The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays had their way with the Jays today in a 9-1 rout behind the strong pitching of Alec Sachais and an 18-hit attack as they extended their winning streak to 12. Sachais went 7 3 1 1 0 8, the only damage being his obligatory HR allowed. He's now 11-2, 3.20. Andy Aparicio went the final 2 innings with 4 whiffs. The offense came early and often with Joe Barker's RBI single and Jasson Dominguez's RBI groundout making it 2-0 in the 1st, and then the runs and hits just piled up from there. When the dust settled, Barker ended up 4-5 with 2 RBI, Keibert Ruiz was 3-4 with 2 RBI, Judson Fabian hit #22 and drove in 2 as part of his 3-hit day, Bobby Witt Jr missed the cycle by a double as he went 3-5 with a HR (#24) and 2 RBI and Jhon Diaz had 3 hits. Nate Clark was the only one in the lineup without a hit, but that was mainly because Toronto pitchers walked him 3 times.

Game 2: It was more of the same at the Trop where the Rays' winning streak reached a baker's dozen in a 12-1 blowout of Toronto. Three weeks after Judson Fabian tied the team record with a 3-HR game, Ricky Widmar repeated the feat blasting homers in the 1st, 3rd and 7th innings to give him 14 on the season. He also walked with the bases loaded (and walked his other trip to reach all 5 times) to give him a 5-RBI day. Widmar's first homer came off none other than Brendan McKay who still occasionally pitches for Toronto, usually as an opener which he did today. After his second it was only a 3-1 Rays lead in the 6th, when they scored 7 times to blow the game open. The big hit in that inning was a Joe Barker grand slam, HR #26 for him. Judson Fabian had a pair of RBI hits and Dane Ayers an RBI double for the other 3 runs. Jack Leiter picked up where Alec Sachais left off the day before, dominating the Jays save for a solo homer allowed. Leiter went 7 3 1 1 2 8 and is now 8-3, 4.11 as once again he's filled in admirably for a injured starter, this time Christian Little. Mike Mooney pitched the final 2 innings. But back to Widmar, whose numbers are really insane. He's slashing 377/421/604 in the 64 games he's played this year, and has already accumulated 4.5 WAR, which pro-rated to 162 games would be 11.4.

Game 3: The Rays' 13-game winning streak came to an abrupt end today when Toronto scored twice in the 9th off Jose Alvarado to win 5-3. Right after Dayle Jenkins managed only their third hit of the day to tie it up in the bottom of the 8th, he dropped a flyball leading off the top of the 9th to put a man on 2nd, who scored on a single. Alvarado then gave up a double for a second run. Several regulars got the day off (Fabian, Witt, Ruiz, Dominguez) but that was little excuse as they managed only 3 hits on the day, 2 of which came from fill-in Jenkins. Joe Barker drove in both the earlier runs on groundouts as Rays hitters did draw 6 walks. Blake Money started and had one bad inning in which he allowed a solo homer to Drew Bowser and a 2-run shot to Brendan McKay, finally getting to homer at the Trop as we never really used him as a hitter. Money was great outside of that, going 6 5 3 3 2 10. Jordan Diaz made a mess loading the bases in the 7th but Romelo Canulon got him out of that and Daniel Espino pitched a fine 8th but couldn't get another relief win when the Rays couldn't score a second run in the bottom of the 8th.

Team record: 87-34. Next up: 4 games in Baltimore over 3 days with a doubleheader tomorrow. I'm using the 2013 schedule so we match up against the NL West this year in the interleague rotation so I'm not sure whether this was a scheduled doubleheader or a real-life doubleheader which took place after a rainout earlier in the season.

Also, how about the AL Wild Card race?



We'll end up playing one of these teams in the ALDS.

[Art Deco]

August 20: Recalled P Tim Siquerios from AAA Durham.

So this is funny. Since OOTP doesn't support the extra man for the doubleheader rule and I needed to call up someone to start Game 2, I sent Jordan Diaz to Durham for the day since he threw 30+ pitches yesterday. So when I made that move, I received this message:



Going to be awkward when I call him back up tomorrow.

Game 1: The Rays kept coming back in the first game of the doubleheader, but they eventually fell short by the score of 6-5. Mike Mooney was pitching right after the Rays had tied it up with 2 in the top of the 8th, and had to come out with back spasms. Enter Daniel Espino, and Jo Adell greeted him with a triple off the scoreboard in RF and Livan Soto singled home Adell with the winning run. The Rays put two on the in the 9th but couldn't get the tying run home. Mack Anglin started and wasn't that good, giving up 3 HRs in total in a 5 9 5 5 2 6 outing. Romulo Canelon went 1 1/3 but he too had to leave with a sore thumb (he'll be fine tomorrow), so that brought in Mooney, who will have these back spasms bother him for a week but be minimal. The Rays offense came on a Jhon Diaz RBI single (part of a 3-hit day), a 2-run Connor Kirkley single, a Jasson Dominguez RBI single and a run off a wild pitch.

Game 2: The Rays managed a split of the doubleheader and an end to their mini 2-game losing streak with a 5-4 win in 10 innings thanks to a Baltimore error. With Jasson Dominguez on 3rd and two out, the Orioles paid some serious respect to rookie Dayle Jenkins by intentionally walking him to pitch to Dane Ayers. It looked like the move would pay off when Ayers hit a routine grounder to Orioles 2B Livan Soto, but Soto made a bad throw to 1st allowing Ayers to reach and Dominguez to score. Evan Godwin, who got the final 2 outs of the 9th, stayed on for the 10th and retired Baltimore without incident for his 2nd win. It was a weird game before that with the Rays taking an early 3-0 lead on homers from Ricky Widmar (#15) and Jenkins (#3) and an Ayers RBI single. Tim Siqueiros got the start but was terribly wild, walking 7 in his 4 innings which took 101 pitches to get through. But as he only allowed 2 hits and struck out 4, the Orioles managed only one run off him. Andy Aparicio took over in the 5th and looked dominant for two innings, retiring all 6 batters he faced with 5 via strikeout. But after Judson Fabian singled in a run in the 7th to make it 4-1, Aparicio ran into big trouble in the bottom of the inning, allowing a pair of homers to let Baltimore even it up. He still struck out the side around those homers, so he had a bizarre 3 3 3 3 0 8 line to go with Siquerios' 4 2 1 1 7 4. Aparicio now has a ridiculous 123 whiffs in 75.1 innings this season. Based on the platoon matchups and the thinned-out bullpen, Jasseel De La Cruz came on in the 8th in a tied game and went 1 1/3 scoreless before Godwin took over.

