The 2022 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

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Game 1: 6-5 W. WP-German (5-1). S-Diaz (27). Starter-G.Rodriguez (5 9 5 5 1 8). HR-Caminero (23), Franco (23). Wander's homer in the 7th was the winner as they came back from 5-2 down to win and he was on base five times with two hits and three walks.

Game 2: 7-4 W. WP-Bradley (6-2, 5.1 4 2 2 3 6). S-Diaz (28). HR-Greene (8/26), Caminero (24), Santana (24), DeLoach (19). Riley Greene missed out on a cycle by a single, having doubled, tripled and homered and driving in 3 on the night to lead the attack.

Game 3: 11-1 W. WP-Orze (7-6, 6 3 1 1 1 3). HR-Franco (24), Wood (16), Cartaya (20). Orze was excellent again and Wander had another monster game, going 4-4 with two doubles, the homer and 6 RBI. He's now hitting 336/394/580 with 24 HR, 66 RBI and 5.6 WAR.

Team record: 76-45. Toronto took 2 of 3 so once again the teams are tied for first in the AL East. Next up: Back home for 3 against Baltimore.

MLB News: The Angels lost superstar Mike Trout for 5 weeks with an oblique strain.

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Game 1: 7-4 W. WP-Swanda (13-8, 6 1 1 1 3 6). S-Diaz (29). HR-Albies (19), Caminero (25), Encarnacion (4), Wood (17), Cartaya (21). Rays went homer-happy to back Swanda and led 7-1 before JP Sears gave up 3 runs on a pair of homers in the 8th necessitating Diaz to come in an save. Diaz has been on an incredible run, not allowing a run since May 27 over his last 25 appearances in which he's racked up 19 saves. I forgot to mention at the beginning of the month that he was named AL Pitcher of the Month for July and is working on August as well. The win was costly though as Wander Franco strained his hamstring and will be out 3-4 weeks.

Transaction: Wander goes on the IL and Brooks Lee is back up from Durham. As he's a superior defender to Jeremiah Jackson, Lee should get the bulk of the starts at SS.

Game 2: 5-4 W (14). WP-Acosta (2-1). Starter-Eldridge (6 5 4 4 3 3). HR-DeLoach (20). Zach DeLoach's dramatic homer in the 9th tied it up and Wood's RBI single in the 14th won it in marathon 5:14 game.

Game 3: 5-2 W. WP-Sears (7-0). S-Diaz (30). Starter-G.Rodriguez (4.1 0 0 0 0 4). HR-Encarnacion (5). The Rays completed the sweep but at an extremely high cost - our ace Grayson Rodriguez, who was perfect through 4 1/3 against his old mates, tore his UCL and will be out for nearly a year. As for the game Mrs. Lincoln, Caminero's 2-RBI double and Encarnacion's 2-run homer were the big hits.

Team record: 79-45. Did the sweep allow us to gain any ground on Toronto? Of course not as the Jays swept Atlanta. The two teams now are tied for the best record in baseball and one of them will be hosting a Wild Card round in six weeks. Next up: An off-day then we're off to Oakland for 3 games.

Before going down with his injury, Wander did enough in 4 games to be recognized by the league:

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Transaction: Grayson Rodriguez goes on the 60-day IL with his torn UCL and Charlie Ruegger is called up for a couple of days to help with the bullpen but later in the week G-Rod's spot in the rotation will be filled by top prospect Walt Khattak. Our first-round pick in 2026 out of Ryerson University and the #33 prospect in baseball, Khattak was 11-7, 3.57 with 2.4 WAR at Durham. He only has 50 stuff but 70 movement and 55 control, and had only allowed 8 homers in 141 IP with a 42/96 BB/K ratio.

Game 1: 6-5 W. WP-Riley (1-0). S-Diaz (31). Starter-Bradley (5 6 3 3 2 6). HR-Encarnacion (6), Greene (9/27). A thrilling comeback win for the Rays who trailed 5-1 after 7 innings. After they got 2 back in the 8th, Greene led off the 9th with a homer to make it 5-4 and Encarnacion drilled a 2-run double (after homering for the first run and driving in a run in the 8th) to win it.

Game 2: 3-9 L. LP-Orze (7-7, 4.1 9 5 5 2 4). Orze's brilliant run of late came to a crashing halt as he was hit for 4 runs in the 1st and the Rays were routed. Caminero was 3-4 with 2 RBI and has now hit in 15 straight games.

