a 5-2 win which reduces their magic # to 2. Christian Little started and was great as usual, although he was his own worst enemy as his fielding error led to Philly's first run and may have cost him a win when he departed in the 7th after the Phillies tied it at 2. He went 6.1 5 2 1 1 10 and lowered his ERA to 2.39 in the no-decision. Evan Godwin relieved him and got two big outs with men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out, allowing neither to score. Daniel Espino then pitched a perfect 8th and ended up with his 7th win when the Rays rallied for 3 in the bottom of the frame. Jasson Dominguez singled, stole second, and scored on Gavin Lux's single to put the Rays in front, and Nate Clark followed with an RBI single ahead of Jud Fabian's sac fly to pad the lead. JDLC had a 1-2-3 2K 9th for save #27. Earlier the Rays had scored on a Jhon Diaz RBI double and Widmar's 18th HR of the year, a solo blast in the 6th. The news wasn't all good, though, as Widmar had to leave during that 8th inning rally with knee inflammation and will be out about 3 weeks so a roster move is forthcoming. Looks like Isaac DeLeon will be sliding over to SS and Mike Lammers will get everyday ABs at 3B.

August 26: Placed SS Ricky Widmar on the 10-day IL with knee inflammation, purchased the contract of IF/OF Dane Ayers from AAA Durham.

Hopefully the 3 weeks off doesn't derail Widmar's Rookie of the Year campaign. It shouldn't since Widmar sits at 5.1 WAR while his closest AL pursuer is Cleveland's Ismael Mena at 3.7. Ayers is an interesting player, the closest the franchise has had to another Ben Zobrist in terms of versatility. Ayers is a 55 3B, a 45 SS, a 70 LF and a 60 CF (he also can pitch in a pitch, 45 stuff, 50 movement, 40 control). His bat is decent too, he projects as a .265 hitter with 38 2B/21 HR power. The only place the Zobrist comparison falls apart is in batting eye; while Zobrist had a great one, Ayers doesn't draw that many walks. Anyway his versatility makes him a valuable guy on the bench and I had kind of planned on him being on the team in 2029 so we'll get a preview here. He was our supplemental 1st round pick out of Ohio State back in 2025 and was .275-13-63 at Durham.

Game 2: Blake Money and the Rays (along with Money's 18-1 record) looked to be in big trouble when Miguel Sano and Jordan Groshans each hit 2-run HRs off him in the 1st inning to give Philadelphia a 4-0 lead, but the Rays came back from that early deficit to win 11-5 and leave Money with a no-decision. They actually came back to give Money a 5-4 lead and shot at win #19, but Daniel Espino gave up a homer in the top of the 7th to allow the Phillies to tie. After that rough first inning he was nearly unhittable, going 6 5 4 4 1 11. Espino vultured the win (#8) when the Rays scored 3 times in the bottom of the 7th, and they tacked on 3 more in the 8th after Jose Alvarado pitched a scoreless inning, with Jack Filby mopping up the 9th. The star on offense was Keibert Ruiz, 5-for-5 tonight with a couple of RBI, tying the team record for hits in a single game. Also crushing it was Jud Fabian, 3-5 with a HR (#16), double and RBI, Jasson Dominguez, 2-5 with a HR (#16/#24) and an RBI, and Isaac DeLeon, 2-6 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. And Jhon Diaz, Mr. WPA, had the go-ahead RBI double in the 7th. The Rays blasted 19 hits in all, although Nate Clark once again was the skunk at the party going 0-6 and leaving 13 men on base. After his AL Player of the Week performance last week, Clark is 1 for his last 18. Meanwhile the Yankees won so no division-clinching party today, but the magic # is down to 1.

Also around MLB, Mike Trout hit his 600th HR today.

Game 3: Today was Philadelphia's turn to flex its muscles in a 11-4 rout of the Rays. Francisco Lindor went deep twice, Jordan Groshans victimized the Rays again, and Steele Walker's grand slam off Jack Leiter in the 7th blew the game open for Philly. Alec Sachais started and was sharp through 3 with 5 whiffs, but Groshans took him deep for a 3-run shot in the 4th and Lindor hit the first of his two in the 5th to make it 4-0. The Rays climbed back in the game to make it 4-3 on a Jasson Dominguez solo shot (#17/#25) and a 2-run HR from Joe Barker (#10) after Dane Ayers had his first MLB hit, a double (he also walked, going 1-3 in his debut). Leiter relieved Sachais in the 6th, and gave up a double to allow one of his runners to score, with Sachais ending 5.1 7 5 5 3 7 in one of his poorer outings. And in the 7th Leiter loaded the bases with two out and served up the grand slam to Steele to end any hope of a Rays comeback. Lindor added a 2-run shot off Jeremy Bowers in the 8th. Ryan Jeffers hit his 2nd HR of the year in the bottom of the 9th for a consolation run, while Nate Clark continued his slump with an 0-5. Despite the loss, the Rays clinched their 7th straight AL East title as the Yankees fell 7-4 to Baltimore.

Team record: 96-34. Next up: Off to Fenway Park for 3.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Things did not start off well for Shane McClanahan as he failed to retire the first three Boston batters, with a run in and lucky it wasn't two as Keibert Ruiz threw out an attempted steal. But he gave Boston nothing after that and the Rays eked out a 2-1 win. Mac ended up 7 4 1 1 2 6 and improved to 12-5, with his ERA down to a still-high 4.40. Daniel Espino did his thing in the 8th, and Jasseel De La Cruz got save #28. They got their two runs in the 4th when Judson Fabian walked and Isaac DeLeon singled and they both moved up when the outfielder overran the ball. Yordan Alvarez then hit a sac fly and Jasson Dominguez singled in DeLeon on a night when they only managed 5 hits of their own.

Game 2: Last time the Rays faced Tyler Glasnow a few weeks back, I remarked about how Glasnow's stuff had diminished since his injury this year. And when Isaac DeLeon led off the game with a homer over the Monster (#10), it looked like we'd have our way against him again. But the old Glasnow took over, and went 6.1 5 1 1 2 10 against them in a 2-1 Red Sox win over the Rays. Mack Anglin started opposite Glasnow and looked really good again, going 6 6 1 1 1 7 himself. Neither starter was around when the game was decided in the 8th as the Red Sox put together a walk and a couple of hits against Jose Alvarado to score the game-winner. The DeLeon homer was it for the Rays as they managed only 6 hits, and the closest they came to scoring again was when Nate Clark was thrown out at the plate by David Dahl in the 4th.

Game 3: After being held to 3 runs over the last 2 games, the Rays' bats snapped out of it with a 10-5 win over Boston. Isaac DeLeon hit the first of his 2 homers (now with 12) to get them on the board, and then longballs from Yordan Alvarez (#28) and Jasson Dominguez (#18/#26, a 2-run shot) broke open a 1-1 game in the 5th. Jhon Diaz drove in 3 runs with a pair of singles, and Gavin Lux had an RBI knock of his own. All this run support got Christian Little his 14th win of the season as he went 6 5 3 3 1 12. With the huge lead, Jack Leiter pitched the final 3 innings and picked up his 3rd save, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits but whiffing 4. Judson Fabian was on base all 5 times tonight, 3-3 with a pair of HBPs.

Team record: 98-35. Up next: An off-day, followed by a weekend in Columbus.