Game 3: It was your typical Camden Yards game: lots of homers, lots of lead changes, lots of offense, and the Rays prevailed for the second straight day in 10 innings 8-7. Nate Clark's 2nd HR of the game, off the wonderfully-named Benvenuto Patitucci, broke the tie and gave him 29 for the season to cap a 3-5, 4-RBI day. Jose Alvarado, who had pitched the 9th, stayed in for the 10th and earned his 5th win of the year. It was actually only a 2-1 game through 6 innings as Shane McClanahan dueled Ruben Galindo with Clark's first homer one of only two hits the Rays managed to that point. Mac was at 90 pitches entering the 7th and probably was left in too long as he gave up a 3-run HR to Sam Hilliard and it was 5-1 Orioles after 7. But the Rays exploded for 6 runs in the 8th. It started off innocently enough with a Connor Kirkley homer (#14) that looked like a consolation run, but a couple of more Rays reached and Clark drilled a 2-run double to make it 5-4 with 2 out. Baltimore's Luke Leto then served up HR #27 to Joe Barker and the Rays had a 6-5 lead. Leto was pulled and Bobby Witt Jr greeted Nick Wittgren with HR #25 to give the Rays a little insurance and that proved big in the bottom of the inning when Jasseel De La Cruz's second-half struggles continued as he served up a 2-run HR to allow Baltimore to tie it back up. This set the stage for Clark's winner in extras as Barker and Keibert Ruiz joined Clark with 3-hit games.

Game 4: After 3 games in 2 days which required a lot of pitchers, the bullpen was pretty burned out coming into tonight's game with Jordan Diaz and Mike Mooney the only relievers not tired, and Mooney is battling back spasms. So we needed a big game from Alec Sachais and he came through for the most part, going 6 6 1 1 1 6 on 106 pitches and tiring in the 6th. He left with the score 2-1 Rays as the offense was struggling with the only runs on a Joe Barker single, steal and RBI groundout from Jhon Diaz and Jasson Dominguez's 31st HR of the year. Mooney got through the 7th and Dominguez added another solo shot (#32) in the top of the 8th. After getting an out and giving up a hit, Mooney gave way to Diaz, who got Adley Rustchman to pop out. But then the meltdown started and by the time it was over Diaz had allowed a pair of 2-run HRs and despite Nate Clark's 30th in the top of the 9th the Rays lost 5-4. Now whether any of this had to do with clubhouse issues with Diaz remains to be seen, for now I'm just chalking it up to Camden Yards.

Team record: 89-36. Next up: A much needed off-day before the Yankees (sans Vlad Jr. who's injured but should be back next week) come to town for the weekend.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Tropicana Field turned into Coors Field for 6 innings today as the Yankees led the Rays 9-8 going into the 7th, and unfortunately for the Rays the stadium reverted to the Trop over the final 3 as no further runs were scored. The 9-8 win for the Yankees continues the New Yorkers' success against the Rays this year, as they're probably the only team that can make this claim as they took an 8-6 lead in the season series. Blake Money was horrible today, going 3.1 6 7 7 3 5 and allowing a couple of homers. Andy Aparicio wasn't much better, coming on for Money in the 4th with 2 men on and promptly giving up a 3-run HR to Ivan Vega and then watching the next batter Joe Allen hit his 2nd of the game. Evan Godwin did pitch 2 scoreless innings and Romulo Canelon one to keep them close, but they couldn't make the late-inning breakthrough. The Rays got homers from Ricky Widmar (#16) leading off the game, Jasson Dominguez (#33), a 3-run shot tying the game at 5, and Connor Kirkley (#15), another 3-run shot which got them within 9-8. It was a big win for the Yankees in the wide-open AL wild card race, and it might behoove the Rays to beat them the next couple of days to reduce their chances of having to face them in the ALDS.

Game 2: Beating the Yankees hasn't been easy for the Rays this year, and even when it looks like it might be easy it often isn't. Case in point today as the Rays led 5-0 after 6 innings and had to end up holding on to win 7-5. Jack Leiter gave them another great start going 6 4 0 0 2 6 on 99 pitches and he still ended up with win, improving to 9-3, 3.87 as he finally got his ERA below 4. Leiter's allowed only 2 runs over his last 4 starts, covering 26 innings. But Romulo Canelon had a rare bad outing as he immediately gave up a homer to Sam Hunt and then another to Derek Crum. Daniel Espino got out of the inning, but put 2 more on in the 8th and then gave up Hunt's 2nd HR of the game to make it 6-5. Joe Barker capped his big day with an insurance RBI single in the 8th as he was 3-4 with 2 RBI and 2 steals. Jose Alvarado had gotten Espino out of the 8th and with lefties due up stayed on for the 9th which he navigated successfully for save #6. The Rays had built their 5-0 lead on a Barker single in the 1st, two runs on wild pitches around a Bobby Witt sac fly in the 3rd to make it 4-0, and a Nate Clark RBI single in the 6th. Connor Kirkley's RBI groundout in the 7th produced another run.

Game 3: The Rays' struggles with the Yankees continued as they dropped an 8-5 decision today to give the Yankees a 9-7 edge in the season series to date. And the score flattered them as Carlos Perez's grand slam (#4) in the bottom of the 9th turned an 8-1 game into an 8-5 one. Mack Anglin started and - stop me if you've heard this before - had one bad inning out of the 6 he pitched, really a 5-batter sequence in the 4th which saw the Yankees score 4 times. Overall he was 6 5 4 4 1 6 in one of his typical outings, although what was atypical was taking the loss as he's now 15-4. Jordan Diaz got through the 7th but gave up 4 more in the 8th as he's now on a run of 3 bad outings in 4 in which he's allowed 9 runs in his last 4 2/3 innings. JDLC got some work in with a scoreless 9th. Before Perez's 11th-hour slam the offense didn't do its part either, with Nate Clark's solo HR in the 4th (#31 and their first hit of the day) all they could generate.

Team record: 90-38. Next up: a quick jaunt to Kansas City for a makeup game before returning home to play the Angels.

[Art Deco]

Even though it wasn't our greatest week, Nate Clark was pretty great:



The Rays made the most of their quick business trip to Kansas City, getting excellent pitching and just enough hitting in a 3-2 win over the Royals. Shane McClanahan started and was very good, going 6 6 2 2 0 8, only allowing a pair of solo HRs including one to former Ray Triston Casas. He's now 11-7, 3.97. Evan Godwin, Daniel Espino and Jasseel De La Cruz (with save #23) threw scoreless innings in relief. There wasn't a whole lot of offense as after Nate Clark's RBI fielder's choice in the 1st put the Rays on the board they came back from a 2-1 deficit in the 6th on an RBI single from Bobby Witt Jr and an RBI double from Connor Kirkley. Jasson Dominguez had a 3-hit game and scored the tying run.

