The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

So the Padres will now play Washington. Is LA finished? I think so but I'm not sure what happens if the Padres beat the Nats tomorrow.

EDIT: I have this figured out now. The Padres are in as a wild card and it's the Dodgers who will play the Nats tomorrow for the other wild card spot.

[Art Deco]

What a game! The Dodgers earned a spot in the Wild Card Game with an incredible comeback in the 9th and then took the win over Washington in extra innings. Gavin Lux led off the 9th with a homer to cut the Nationals lead to 6-4 and three batters later Max Muncy hit a 2-run blast to tie it, setting up the 10th when Mookie Betts delivered a 2-out, 2-run single to win it. They'll play the Padres again in 3 days, this time for a spot in the NLDS.

[Art Deco]

Before we get into the AL Wild Card Game, I totally missed this during the season (and shortly thereafter) as I was mostly paying attention to the AL:



Congrats Ronald Acuna Jr! Contrary to what the blurb above says, he isn't the 2nd in MLB history to win the Triple Crown - it was done often in the 20th century but only once since 1967 when Miguel Cabrera did it in 2012.

Meanwhile it'll be the Royals advancing to the ALDS to take on Detroit after they got past a wounded Boston team missing Rafael Devers and Christian Arroyo.

[Art Deco]

The Dodgers recovered from losing the tiebreak game with San Diego four days ago to making it to the Wild Card Game and vanquishing the Padres to advance to the NLDS. It was a wild wild card game with the Padres coming all the way back from 5-1 down to tie it at 6 in the 7th before Max Muncy won it for the Dodgers with a 3-run homer off Emerson Hancock in the 9th.

[Art Deco]

Let's go...



The Rays opened the ALDS with a 4-0 win over the Angels, facing the Halos for the fifth straight year in the postseason, and Tyler Glasnow was electric today, tying the club playoff record for strikeouts in a game with 12 and hurling 6 2/3 shutout innings. Luke Voit got the offense going by homering in his first Rays postseason at-bat, making that trade suddenly look better, and Adley Rutschman, whose bat took most of the season off, was 3-4 with an RBI. Dustin May will try to make it 2-0 Rays tomorrow.


In the other ALDS opener:

[Art Deco]

Goin' back to Cali (with a 2-game lead)...



What a game! The Rays came back from an early 3-0 deficit and won it in the bottom of the 9th on a 2-run Andrew Greckel walk-off homer, his first ever postseason shot after missing last year's World Series run as a rookie due to injury. Carter Kieboom walked to lead off the 9th against Ken Giles, and the veteran closer grooved his next pitch to Greckel who deposited it into the RF seats. It was a hard-earned win as Dustin May wasn't his sharpest today, putting them behind 3-0 and lucky to have only allowed 3 runs after loading the bases in the 5th with 1 out and getting out of it unscathed after Victor Robles made a spectacular diving catch. But they fought back and Wander Franco's sac fly tied it in the 7th while the bullpen did good work, especially winner JT Ginn who went the final 2 innings perfect with 5 Ks. Now Tarik Skubal will be looking to close out the series in Anaheim in two days' time.

A look at the scene at the Trop when Greckel walked it off:



In other DS games:



Detroit needed a furious late-inning rally to keep from falling 2-0 behind Kansas City while the Dodgers and Cubs took an early advantage in the NL. Funny how Randy Arozarena keeps hitting homers in the postseason.

[Art Deco]

Important win for the Braves while the Dodgers are one game away from the NLCS.

Some news around MLB:

* The following players retired: Enrique "Kiké" Hernandez (who was with Durham this year), Julio Teheran, Wilmer Flores, Jake Marisnick and Brandon Belt.

* Despite blowing leads in both the tiebreaker game and the wild card game the Dodgers extended former Ray Justin Dunn for 2/6.3.

[Art Deco]

This was a tough loss for the Rays in more ways than one. First off, they lost on a walk-off outfield throwing error, something I can't remember happening to them in all the games of this save (and my other, longer one). With two out in the 10th, Diego Castillo gave up a pair of singles and on the second one Alex Kirilloff tried to throw out the runner at 3rd and instead threw wildly, allowing him to score and giving the Angels a lifeline in the series. It's a shame because Kirilloff was having a great game with 3 hits including an RBI single in a 2-run 7th which saw the Rays tie the game after falling behind 4-1. Also a shame, and perhaps of more lasting importance, was that JT Ginn had to leave the game in the bottom of the 9th with a mild shoulder strain, a "moderate" injury which will keep him out of this series and the ALCS, should the Rays make it. Joe Ryan will try to knock the Angels out of the ALDS tomorrow (and hopefully keep the ball in park, unlike today's starter Tarik Skubal).