Game 3: 7-3 W. WP-Swanda (14-8, 5.1 5 3 3 2 3). DeLoach was 3-5 with 3 RBI and Cartaya had a big early 2-run double as the Rays bounced back to take the series.

Team record: 81-46. Jays took 2 of 3 to stay even with us. Next up: Back home for 3 against Cleveland including Walt Khattak's MLB debut start in the opener.

Transaction: With the Rodriguez injury we signed veteran starter Will Bednar to a minor league deal. Bednar was let go by the Padres and cleared waivers despite going 7-6, 3.71 in 19 starts and 7 relief appearances this year although he was a bit homer-prone (18 allowed in 121 IP). He'll give us some depth should we suffer any additional injuries or Khattak doesn't get it done.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 6-1 W. WP-Khattak (1-0, 6.1 6 1 1 0 7). HR-DeLoach (21). The Walt Khattak era has begun in Tampa Bay and it was a most impressive debut by the 2026 1st round pick. The only blemish against him was a Juan Soto homer and he struck out Soto later (as well as fanning Jose Ramirez twice) as the rookie showed ice water in his veins. He had ample support keyed by DeLoach's 2-run homer and Albies' 2-run triple.

Game 2: 2-5 L. LP-Eldridge (9-7, 6 6 4 4 0 2). The bats were dominated by Cleveland's Logan Gilbert (7 4 1 1 1 9).

Game 3: 6-5 W. WP-E.Diaz (2-4). Starter-Bradley (6 5 5 5 0 6). HR-Encarnacion (7), Santana (25). The game couldn't have started off any worse after Taj was hit for 5 runs in the 1st inning, but he was unhittable after that and the offense kept chipping away. After tying it in the 7th Freili Encarnacion, who started the comeback with a solo homer in the 2nd, singled in the walk-off winner in the 9th. In an interesting quirk Ozzie Albies walked in all 5 of his plate appearances, tying the team single-game walk record held by Matt Joyce and Steven Souza Jr. in the mid-2010s.

Team record: 83-47. Of course the Jays won 2 of 3 as well so the teams remained tied at the end of a series once again. The Rays and Jays will play each other 7 times in September but all of those games will be in Toronto. Next up: 4 games in Baltimore.

Down on the farm:



Robby is raking at Durham after he was acquired from the rival Jays for Clayton Beeter and may very well be up with us in a few days with September roster expansion.

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Game 1: 5-2 W. WP-Moran (5-1). S-Diaz (32). Starter-Orze (4 4 2 2 3 4). HR-DeLoach (22), Albies (20), Green (10/28). Albies' 2-run homer in the 9th broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Rays the win, and Greene went back-to-back with him.

Game 2: 10-4 W. WP-Swanda (15-8, 5 7 3 3 2 4). HR-Caminero (26), Langeliers (1/3), J.Jackson 2 (6). Production from the bench as Langeliers hit the first homer by a Rays backup C this season and Jackson had his second two-homer game of the month, driving in 3. Santana, Caminero and Langeliers each knocked in a pair.

Game 3: 2-6 L. LP-Khattak (1-1, 5 5 4 4 1 3). Khattak's second start wasn't as good as his first but better than the line indicated. He gave up a 2-run homer to Coby Mayo (who homered twice and drove in 5) in the 4th then put two men on in the 6th and left, only for JP Sears to allow those runners to score.

Game 4: 5-1 W. WP-Eldridge (10-7, 6 5 1 0 1 4). HR-DeLoach (23), Albies (21). DeLoach and Albies drove in all 5 runs as DeLoach homered to lead off the game and added a 2-run single while Albies had a solo homer and RBI single to back the quality pitching of Eldridge.

Team record: 86-48. Yes, Toronto also won 3 of 4 so we're still tied. Next up: Back home for 3 vs Houston.

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Transactions: Recalled 1B Robby Castillo and P Charlie Ruegger in September roster expansion. Castillo of course is one of the top hitting prospects in the organization and I'll try to work him into the lineup as much as I can. Ruegger's been a good soldier for the organization and pitched decently at Durham (2.70 ERA, 13 saves) after spending most of the last two years (and the early part of this year) with the big club.