Team record: 91-38. Next up: Back home for 3 against the Angels, who are clinging to a small lead in the AL West.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Alec Sachais was excellent tonight and the Rays finally broke through in the 7th to take a 5-2 win over the Angels in the series opener. Sachais went 7 4 2 2 1 10 and is now 12-2, 3.09. He gave up his obligatory homer but was otherwise in control. Jasson Dominguez blasted HR #34 off old friend Aaron Ashby, who started for LA, and Ricky Widmar had a 5th-inning RBI single as the game went 2-2 into the 7th. Joe Barker hit what would have been a sac fly except Alex Verdugo dropped the ball to give the Rays a 3-2 lead, Dominguez added a sac fly, and Dayle Jenkins drilled an RBI double into the RF corner for the 3rd run of the inning. Daniel Espino had a scoreless 8th and with JDLC unavailable Jose Alvarado pitched the 9th for save #7, striking out the side.

Game 2: Deja vu all over again as the Rays won for the second straight night 5-2, although they grabbed the lead a bit earlier tonight. Blake Money started, and just like Alec Sachais last night, surrendered a HR to slugging Angels rookie Chris Seddon, this one a 2-run shot in the first. But although Money battled runners all night, he bent instead of breaking and ended up 6.1 8 2 2 3 3 which was good enough to get him to 11-8. Jordan Diaz came in with one on and one out in the 7th and looked like he might be in meltdown mode again when he let the first two batters he faced reach. But he got Seddon to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to get out of the inning, Evan Godwin had a 1-2-3 2K 8th, and JDLC got save #24 with his own 1-2-3 inning. After the Seddon homer put the Rays in a quick hole, Judson Fabian answered right back with a solo shot (#23) in the bottom of the 1st. The Rays then took the lead for good in the 2nd when Jhon Diaz doubled in a run and Keibert Ruiz singled in Diaz. Diaz got the job done again in the 4th with a sac fly and Jasson Dominguez hit #35 in the 8th to make it 5-2. The loss was the Angels' 5th straight and their AL West lead is down to 1 1/2 over Seattle and 2 over Texas.

Game 3: The Rays swept the series from the Angels with a convincing 8-1 win behind another fine start from Jack Leiter and a balanced offense led by Joe Barker. Leiter continued his run (3 runs in his last 31.2 IP) with a 5.2 5 1 1 2 6 performance to go to 10-3, 3.75. Romulo Canelon got him out of the 6th but gave up 2 hits to start the 7th so Andy Aparicio came in and did his thing: 3 perfect innings with 7 whiffs for his 3rd save. Jhon Diaz kicked off the scoring with HR #17 in the 2nd to make it 1-0, but Barker had the big day, going 3-4 with 2 RBI and a stolen base (his 31st as he's 3 HR away from a 30-30 season). A 4-run 4th broke it open with an RBI single from Isaac DeLeon, an RBI double from Dane Ayers, and a 2-run single from Carlos Perez. Jasson Dominguez added an RBI double for good measure. The Angels' 6th straight loss drops them to .500 and 1/2 game ahead of Seattle in the west, two teams we'll be seeing again very soon.

Team record: 94-38. Next up: A 10-game west coast road swing begins with 3 in Oakland.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: It was another power display from the Bay Bombers as Judson Fabian, Nate Clark and Joe Barker set the tone in the first inning with back-to-back-to-back homers as the Rays romped past the A's 14-5. Barker added a 2nd HR in the 3rd to give him 29, and Jasson Dominguez hit #36 to give the team 5 more for an MLB-leading 252. Fabian now has 24 and Clark 32. Barker drove in 3 for the game and everyone in the lineup except Jhon Diaz (who doubled twice) drove in a run and everyone except Clark and Connor Kirkley had at least two hits (they each had one). The beneficiary of this run support was Mack Anglin and he needed it as he did not pitch well at all, going 5 10 5 3 1 4 yet still grabbing his MLB-best 16th win. He's having a Jack Morris-type season with his 4.88 ERA. Jordan Diaz pitched a scoreless 6th which including a whiff of Oakland's Jordan Diaz in a real Spider-Man meme moment, while Romulo Canelon pitched the final 3 innings without allowing a run for his 2nd save.

September 1: Sent OF Spencer Torkelson and P Christian Little to AAA Durham for rehab assignments; recalled P Malachi Benford from AAA Durham.

Benford comes up as our extra pitcher with September roster expansion, although Little will take his place after a couple of rehab starts and Tork will be our extra hitter as we'll go without one for about a week.

Some monthly honors:





Poor Chris Sharp. Despite the text in the box above calling him a newcomer, he's been stuck at Durham for four seasons now and is having his best year of them all. The problem is he's stuck behind the guy right above him, and we also have top prospect Rodolfo Rivas at the position (they've been splitting 1B/DH time at Durham). The other problem is that Sharp doesn't seem to yield a lot in trade value, so right now he's more valuable as injury insurance.

Game 2: When August's AL Player of the Month Joe Barker got a start on his September by drilling a 2-run HR in the 1st to give the Rays a 2-0 lead (joining the 30-30 club in the process) it looked like more of the same from yesterday's rout. But it turned out that would be all the Rays would get with only two hits thereafter as the A's edged them 3-2. Lefty Lucas Gordon held them in the check through the 7th and the Rays could only manage a walk against two Oakland relievers in the final 2 innings. Shane McClanahan started and let Oakland get a series of hits with two out in the 2nd to bring home 3 runs and that was enough to saddle him with his 8th loss against 11 wins. Mac held it from there to no avail and went 6 8 3 3 1 7. Malachi Benford, just back with the team, and Mike Mooney each had a scoreless relief inning to hold it close. Despite failing to win the Yankees lost as well so the magic # for clinching the AL East is down to 2 which means they could do it as soon as tomorrow.

Game 3: The Rays took a 5-3 win over Oakland in a weird, TOOTBLAN-filled 10th inning. Aft first it was shaping up like yesterday's game in some respects as Joe Barker once again hit a 2-run 1st-inning homer and the Rays couldn't score much after that, but the difference was that Alec Sachais pitched better than Shane McClanahan yesterday, going 7 5 1 1 1 6. And when Judson Fabian's RBI single in the 8th made it 3-1, things looked good. Until the bullpen blew it, that is. Daniel Espino got the first 2 out in the bottom of the 8th before putting a man on, and Jose Alvarado came in to face the lefty (and former Rays property) Billy Benedetto. Alvarado walked him and their Jordan Diaz then ripped a 2-run triple to tie the game before he was stranded at 3rd. In the 10th Ricky Widmar led off with what looked like a triple but was tagged out standing off of 3rd when the A's pulled the old hidden ball trick. No matter though as Judson Fabian singled, went to 2nd on a passed ball, and scored on Bobby Witt Jr's single. And then in their second baserunning blunder of the inning, Witt was picked off 1st base but Barker hit his 2nd HR of the day (and 5th in 3 games) as his 32nd made it 5-3. The homer capped off a perfect day for Barker, who was 3-3 with two walks including the 2 homers. Jasseel De La Cruz made it interesting in the bottom of the 10th by putting two men on but got out of it for save #25 while Alvarado vultured his 6th win. The Yankees won so the magic # is now 1.