It's advantage Royals in the other ALDS:

[Art Deco]

Going back to St. Pete (but not for the ALCS):



Another close loss for the Rays as the Angels have evened the series and forced a Game 5 in St. Pete in two days. Joe Ryan made it through 5 innings allowing only one homer and two runs on 79 pitches, but in my own submission for a new SNL "Bad Idea Jeans" skit, I brought him out for the 6th to face Mike Trout, and you guessed it - the ball ended up in the seats. And after Wander Franco homered in the 8th the Trout homer turned out to be difference. The larger problem tonight was the lack of offense, though - a season-long issue. Tyler Glasnow will hope to duplicate his dominant form of Game 1 in the decider.

Elsewhere around MLB, nobody else clinched an LCS spot yet either as Bryant Packard's 5 hits led Detroit to an easy win to force a Game 5, and the Diamondbacks broke through for a win against the Dodgers in 12 innings to stave off elimination. One-time Rays international import flop Yoshi Tsutsugo had a key homer for Arizona:

[Art Deco]

It's LA against Atlanta in the NLCS as the Dodgers and Braves wrapped up their respective series with wins today. Who else but Randy Arozarena (3 homers in 4 games) could be MVP of his NLDS while Ronald Acuna Jr. (.400-1-4) was MVP of the other. A nice game from former Ray Jorge Ona with a 2-homer outing in a losing cause as the Cub bullpen imploded.

Getting back to Arozarena, he now has 22 HR in 48 career postseason games, including his famous 10 in 2020. He's hit 309/375/619 in his playoff career and he's chasing Manny Ramirez's career record of 29 postseason homers.

[Art Deco]

On to the ALCS!



After taking heat for an anemic performance in Game 4, the Rays' offense came out swinging early and often, piling up 16 hits in a 6-2 win to take Game 5 and send the Rays to the ALCS. Not to be overlooked though was another outstanding effort from Tyler Glasnow, who wasn't as unhittable as Game 1 but was still overpowering in a 6.1 6 1 1 2 8 effort. But it was nice to see the hitters not making outs as Wander Franco had 4 hits while Andrew Greckel and Luke Voit each had 3. A caught stealing in the 1st meant the Rays had 3 hits in the inning without scoring, and with two out in the 2nd they had 2 more with nobody in and 2 out but Ed Howard broke the ice with an RBI double, and they took off from there. Greckel homered again for the final run and was named series MVP but it's kind of ludicrous (and an OOTP blind spot when it comes to pitchers and weekly/series awards) that it didn't go to Glasnow, who was 2-0, 0.69 with 20 whiffs in 13 innings. So who do we play in the ALCS?



That would be Detroit, which came back from losing Game 1 and falling behind 2-1 with a taut 5-4 win over Kansas City. Their win means the AL's top two teams will play for a World Series berth with the series opening in Detroit in a couple of days. Dustin May will take the bump in Game 1 for Tampa Bay. The Tigers, already without superstar slugger Spencer Torkelson, may have to play the series without ace Rony Garcia, who had to leave with back tightness in tonight's game and the injury is rated "moderate" for a week.

[Art Deco]

A tough start...



The Rays dropped the ALCS in opener in Detroit when the bullpen let them down after taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the 7th on Wander Franco's 2-run homer. Alex Vesia, who breezed through the 6th on 9 pitches, got the leadoff man in the 7th and was up against righty-hitting Jake Rogers. With Vesia rated at 70 movement, I figured I'd leave him in with lefties due up after Rogers. Sure enough Rogers took him deep, and then Vesia wound up giving up a double to a lefty. Portsider Christian Chamberlain then surrendered a single to bring the runner home and the game was lost. The Rays had a chance in the 9th when Ed Howard reached on a fielder's choice and stole second with one out, but neither Victor Robles nor Franco could bring him home. Now Tarik Skubal will face his former team in Game 2 looking to keep the Rays from falling into a real hole.

[Art Deco]

Not great, Bob!



It was deja vu all over again as the Rays got a big homer to get them back in the game only for the bullpen to falter as they dropped Game 2 to Detroit and fell behind 2-0 in the ALCS. After Heston Kjerstad showed his first signs of life this postseason with a 3-run homer in the 6th to erase a 3-0 Detroit lead, DL Hall imploded in the 8th, giving up 3 runs to allow Detroit a 6-5 victory. Alex Kirilloff had a 2-run homer with 2 out in the 9th, but it was too little, too late. Now the Rays have to hope Tyler Glasnow replicates his ALDS magic in Game 3 or the season will be virtually over.

A great game to open the NLCS, with Atlanta taking the early advantage:

[Art Deco]

Starting to look like a Detroit-Atlanta World Series:

[Art Deco]

Well it's been a nice season...