Game 1: 7-8 L. LP-Bradley (6-3, 3.2 8 5 3 2 4). HR-Cartaya (22). Taj was terrible and the Rays were down 8-2 in this one before nearly coming all the way back. Cartaya came off the bench for a 3-run pinch-homer in the 9th to make it 8-7, and DeLoach got to second with two out but couldn't be brought home. Robby Castillo made his Rays debut and was impressive, going 2-4 with an RBI single and an RBI double in the 9th which preceded Cartaya's homer.

Game 2: 15-3 W. WP-Orze (8-7, 6 0 1 1 3 7). Orze was excellent but had to leave after 83 pitches despite the no-hitter given his poor stamina. As for the offense, I'm just going to paste the Rays batting part of the box score:



The five runs scored by DeLoach tie a team single-game record.

Game 3: 7-2 W. WP-Swanda (16-8, 6 8 2 2 0 9). HR-DeLoach (24). Swanda dominated and the Rays scored 5 in the first inning with the help a couple of Houston errors.

Team record: 88-49. Unfortunately the Jays kept winning, sweeping Seattle and dropping us a game back thanks to our opening game loss. One of the Jays wins was a 3-1 decision with all the runs coming on a trio of Vlad Jr. solo homers. Next up: Kansas City visits for 3 games. The Royals are a dismal 58-80.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 1-4 L. LP-Khattak (1-2, 5 6 2 2 1 8). HR-Langeliers (2/4). Bats couldn't get anything going for a change, wasting a decent start from the rookie Khattak.

Game 2: 4-3 W. WP-Green (7-3). S-Diaz (33). Starter-Eldridge (6 4 2 2 0 9). HR-Encarnacion (8), Lee (1). Max Green blew a 3-2 lead in the 8th only for Brooks Lee to save him by hitting his first homer of the year in the bottom of the inning.

Game 3: 6-1 W. WP-Bradley (7-3, 5.2 4 0 0 2 6). HR-DeLoach (25), Albies (22), Greene (11/29). Taj bounced back nicely from his disaster start last time out and Greene drove in 3 including a 2-run homer to lead the attack.

Team record: 90-50. The Jays stumbled for a change, dropping 2 of 3 in Texas so the teams are for the umpteenth time tied in the standings. Next up: An off-day to fly to San Diego where we'll play 3.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 1-3 L. LP-Swanda (16-9, 5.2 5 3 3 4 2). The offense only managed six hits and after the Rays took a 1-0 lead in the 5th on Albies' RBI double the Padres answered with 3 in the bottom and that was that.

Game 2: 3-7 L. LP-Khattak (1-3, 1.1 6 6 5 2 0). HR-Wood (18), R.Castillo (1/4), Lee (2). The rookie Khattak was humbled by the Padres when they put up 5 in the 2nd against him. The Rays did get a trio of solo homers off old friend Tyler Glasnow but couldn't get anything else as he fanned 11 in 7 IP.

Game 3: 1-8 L. LP-Eldridge (10-8, 6 5 5 5 3 2). A lost weekend in San Diego concluded with being on the wrong side of another rout. The Padres' big-time trade deadline acquisition Corbin Burnes shut them down and is now 6-1, 1.39 in 8 starts for San Diego.

Team record: 90-53. Next up: A day off then a huge 3-game series in Toronto. The Jays took 2 of 3 in Oakland to move 2 games ahead in the standings so the Rays will need to take at least 2 of 3 to stay in the race.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 2-10 L. LP-Bradley (7-4, 3.1 6 5 5 0 5). HR-Albies (23), Caminero (27). Just a total disaster in Toronto as the Rays were routed and managed only 5 hits.

Game 2: 1-5 L. LP-Orze (8-8, 4.2 8 5 5 1 3). The losing streak reached 5 and the division deficit grew to 4 as the Rays were toothless again in Toronto. Looking like a wild card now.

Transaction: Wander Franco comes off the IL and Brooks Lee is optioned to Durham.

Game 3: 4-2 W. WP-Swanda (17-9, 6 8 2 2 2 3). S-Diaz (34). HR-Greene (12/30). The Rays stopped the rot and got back within 3 games to keep their division hopes on life support. Riley Greene's 3-run homer in the 3rd was the big hit and Swanda gutted out the win despite not having his best stuff.

Team record: 91-55. The Rays did clinch a wild card with the win in the finale. Next up: Home for 3 against the Yankees.

[Art Deco]

Tranasction: Taj Bradley was involved in a brawl in the final Toronto and was suspended for 6 games, so he goes on the restricted list and Andri Tavarez, who was up earlier this season, is recalled from AA Montgomery and will start the finale of this series.