Team record: 96-39. Next up: Four games in Anaheim.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays lost a tough one at Anaheim today, 2-1. They outhit the Angels 9-3 but couldn't string them together at the right time, while LA did, getting a Mike Trout HR to tie it up and two hits and a walk to score a second run in the 4th inning off Blake Money. That was of course all Money allowed, going 6 3 2 2 4 7 while Jordan Diaz and Malachi Benford pitched scoreless innings. The Rays' lone run came in the top of the 4th when Bobby Witt Jr singled in Jasson Dominguez.

Game 2: The Rays clinched their 8th straight AL East title tonight, but the celebrations were muted as the Angels scored 3 times in the bottom of the 9th off Jasseel De La Cruz to pull out an 8-6 win. The clinching came earlier in the night when the Yankees lost at home to the White Sox around the time this game got started and the Rays looked in control early, opening up a 6-1 lead in the 6th behind the red-hot Jack Leiter, who was in the process of another brilliant start. But he had a hard time getting the 3rd out in the 6th, and loaded the bases for the powerful Bobby Dalbec, who took him deep for a grand slam to cut the Rays' lead to 6-5. Still Daniel Espino and Jose Alvarado had scoreless innings to bring us to the 9th, but JDLC crapped the bed. He couldn't get anyone out, giving up a double, single, RBI single (with a man thrown out at 3rd) to tie and then a 2-run homer to Kyren Paris for LA to walk it off. This after he had seemed to turn the corner on his 2nd half struggles with 4 straight scoreless outings. The Rays scored their 6 runs by the 4th inning with the first two coming after a batter had reached, stole second, and went to 3rd on Shea Langeliers' throwing error, with a Judson Fabian groundout and a Connor Kirkley sac fly driving them in. Then with the bases loaded in the 4th Isaac DeLeon hit one of the longest homers in Anaheim Stadium history, a grand slam (#22) which traveled 522 feet over the batters' eye berm and onto the pavilion above. Unfortunately they couldn't get anything going after that with Joe Musgrove coming on in relief and shutting them out for 3 2/3.

Game 3: After losing two straight to the Angels and 3 out of 4 overall the Rays bounced back with a 7-2 win tonight. The big blow came courtesy of Nate Clark, whose 3-run HR (#33) in the 5th turned a 2-1 Angels lead in to a 4-2 Rays one. Judson Fabian made it 5-2 with an RBI single in the 7th and Dayle Jenkins opened it up for Tampa Bay in the 8th with a 2-run shot (#4). Mack Anglin pitched pretty well in notching his MLB-leading 17th win, going 6.1 8 2 2 1 9 while Daniel Espino got the final two outs of the 7th and after it went to 7-2 Malachi Benford and Jordan Diaz each went a scoreless inning.

Game 4: Bombs away as the Rays blasted 6 homers in an 11-2 rout of the Angels to salvage a split of the 4-game series. Their leading HR hitter led the way as Jasson Dominguez hit #s 37 and 38 tonight, the first of which was a 2-run job in the 4th which gave the Rays the lead to stay at 2-1. Ricky Widmar expanded the lead with a 2-run shot in the 5th (#17), one of his four hits on the night. Connor Kirkley's 3-run blast (#17) in the 6th broke the game open at 7-1, with Dominguez following with his 2nd later in the inning. For good measure Jud Fabian added a 2-run HR (#25) off old friend Aaron Ashby in the 8th and Joe Barker capped the day with #33 in the 9th. Barker's homer also made him the first Ray to reach the 100 RBI plateau. Clark (93) and Dominguez (87) should also get there before season's end. Shane McClanahan was in his rocking chair while all this was going on, scattering 10 hits but allowing only 2 runs through 7 with 0 walks and 6 strikeouts. He gave up 2 of those singles to start the 8th and Andy Aparicio came in and went 6 up, 6 down with 4 whiffs in one of his typical outings.

Team record: 98-41. Next up: The west coast journey continues in Seattle for 3 over the weekend.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Alec Sachais was dealing until he wasn't, and the Rays ended up being soundly beaten 7-1 by Seattle. Sachais was brilliant through the first 4 innings, allowing only a hit and striking out 5. But he struggled to get outs in the 5th and ended up allowing a pair of 3-run HRs, the first to former Ray Patrick Bailey who was traded to Seattle for Sachais (and Blake Money). After giving up a leadoff double in the 6th who eventually came around to score, Sachais ended 5 8 7 7 0 8. Romulo Canelon had a scoreless inning and Mike Mooney two to finish it out. Not much offense with the only run coming on a double play ball. Jhon Diaz did have 3 hits and a steal but everyone else kind of took the day off. The win was big for Seattle, which is only 1/2 game behind new AL West leader Texas, who beat the Angels and dropped LA 1 game behind.

Game 2: Bobby Witt Jr had the big hit as the Rays came back to beat Seattle 6-3 tonight. They trailed 2-1 going into the 7th with Mariners lefty Kannon Handy stifling them on 1 hit, Connor Kirkley's 17th HR of the year in the 3rd. Handy gave up a leadoff double to Jud Fabian, got Nate Clark to pop up but then had to leave with wrist soreness. Seattle brought on rookie Jake Estes and the Rays took advantage. Estes hit Jasson Dominguez and then served up a triple into the RF corner to score 2 runs and give the Rays a 3-2 lead. Dane Ayers singled in Witt to make it 4-2, and they added 2 more in the 8th on a Dominguez sac fly and Witt's RBI double. Blake Money got the start against his old team and while he was tough to hit, he was somewhat wild and his two walks in the 3rd led to a pair of Seattle runs. Still though he was quite good, going 7 2 2 2 5 7 to improve to 12-9, 4.33. Evan Godwin gave up a solo homer in the 8th and Jasseel De La Cruz was more Jekyll than Hyde this time around, striking out the side for save #26.

Durham Playoff Update: The update is that there will be no playoffs for Durham this year, sadly. They were kind of stuck all season a few games over .500, went on a great run just recently winning 11 straight, but came up short after losing tonight 4-2 to Gwinnett. This is the first time in the 10 seasons of this save they've missed the playoffs.

Game 3: Jack Leiter had his best outing of the season and the Rays jumped all over old friend Chris Paddack for 4 in the 1st inning as they shut out Seattle 7-0 for season win #100. Leiter (11-3) went 7 3 0 0 1 8 and was never in any real trouble as his big second half continues. Over his last 9 starts he's allowed only 12 earned runs over 57 2/3 innings and he's 7-0, 1.87 during that stretch. The Rays kept the turnstiles going in the 1st with the first four batters reaching and scoring on RBI singles from Bobby Witt Jr (who has taken over the AL WAR lead at 6.3), Jasson Dominguez and Jhon Diaz, with Isaac DeLeon adding a sac fly. Connor Kirkley had a 2-run double in the 5th to finally chase Paddack, and Dominguez added HR #39 in the 7th to put him in a tie with Julio Rodriguez for the MLB lead. Romulo Canelon and Malachi Benford finished off the team shutout over the final 2 innings.