Despite getting two dramatic clutch homers the Rays couldn't get the win and dropped an epic, marathon 19-inning game to the Tigers 8-7 to fall behind 0-3 in the ALCS. Heston Kjerstad tied it in bottom of the 9th with a solo homer, and after Detroit went ahead 7-4 in the 16th Adley Rutschman blasted a 3-run shot to keep the game and the series alive, but young Tiger star Marcelo Mayer homered off Reid Detmers in the 9th and the Rays had no answer this time, and have no answers for Detroit in this series. It was painful to watch Rays hitters whiff 21 times, especially Victor Robles and Luke Voit, a combined 0-16 with 7 of those strikeouts. Joe Ryan is our last hope, which isn't saying a lot as the Rays will look to at least avoid the sweep tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Stayin' alive!



Boy it didn't look good in top of the first when the Rays played one of the sloppiest innings imaginable, featuring two errors, a bases-loaded walk and a Detroit steal of home, but they kept pecking away at the lead with single runs through the first 4 innings and a 2-run Luke Voit homer in the 5th to take the lead for good. Joe Ryan survived that nightmare first and made it through 6, actually keeping the ball in the park! Tylor Megill retired all six men he faced, making it 18-for-18 this postseason, 12 of them on whiffs, and Christian Chamberlain took care of the 9th as the Rays had to manage a fatigued bullpen from yesterday's 19-inning game. They still have a long, long way to go but Dustin May will try to force a return to Detroit tomorrow.

In the NLCS:



The Dodgers pulled out a dramatic win to avoid suffering the Rays' fate of falling behind 3-0.

[Art Deco]

I hear Detroit is lovely this time of October...



The Rays aren't going quietly as Dustin May and some timely homers got them back within 3-2 in the ALCS after a 4-2 win. Thorn-in-our-side Marcelo Mayer homered to put the Tigers up 1-0 early, but Luke Voit homered for the second straight game to answer him and Ed Howard's RBI double put the Rays ahead to stay. They needed Carter Kieboom's 2-run homer in the 7th, though, as Detroit got one back against Diego Castillo and threatened for more. But Castillo got out of it and had a smooth 9th to send the series back to Detroit for a Game 6. Tarik Skubal will hope to fare better this time around in his old ballpark.

So remember several posts ago during the NLDS about how I noted that Randy Arozarena has continued where he left off IRL with his postseason HR-hitting prowess? Well he did this tonight:



Interestingly he did this on a night when Dustin May pitched the Rays to a win as the two were traded for each other a few years back in a classic win-win trade for both teams. The Dodgers are now level with Atlanta at 2 games:

[Art Deco]

Oops, he did it again:



4-4 with a HR tonight was Randy Arozarena as he continues to terrorize Atlanta pitching, leading the Dodgers to their third straight win in the series to take them to the brink of the Fall Classic. Arozarena is now 3 HR shy of Manny Ramirez's career postseason mark and if the Dodgers advance to the Series I wouldn't put it past him to break it this year.

[Art Deco]

Are you watching, 2004 Red Sox?



The Rays are trying to make history after beating Detroit 6-0 in Game 6 of the ALCS to force a 7th and deciding game after having been down 0-3 in the series. Tarik Skubal was excellent, the bullpen was good (and outside of Christian Chamberlain we didn't have to use any of the "A" or "B" bullpen so they're fresh for Game 7), and the bats put the game away early for a change. Victor Robles suddenly made his 6/120 free agent deal look good with a bases-loaded walk and a 2-run triple which broke the game open in the 4th and Wander Franco drove in a pair as he continues to excel in the playoffs after a very pedestrian (by his standards) regular season. So we'll have our ace (or at least one of them consider how Dustin May pitched this year) Tyler Glasnow ready to take the mound for all the marbles tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Holy crap, they did it!



The 2026 Tampa Bay Rays join the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only teams in MLB history to come back from an 0-3 deficit in a best-of-7 series and win it as they downed Detroit 5-2 tonight to win the ALCS and advance to the World Series where they'll look to defend their title. Andrew Greckel's homer against his old organization got them going, Wander Franco doubled the lead with one of his own, and in the game's biggest hit Heston Kjerstad launched a 3-run job to dead center in the 5th to break it open. Tyler Glasnow wasn't as overpowering as he's been in these playoffs, but he was extremely efficient pitching into the 8th before leaving with a sore back which won't keep him from making his next start. A homer and a single for Detroit in the 9th finally broke Tylor Megill's retired batters postseason streak but he struck out Daz Cameron to punctuate the end of the game. Meanwhile Detroit fans will spend the winter telling each other "It was 5-0", referring to their first-inning lead in Game 4 when the Tigers had a chance to sweep.

The scene late last night at Comerica:



And yes they'll be playing the Dodgers, who won even though Randy Arozarena didn't homer:



While there was no Arozarena homer, several other former Rays factored into the game above with Justin Dunn getting the win, Pete Fairbanks taking the loss for Atlanta, and Kevin Padlo homering off the bench for the Dodgers.

It should be a good series and after the Rays went the distance in both of their previous series, a 7-gamer wouldn't shock me here either. In case you haven't noticed their absence from these linescores, the Dodgers are without star pitchers Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw with the former out until mid-2027 with Tommy John surgery.