Game 1: 8-1 W. WP-Khattak (2-3, 6 2 0 0 3 4). HR-Greene (13/31), DeLoach (26), Encarnacion (9). Khattak bounced back from a terrible outing with a brilliant one and Encarnacion was 3-4 with a 2-run homer to lead the offense. Albies had 4 hits and Greene knocked in 3.

Game 2: 3-0 W. WP-Eldridge (11-8, 6.1 4 0 0 1 3). S-Diaz (35). HR-Encarnacion (10). Another great start from the staff while Encarnacion's solo homer and Albies' RBI triple were the big hits.

Transaction: James Wood had hurt his back in the Toronto series and although it was "moderate" it was only supposed to be for 4-5 days. The trainer has now indicated it will take longer so Wood goes on the 10-day IL and OF Luis Leones is called up from Durham. Leones came over from Cincinnati in a deal that sent them Clayton Andrews at the start of the season and hit 314/345/592 in part-time action with the Bulls, homering 10 times in 191 AB.

Game 3: 8-2 W. WP-Tavarez (1-0, 5 6 1 1 1 4). HR-R.Castillo (2/5), Santana (26). Andri Tavarez was quite good in his spot start and Robbie Castillo had his best game as a Ray, going 3-4 with a 2-run homer and a 2-run triple. Santana drove in 3 with a 2-run homer and a double.

Team record: 94-55. Despite the sweep we gained no ground on Toronto which swept Boston at Fenway, so the deficit is still 3 games. Essentially, it's going to take a sweep of the upcoming 4-game series in Toronto or 3 out of 4 with some help along the way to have a shot at avoiding the wild card round. Next up: An off-day then 3 at home against Milwaukee, struggling at 62-88.

MLB News: Veteran Angels 3B Anthony Rendon hit his 300th career homer.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 6-1 W. WP-Orze (9-8, 6 2 0 0 0 9). HR-DeLoach (27). Orze was brilliant and DeLoach tripled, homered and drove in 3 runs while rookie Luis Leones' first Rays hit was a 2-run single.

Game 2: 2-0 W. WP-Swanda (18-9, 7 1 0 0 1 4). S-Diaz (36). HR-Cartaya (25). Swanda pitched a gem as he kept his hopes of winning 20 alive and Cartaya's 2nd-inning homer turned out to be the only run they'd need tonight.

Game 3: 3-4 L. LP-Khattak (2-4, 5.1 4 4 4 1 7). HR-Langeliers (3/5). Rays were up 2-0 through 5 and Khattak was pitching a 1-hitter but the wheels came off in the 6th with Milwaukee scoring 4 times including a 2-run double allowed by Trey Riley to score Khattak's runners.

Team record: 96-56. The loss in the finale was tough in more ways than one as Toronto dropped their finale and we could have pulled within 2. Instead it's still 3 with 10 games left in the season. Next up: The Cubs visit for 3 before we head to Toronto for 4.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 5-1 W. WP-Eldridge (12-8, 6 8 1 1 0 6). HR-Cartaya (26). A solid outing from Eldridge and 3 RBI from Cartaya, including a 2-run shot to open the scoring in the 5th, led the Rays to victory.

Game 2: 8-6 W. WP-Sears (8-0). S-Diaz (37). Starter-Bradley (5 5 4 4 5 2). HR-R.Castillo (3/6). A 5-run 7th overcame a 4-2 deficit with Junior Caminero having a huge game going 4-5 with 5 RBI including a triple and Robby Castillo driving in the other 3 with a homer in that 7th inning. Unfortunately the win proved costly when Wander Franco developed back spasms which will sideline him through October and hence the season.

Transaction: Wander is back on the IL, for good this time, and Brooks Lee is back up from Durham.

Game 3: 4-2 W. WP-Riley (2-0). S-Doval (2). Starter-Orze (5.2 7 2 2 0 4). HR-Santana (27), Greene (14/32). Riley Greene's solo homer broke a 2-2 tie in the 6th and Brooks Lee was 3-3 with a double and 2 runs scored.

Team record: 99-56. The sweep didn't buy them any ground in the standings as Toronto swept Milwaukee. This sets up their 4-game series in Canada, a series which the Rays pretty much have to sweep. Good luck with that, guys.

MLB News: Wander isn't the only player on a contender done for the season as the Mets have lost Starling Marte with a knee sprain.

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Transaction: James Wood was activated from the IL and Luis Leones was optioned back to Durham.