Team record: 100-42. Next up: An off-day, then finally back home for 3 against Boston, who are in the thick of the wild card race.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays looked tired and listless through 5 innings, trailing Boston and their ace Jacob Smith 3-1. But they broke through for 5 runs in the 6th to chase Smith and beat the Red Sox 6-4 in a game that was much bigger for Boston. Mack Anglin started and was getting too much of the plate as Red Sox hitters teed 10 hits off him, but he did manage to limit the damage and make it through 6 innings. As a result he got win #18 despite a mediocre 6 10 3 3 1 7 line. With a 4.79 ERA, it's possible Anglin becomes the first 20-game winner to be dropped from his team's playoff rotation as a (presumably healthy) Christian Little, Alec Sachais and Shane McClanahan have locks on the first 3 spots, meaning it's between Anglin, Blake Money and Jack Leiter for the 4th and Anglin's pitched the poorest of the those 3 lately. Anyway as for the 5-run rally, after Nate Clark singled in the 1st run in the 3rd they went to town in the 6th. Clark led off with a walk, was doubled home by Joe Barker, who was singled home by Bobby Witt Jr to tie it, and after Connor Kirkley walked Keibert Ruiz delivered a 2-run double to give the Rays the lead before Ricky Widmar singled him home. Daniel Espino, Jose Alvarado and Jasseel De La Cruz pitched the 7th, 8th and 9th, with Alvarado being nicked for a run before JDLC got save #27.

Skydiving???



We were about to demote Benford to make room for Christian Little anyway, so let's make it official:

September 12: Placed P Malachi Benford on the 60-day IL with a torn labrum, activated P Christian Little from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham. Recalled 1B Chris Sharp from AAA Durham.

I was planning on using the extra hitter slot for Spencer Torkelson, who was on rehab at Durham but he re-pulled his rib cage muscle and is day-to-day for a week. So "poor Chris Sharp" as I call him, finally gets the call to the Show and I'll give him a start tonight at 1B. He did have a monster season at Durham, going 319/369/587 with 38 HR and 102 RBI so he's earned it. I'll still bring Tork back next week and send Sharp down but for now Sharp gets his reward.

Game 2: Groundhog Day at the Trop as once again the Rays found themselves trailing in the bottom of the 6th, only to take the lead and go on to win, today by the score of 4-2. Former Ray Yonny Chirinos was doing his thing again keeping the bats off-balance, but they caught up to him (although not as dramatically as they did yesterday to Jacob Smith). It all started with MLB debutant Chris Sharp leading off the inning with his MLB hit, a double to the RF corner. He went to 3rd on a wild pitch before Nate Clark singled him home to tie the game at 2, and Clark got to 3rd where Bobby Witt Jr brought him home with a sac fly to give the Rays the lead. They tacked on an insurance run in the 8th when Clark tripled and scored on a wild pitch. Earlier Jhon Diaz and Connor Kirkley hit back-to-back doubles for the Rays' first run in the 5th. Shane McClanahan (now 13-8) got the start, and pitched quite well going 6 4 2 2 3 4 with both Boston runs coming in the 5th and both scoring on wild pitches, kind of the theme of the night. Evan Godwin, Daniel Espino and Jose Alvarado got the 7th, 8th and 9th and Alvarado grabbed save #9 with lefties due in the 9th. Sharp went 1-4 with that double in his debut, and also made a great defensive play.

Game 3: The Rays completed the sweep of Boston with yet another come-from-behind win, this time from a 5-1 deficit in the 7th to win 8-5 in 10 innings. Bobby Witt Jr., having an MVP-type season, completed the comeback with a 3-run walk-off HR in the 10th inning (#26) off veteran Ken Giles to severely damage the Red Sox' playoff hopes as they fall behind two teams by 2 games in the race for the second wild card (the Yankees have been hot lately and look to have the first WC wrapped up). Alec Sachais started and struggled in two innings, giving up a 3-run HR to Bob Kelly in the 3rd and 2 more runs in the 6th to leave at 5.2 8 5 5 1 8. Coming in to replace him in the 6th and seeing his first MLB action since June 10 was Christian Little, who was his usual dazzling self, retiring all 10 Red Sox he faced over 3 1/3 innings and whiffing 6 of them. This bought the Rays time to start their comeback and after Shawn Semple shut them down going 6 4 1 1 1 6, the bats feasted on reliever Sam Tuivailala with a 4-spot in the 7th. Carlos Perez's 2-run double cut the lead to 5-3, Chris Sharp got his first MLB RBI with a groundout to make it 5-4, and the tying run scored on a wild pitch. Jordan Diaz took over for Little and got a 1-2-3 10th, setting the stage for the bottom of the inning as Joe Barker led off with a double, Jasson Dominguez was intentionally walked, and Witt took Giles deep to win the game.

Team record: 103-42. Next up: a weekend in Minnesota to face the Twins, who have overtaken Detroit for first but are clinging to a 1/2-game lead.

Here's a quick look at the AL Central & West standings, and the wild card race. A lot of parity in the league outside of the Rays:

[Art Deco]

Game 1: With the wide-open AL division & wild card races, and with the Rays having already clinched everything, they're just like a team out of it as they get to play spoiler on a nightly basis. And coupled with a Detroit win tonight, the Rays knocked Minnesota out of first place in the AL Central with a come-from-ahead turned come-from-behind 10-9 win at Target Field. They jumped all over Minnesota ace Jon Hayes for 6 runs in the first 2 innings and built an 8-3 lead which they couldn't hold as Blake Money wasn't very good tonight and neither was the bullpen. Evan Godwin gave up his 9th HR in 46 IP this season to let Minnesota get within 8-7 in the 8th and then Daniel Espino served up a 2-run shot to put the Twins in front going into the 9th. But Judson Fabian, whose key error in the 5th helped allow Minnesota to score 3 times, blasted HR #26 off new Twins closer Juan Tenorio to tie it, and Joe Barker clubbed his 2nd of the game (#35) to give the Rays the lead. Jasseel De La Cruz started a 1-6-3 double play to end the game and get save #28 while Espino vultured another win, his 9th of the year. Earlier in the game the Rays got homers from Barker, Connor Kirkley (#18) and Jasson Dominguez (#40, tied for the MLB lead with Minnesota's Julio Rodriguez who didn't get one tonight). Fabian drove in a pair in addition to his 9th-inning homer and Nate Clark and Keibert Ruiz also had RBIs. Money couldn't get the final out in the 5th and ended up 4.2 9 6 3 2 8, while Andy Aparicio went 2 1/3 scoreless.