Game 1: 5-3 W. WP-Moran (6-1). S-Diaz (38). Starter-Swanda (6 6 2 2 2 7). HR-DeLoach (28), Albies (24), Wood (19). James Wood's 2-run homer in the 9th won it and the Rays moved within 2 of Toronto in their last-ditch attempt to take the division. Swanda pitched well enough to win but remains stuck on 18 so his 20-win hopes were dashed. The team hit the round number of 100 wins though.

Game 2: 2-8 L. LP-Khattak (2-5, 3.2 8 5 5 0 5). The rookie Walt Khattak was not ready for prime time and the Rays' faint hopes of winning the division suffered a near-fatal blow.

Game 3: 3-4 L. LP-Doval (0-1). Starter-Eldridge (5.1 5 2 1 2 5). HR-Santana (28), Encarnacion (11). This was essentially the final nail in the coffin for the Rays' division hopes, reducing the Jays' magic number to 1 with 4 games left. It was a back-and-forth affair before Doval put 2 on in the 9th and Edwin Diaz came in to put out the fire but instead gave up an infield single to load the bases and then hit Tim Anderson to let Toronto walk it off.

Game 3: 1-3 L. LP-Bradley (7-5, 5.1 4 2 2 3 6). HR-Langeliers (4/6). With several regulars playing through fatigue these last couple of nights the bench was emptied and not much offense was generated as Toronto officially clinched the AL East with the win.

Team record: 100-59. Next up: We close out the regular season with 3 games in New York against the Yankees.

Playoff race update: The divisions are wrapped up in both leagues as are the top two wild cards pretty much but each league has a tie for the third wild card. In the AL the Jays, Guardians and Angels are all division champs while the Rays and Astros look set to meet as the top two wild cards. Texas and Minnesota are tied for the third wild card, 2 behind Houston. Same situation in the NL as the Mets, Cards and Diamondbacks have all clinched their divisions with San Diego and Washington set as the top two wild cards. San Antonio (the former Pirates) and the Cubs are tied for the third wild card and they are 2 back of Washington.

MLB News: Milestone time asTexas' Corey Seager hit career homer #300 and Trea Turner, still with the Dodgers in this save, recorded his 2000th career hit.

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Transaction: We lost a key bullpen piece for most of October when lefty Jovani Moran had to go on the IL with chronic back soreness which will sideline him for three weeks. Lefty Andri Tavarez is called back up from Durham.

Game 1: 3-1 W. WP-Ruegger (1-1). S-Diaz (39). Starter-Orze (5 5 1 1 0 4). Nate Santana's bases-clearing double in the 8th won it for the Rays.

Game 2: 8-5 W. WP-Riley (3-0). S-Fairbanks (4). Starter-Sears (4 7 4 4 0 3). HR-Cartaya (27), Viera (7). Trailing 5-2 going into the 9th the Rays scored 6 times with Max Viera's grand slam winning it in what would have been a thrilling win had the game meant anything. Brooks Lee was 2-4 with 2 RBI.

Game 3: 10-8 W. WP-Khattak (3-5, 5.2 7 4 4 1 4). S-Doval (3). Robby Castillo drove in 3 and Ozzie Albies 2 to lead the offense as the Rays closed out the regular season with win #103 yet they have to settle for a wild card.

Final Regular Reason Record: 103-59. Next up: The AL Wild Card round where we'll host Houston.

Playoff race update: The third wild cards in each league went to Texas (AL), who tied with Minnesota but won the season series 5-1, and Chicago (NL), who beat out San Antonio by 2 games.

[Art Deco]

It was the Rays' misfortune to have the second-best record in MLB and share a division with the team that had the best, so they'll have to take care of 85-win Houston with up to three games at home. Congrats to Vlad Guerrero Jr., baseball's first triple-crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012, and to Texas' Robert Ahlstrom, who won the pitching triple crown (W, ERA, Ks). Both also won the quadruple crown of sorts as they led in batter and pitcher WAR respectively. Guess we know who the MVP and Cy Young winners in the AL will be.



Wonderful numbers all around as befits a squad which won 103 games, and all those 2nd place finishes in the batting categories were behind Toronto in 1st. The defense wasn't great but it wasn't terrible either.



We were a pretty top-heavy team, and it really hurts to lose Wander for the playoffs which probably will keep us from making it three straight World Series titles (and 4 in 5). Riley Greene was an inspired acquisition, earning 4.2 WAR in just under half a year with us (he had 2.9 with Detroit in the first half for an excellent season total of 7.1). The bench was pretty awful though, except for Brooks Lee who's the one guy we have to play now. Freili Encarnacion turned out to be an improvement over the injured Marco Luciano in the end.



An outstanding season of pitching, but like on the offense it would sure be nice to have our best guy back in Grayson Rodriguez, and without him as well it will be tough to navigate the playoff gauntlet. Edwin Diaz though was an inspired pickup, turning in a brilliant 3.1 WAR and almost unhittable in the second half of the season. He got us off the Pete Fairbanks 9th-inning rollercoaster of recent seasons. Luis German put up good numbers for the season but most of that was his unbelievable first half as he became unreliable in the second.

[Art Deco]

Already in trouble...



The bats didn't show up today and one bad pitch from John Swanda which Yoan Moncada deposited in the RF seats was the difference as the Rays lost their Wild Card opener to Houston 3-0. They were flummoxed by former Ray Shane Baz, who tonight looked more like the stud pitching prospect he was when coming through the Tampa Bay system than the journeyman pitcher with a 5.74 ERA during the regular season. So now it's up to Bryce Eldridge to keep the season and hopes of a three-peat alive tomorrow in Game 2.

Meanwhile Texas went up at Cleveland in their WC series thanks to all-world pitcher Robert Ahlstrom, who fanned 11 in 7 4-hit shutout innings:

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One game to decide it...



The Rays forced a Game 3 tomorrow by turning the tables on Houston and shutting them out behind a dominant performance from Bryce Eldridge and the bullpen. Zach DeLoach, who wouldn't have been playing had this been the regular season as he suffered a "moderate" back injury in Game 1, was the hero with a 2nd-inning grand slam, and James Wood added a 2-run shot as the Rays coasted (although aside from the homers they only had 4 other hits on the night). Taj Bradley will get the call tomorrow with Eric Orze waiting in the wings if needed.

Elsewhere, Texas is through to play the Angels in an ALDS and the NL got underway:

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See ya next year...



With the best pitching in baseball this year the Rays looked like a good bet to advance to the ALDS after taking an early 3-1 lead (and later a 4-3 lead) against Houston but the pitching let them down tonight and the bats went silent in the final four innings to send them to a 7-4 defeat and elimination from the 2028 playoffs so there will be no threepeat for the Rays. Ultimately injuries to their best player (Wander Franco) and best pitcher (Grayson Rodriguez) were too much to overcome as with them they may have won the division or at least this Wild Card series. As it was they won 103 games although given the way they played against Toronto in their 7 games in September (losing 5 of them), the ALDS probably would have been the end of the road anyway. Instead the Astros will get a crack at the 108-win behemoth in Toronto.

Over in the NL:



St. Louis advances to face Arizona while Wilmer Flores' massive 3-homer game forces a Game 3 between Washington and San Diego that went this way:



7 innings of 2-hit ball from former Rays farmhand Michael Mercado (traded way back in 2023 in the Juan Soto deal) led the Nats to victory and a date with the top-seed Mets in the other NLDS.

Speaking of the Rays' farm, Durham fell to Buffalo (the Jays affiliate, natch) in 7 games in the opening round of the International League playoffs while Montgomery holds a 3-2 series lead over Pensacola in the first round of the Southern League playoffs.

As usual when the Rays are eliminated, the next posts will be full-round recaps of the remaining playoffs, so one each for the DS, CS and World Series rounds.

[Art Deco]

In the AL:





Not a lot of suspense in the ALDS as the Jays and Rangers took care of business with sweeps.





Chalk in the NL as the Mets and D-backs won the series they were favored to, even though Arizona had to settle for a gentleman's sweep.

[Art Deco]

Upset time in the AL:



They were separated by 26 games in the final standings but it didn't matter to the Texas Rangers, who pulled off one of the great playoff upsets by dispatching the 108-win Blue Jays in 5 games to advance to the World Series. Corey Seager was named series MVP as the 82-win Rangers find themselves playing for all the marbles. Their opponents?




and that would be the Diamondbacks, who raced out to a 3-1 series lead but couldn't close the deal until their third attempt in Game 7 at Citi Field. This wasn't quite the upset the ALCS was as Arizona won 95 games this season but the Mets became the third of 2028's three 100-win teams after the Rays and Jays to be sent packing.