Game 2: The Rays blew another lead yet came back to win again today in 11 innings over Minnesota 4-3, their 7th straight victory. Isaac DeLeon had a pair of RBI singles and Bobby Witt one of his own to give the Rays a 3-0 lead in the top of the 4th. Jack Leiter, continuing on his roll, was unable to retire the first five batters in the bottom of the inning allowing the Twins to get within 3-2, but he struck out the next 3 batters to get out of it. Leiter gave up nothing from there and ended with another solid start at 6 5 2 2 3 7. Jose Alvarado got a 1-2-3 8th, and 3-2 remained the score when Jordan Diaz gave up a leadoff double and then another one with two out to allow Minnesota to tie. Romulo Canelon got a chance to pitch the ninth and nearly lost the game when he allowed the Twins runners at 1st and 3rd with nobody out, but a shallow fly ball, a grounder to the drawn-in infield and another fly ball got him out of it. Mike Mooney got them through the 10th, and then Joe Barker reached 2nd leading off the 11th on a Yairo Munoz throwing error and came around to score on a Connor Kirkley two-out single. JDLC had a 1-2-3 11th and picked up save #29 while Mooney notched his first win as a Ray.

Game 3: Turnabout is fair play and it was the Twins today who came back and beat the Rays 6-5 to salvage a game of the series and repair their damaged playoff hopes. Daniel Espino coudn't get it done, getting the call in the 9th with JDLC having pitched the previous two days and allowing a walk and two hits to allow Minnesota to walk it off. The blown save cost Mack Anglin his 19th win although frankly he didn't really deserve it, giving up another mother lode of base hits in a 5 10 3 2 2 4 outing helped by two double plays and a runner thrown out on the bases. He left with a 5-3 lead and Mike Mooney, who has pitched well of late, reverted to mid-season form and allowed a run, although Jordan Diaz and Jose Alvarado got through the 7th and 8th fairly easily. The Rays took the lead in the 5th inning on Chris Sharp's first major league HR, a 3-run shot to the opposite field in left. Earlier Jhon Diaz and Carlos Perez had RBI singles for Tampa Bay.

Team record: 105-43. Next up: back home against another contender, the Rangers. Texas is 1st in the AL West by 2 1/2 games, taking over for the Angels who have slumped badly. We'll get to see familiar faces like Wander Franco, Heston Kjerstad and Keston Hiura.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Picking up where the series in Minnesota left off, another Rays game came down to the 9th inning as they took a walk-off 4-3 win when Keibert Ruiz singled in Jhon Diaz with the winning run. Texas had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd against Shane McClanahan on homers from Dylan Carlson and Josh Jung but Mac hung in there after that and kept his pitch count down, allowing him to go 7.2 6 3 3 0 4. He left with a man on in the 8th and Andy Aparicio put two more on to load the bases, but he got out of it and had a 1-2-3 9th, enabling AA to pick up his 4th win. The Rays chipped away at that Texas lead, first with a monster shot from Ruiz (#12) in the bottom of the 3rd, then a Bobby Witt Jr sac fly in the 6th before Judson Fabian's RBI double in the 7th tied it up. In the 9th, Witt led off with a single but was thrown out trying to steal, but Diaz doubled, Connor Kirkley was intentionally walked, and Ruiz singled to right to win the game.

September 18: Activated OF Spencer Torkelson from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham, optioned 1B Chris Sharp to AAA Durham.

Tork is finally ready to come back and we'll get a look at him over the final two weeks to see if he goes on the playoff roster or whether it's Dayle Jenkins.

Game 2: Jasseel De La Cruz continued his inconsistent second half by imploding in the 9th inning, allowing a 3-run HR to Heston Kjerstad to turn a 4-2 Rays win into a 5-4 loss. JDLC gave up singles to the first two hitters, then Kjerstad took him deep into the RF stands to cost Christian Little his first win since May 18. Little in his first start since June 10 was excellent, going 5.1 4 2 0 2 8 before running out of gas in the 6th. The two unearned runs against were the result of Jordan Diaz's throwing error on a grounder which would have been the third out of the 6th. Diaz got through that inning and retired the Rangers in the 7th, and Jose Alvarado had a 1-2-3 8th before JDLC blew the game. The Rays had built a 4-0 lead on a Joe Barker double and consecutive wild pitches from Daniel Tillo, Jasson Dominguez's AL-leading 41st HR of the year and a 2-run shot from Nate Clark (#34), who'd been quiet the last couple of weeks. Spencer Torkelson returned to the lineup for the first time in over a month and a half and doubled in his first plate appearance, only to have to immediately come out with a hip flexor strain, a minimal 3-day injury as he remains fragile as ever.

Game 3: Masterful pitching from the Rays tonight as Alec Sachais and Andy Aparicio combined on a 1-hit shutout in a 6-0 Rays win. Sachais gave up a 1-out, first-inning triple to Wander Franco and stranded him there, and that would be the only hit the Rangers would get for the night. Sachais had to leave after 6 as his pitch count was up to 98 and he left with a 6 1 0 0 3 7 line which sends him to 13-3, 3.38. Aparicio pitched the final 3 innings, allowing only a walk and whiffing 4 in one of his typical outings as he's credited with save #4. AA has a 2.81 ERA in 89 1/3 innings with a 21/148 BB/K ratio. He may be in next year's rotation, but on the other hand he may just stay in this role as he's been worth 2.5 WAR in it. On the offensive side of things Nate Clark was the star tonight. He seems to be heating up again as his 2-run 1st-inning HR (#35) gave the Rays all the runs they'd need and he added an RBI triple in the 8th. Jasson Dominguez, Bobby Witt Jr and Isaac DeLeon all had RBI singles for the other 3 runs. DeLeon has been quite the RBI machine this year as he now has 71 in only 83 games played.

Game 4: The Rays lost to Texas 6-5 thanks to more late-inning bullpen woes. Daniel Espino (albeit in his second inning of relief though he only threw 9 pitches in his first) gave up a double and single with two out in the 9th to allow Texas to take a 6-5 lead and get a split of the series. The Rays came back from deficits of 2-0 and 5-2 against of the league's better pitchers (and likely AL Cy Young winner) Wil Diaz before coming up short in the end. Blake Money didn't have one of his best starts, going 5.2 11 5 5 2 7 as he lost it in the 6th after coming in at 2-2. Romulo Canelon came on for him and unluckily gave up a couple of infield singles to let the 5th run score, and he pitched through the 7th before Espino came on. Offensively, Joe Barker hit #36 off Diaz with a man on to tie it at 2 in the 4th, and then Dayle Jenkins had a big 2-run single in the 6th before Barker beat out a potential double play ball at first to bring home the tying run in the 7th.

Team record: 107-45. Next up: The final 4 home games of the regular season in a weekend wraparound series with Baltimore, who's on the periphery of the wild card race.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Three Rays' homers and some solid pitching added up to a 5-1 win over Baltimore which makes the Orioles' faint playoff hopes even fainter. Nate Clark is on a tear, and he continued tonight with a pair of homers, a 2-run shot in the 1st and a solo blast in the 6th (#37) which gave the Rays a 3-0 lead. Spencer Torkelson, back in the lineup, hit #11, a 2-run job in the 7th and somehow managed not to strain his hip jogging around the bases. Those 3 homers accounted for 100% of their runs tonight and 50% of their hits in a mostly quiet night. Speaking of being on a tear, Jack Leiter started and went 5.1 6 0 0 1 8 and is now 12-3, 3.54. At 132 innings he won't qualify for the ERA title but if he did he'd be 3rd in the AL. Jordan Diaz went 2 innings and allowed a run while Mike Mooney pitched the final 1 2/3 scoreless.

Game 2: Mack Anglin won't have to worry about being a rare (the first?) 20-game winner dropped from a playoff rotation as he and the Rays were pounded 7-0 by Baltimore. On 18 wins and now with only one start left in the season, Anglin went 5.1 9 6 5 1 6 and dropped to 18-5, 4.86. Despite leading the rotation in WAR this outing was Anglin's season in a microcosm without the run support. Plenty of strikeouts but way too many hits and runs allowed. By contrast, Alec Sachais has maintained an ERA about 1.5 runs lower but WAR doesn't like him because he gives up a few too many homers, even though they're mostly of the solo variety since he doesn't allow that many baserunners. As mentioned, he didn't get his customary run support although it wasn't like they were totally shut down, managing 9 hits and 2 walks but not getting a key hit at any time during the game. Ricky Widmar had a particularly brutal game, going 0-5 with yet another error (he makes quite a few for a 65 defender). His .370-something BA was going to be unsustainable and he's now in a 3-29 slump.

Game 3: After being shut out yesterday the Rays belted 7 homers in a 17-2 annihilation of the Orioles, but the big story was that Christian Little had to leave the game early due to injury yet again. Little left with a herniated disc and will be out two weeks. It's not quite the disaster we feared, as that would put him in line to start Game 3 or Game 4 of the ALDS depending on the schedule, rather than Game 1 as originally anticipated. As a result he won't go on the IL. He made it 2 1/3 innings before having to come out which means he ends his abbreviated season 8-1, 1.33 with a 20/138 BB/K ratio in 88 innings. Andy Aparicio came in for him and went 4.2 4 2 2 0 7 to get his 5th win and Mike Mooney pitched the final two innings scoreless. Meanwhile the offense was in high gear with Jasson Dominguez hitting #s 42 and 43 and driving in 4, Connor Kirkley blasting a pair to give him 20, along with Spencer Torkelson (#12), Jhon Diaz (#18, with 3 RBI) and Carlos Perez (#5) going deep. Joe Barker stole his 39th base to go with 36 homers so he has an outside chance at a 40/40 season.

So with a week left in the season remember that crazy, wacky wild card race in the AL? Yeah, not so much anymore:



Props to the Blue Jays for making a nice run and separating themselves from the pack as the only thing really resembling a race now is the AL West.

Over in the NL, the Columbus Lightning have long since clinched the east, sitting on 104 wins right now. But the races are tight in the central and west, and with the Cubs lurking there's no guarantee those division losers make it as a wild card.



Also considering how hot he was, this isn't much of a surprise:



Game 4: It's feast or famine these days for the Rays offense as they were shut out for the second time in three days 3-0 after scoring 17 runs in the middle game. Shane McClanahan pitched quite well (6 4 2 2 2 9) but go no help from his teammates. While Jordan Diaz and Evan Godwin had scoreless innings, Daniel Espino gave up a run in his fourth straight outing. The bats managed 7 hits so they weren't completely dominated but they were spread out about one an inning. The only thing of note was that Nate Clark stole base #28 meaning he's two steals from joining Joe Barker in the 30/30 club.

Team record: 109-47. Next up: We close out the season on the road, starting with 3 games in New York against the Yankees who are about to clinch the first wild card.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: There's a very likely chance the Rays will be matched up with the Yankees for the third straight season in the ALDS and if they are, they're going to have to figure out a way to beat this team. After tonight's 4-2 loss to New York, the Yankees have won 10 of their 17 meetings this year and have clinched the season series. Alec Sachais started and was done in by his familiar bugaboo, the home run. Joe Allen hit a 2-run shot in the 1st and Ivan Vega a solo blast in the 3rd to account for 3 of the 4 runs he allowed on what was otherwise a decent performance at 6.2 8 4 4 0 8. Mike Mooney mopped up for the final four outs. Of course the homers wouldn't have hurt so much if the offense could get anything going but Dave Falco and the Yankee pen held them in check with only a Dayle Jenkins RBI single and a Nate Clark sac fly leading to runs.

Game 2: This game was rained out on Wednesday night, so we're playing a doubleheader on Thursday. And the day off didn't change anything as the Rays continue to play bad baseball, losing again to the Yankees 7-6 in 11 innings after blowing leads of 3-0 in the 5th and 6-4 in the 9th. Blake Money started and was brilliant through the first 4, then came undone in the 5th, with walks, wild pitches and finally a 3-run HR by Derek Crum giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead. But the Rays got 3 back in the 8th with the help of a Yankees error and Bobby Witt Jr's 2-run triple and after Evan Godwin got Money (who went 6.1 6 4 4 2 8) out of the 7th, Jose Alvarado was brilliant in the 8th going 1-2-3 striking out the side. But Jasseel De La Cruz's struggles continue and he allowed the Yankees to tie it up in the 9th. The leadoff walk was a bad sign and it unraveled from there with a 2-out Hyo-Jun Park single tying the game. The Rays squandered a 1st-and-3rd with 1 out in the 10th and after Mike Mooney pitched a scoreless inning, he wasn't as sharp in the 11th and old friend Vidal Brujan singled in the winning run with nobody out. JDLC is really a cause for concern as he had blown only 2 saves through July 28, and now has blown five since then, seeing his ERA rise from 1.46 to 4.04, with 4 of those 5 blown saves being multi-run meltdowns. Not the way you want to go into the postseason.

Game 3: While the back half of the bullpen has been a disappointment in the second half, one member of the staff most certainly hasn't: Jack Leiter. And Leiter was brilliant again today in a 4-1 win in the 2nd game of the doubleheader as the Rays finally beat the Yankees. Leiter left after 7 2/3 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits, walking 2 and whiffing 7. He's finishes the regular season 13-3, 3.34 and is the likely Game 4 (or Game 3, depending on how the schedule plays out with Christian Little's injury) starter for the ALDS. Actually by all measures he should be starting Game 1, but we're going with Shane McClanahan. Alec Sachais is looking at Game 2, meaning Blake Money and Mack Anglin are the odd men out of the rotation. Money in particular should play well in multi-inning relief, and if JDLC and Daniel Espino continue to struggle, Andy Aparicio might get the late-inning call with Money taking over his middle-man role. Speaking of Espino, he gave up a 2-out HR in the 9th to spoil the shutout, marking his 5th straight appearance allowing a run. The offense wasn't any great shakes again in the nightcap, as they only managed 6 hits and scored all 4 runs in the 4th with the help of a Yankee error. The big hit was Joe Barker's RBI double while Nate Clark had an RBI single, Jasson Dominguez an RBI groundout, and Spencer Torkelson had a 2-out RBI single for the 4th run.

Team record: 110-49. Next up: A final weekend in Toronto in which the Jays have a magic # of 1 to take the second wild card and travel to New York early next week for the right to play the Rays in the ALDS.

Playoff Race Update: Going into the final weekend, things are pretty much all set with the Rays and Tigers winning their divisions and the Yankees and Blue Jays locks for the wild cards. This leave the AL West where the Angels shocked the Rangers in the first of their 4-game series with 8 runs in the 9th inning to turn a 6-2 loss into a 10-6 win and pulled within one game of Texas. Had it gone the other way, the Rangers' magic # would have been one. Now the Angels can at least force a one-game playoff by taking 2 of the 3 games.

In the NL, aside from Columbus clinching everything is still wide open. In the Central, St. Louis leads both the Cubs and Milwaukee by only 1 game while the Diamondbacks are 2 up on the Dodgers in the West. To make matters even more interesting, the Cubs and Cardinals are playing each other this weekend. The Dodgers are 2 up on the Cubs and Milwaukee for the first wild card. Arizona should make it as division winner and the Dodgers as a wild card, leaving the 3 Central teams playing for 2 spots.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays doubled up the Jays 12-6 behind big games from Jasson Dominguez and Jhon Diaz. Dominguez was 3-3 with a HR (#44), walk, hit by pitch and 3 RBI while Diaz was 2-5 with a bases-clearing double and a 3-run HR (#19). Joe Barker was 2-4 with 2 RBI and Ricky Widmar broke out of his lengthy slump with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Mack Anglin started, gave up 2 runs in the 1st, and had to leave with a sore elbow which is described as a moderate 3-4 week injury so this spares him the embarrassment of winning 18 games yet being left out of the playoff rotation. Andy Aparicio came on for him and wasn't his sharpest but still picked up win #6 going 4 5 4 2 1 6. Jordan Diaz and Romulo Canelon each pitched a pair of scoreless innings to finish off the win. The Blue Jays did not clinch the second wild card as the Angels won to pull within 2 games of them.

Playoff Race Update: As alluded to above, the Angels beat the Rangers 4-2 to pull into a tie with Texas atop the AL West; the teams have two more games and a split will give them a third to play on Monday. In the NL, the Dodgers clinched the first wild card with a win and remain 2 behind Arizona with 2 games left for the division. It was a big night for the Cubs, who beat St. Louis and their ace Jack Flaherty 4-2 to move into a tie for the NL Central lead. It could have been a 3-way tie but Milwaukee lost to the Mets, putting them a game behind in 3rd and also a game behind for the second wild card.

MLB Retirements: Three former members of the 2020-2021 Rays recently announced their retirement: Jose "Cafecito" Martinez (who hung on to age 41), Brandon Lowe and Ryan Yarbrough. All 3 played in the minors this year.

September 29: Placed P Mack Anglin on the 15-day IL with a sore elbow, recalled P Tim Siqueiros from AAA Durham.

Siqueiros, who made 3 starts earlier in the year, comes up for the weekend and will pitch in long relief.

Game 2: The Rays outlasted the Jays 3-2 in 12 innings, but the Jays clinched the second wild card anyway (they always were, since the Angels and Rangers were playing each other and one of them had to lose). Dane Ayers' 8th HR of the year leading off the 12th was the game-winner on a day the Rays were offensively-challenged but got some great work from the bullpen. Shane McClanahan got the tuneup for Game 1 of the ALDS and was just OK, going 5 8 2 2 2 3. He ends the regular season 13-9, 3.84 with 167 whiffs in 178 innings. The just-recalled Tim Siqueiros went 2 2/3 scoreless, and Daniel Espino broke his runs allowed streak by going 1 1/3 scoreless. Jose Alvarado pitched the 10th and gave up 2 hits to lead off the inning but got the next 3 out, and Jasseel De La Cruz, another slumping reliever, went 2 innings and picked up his 4th win despite walking a pair in the 12th. The Rays only had 7 hits in the 12 innings with RBI knocks from Dayle Jenkins (2-5 with 3 steals) and Jhon Diaz giving them an early 2-0 lead. The best news was that nobody got hurt.

Playoff Race Update: There was walk-off drama in the two biggest games of the day. In the AL West battle it's advantage Rangers as they dramatically came from behind to beat the Angels 5-3. The Angels took a 3-2 lead in the 8th but Edgar Medina homered leading off the bottom of the 9th to send it to extra innings, where Adrian Ramos hit a 2-run homer off onetime Rays farmhand Resly Linares. The Rangers can now clinch with a win on the final day while the Angels have to win to force a tiebreaker on Monday.

In the NL, the Cardinals took the upper hand when Jakob Runnels blasted a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to break a 1-1 tie with Chicago. St. Louis is now a game up on the Cubs, who in turn are a game up on Milwaukee, which lost again today to the Mets. A Cubs win tomorrow eliminates the Brewers and forces a division tiebreaker game Monday, while a Cardinals win clinches them the division. And in that scenario if Milwaukee beats the Mets, we'll have a tiebreaker game for the 2nd wild card between the Brewers and the Cubs.

Game 3: The main thing is nobody got hurt. The secondary objective was to end the regular season on a winning note and the Rays did that, sweeping the series from Toronto with a 9-3 win. Nate Clark was 3-5 with an RBI double but the biggest thing for him was singling in the 9th and stealing his 30th base, putting him in 30/30 club along with teammate Joe Barker. Barker was 2-5 with an RBI, and Spencer Torkelson and Dayle Jenkins each had 2 hits and 2 RBI. Isaac DeLeon had the only homer of the day for the Rays, a solo shot (#23). Alec Sachais got the win going 5 3 2 2 1 9 to finish the year 14-4, 3.46, and Jordan Diaz, Romulo Canelon and Mike Mooney finished off the game and the regular season. Jasson Dominguez's 44 HR ended up best in the AL as did Mack Anglin's 18 wins. Anglin tied for the MLB lead with the Dodgers' Michel Baez.

Final regular season record: 113-49. Next up: The ALDS against one of these last two teams we played, the Blue Jays or the Yankees.

Final Playoff Race Update: In the AL, Will Diaz led Texas to a 7-3 win over the Angels and their 2nd straight AL West title, where they'll once again play the Tigers in the ALDS. Diaz was 7 5 0 0 3 12 and probably wrapped up the AL Cy Young award with this performance (as well as his 279 whiffs in 233 innings, quite the workhorse). So the AL Wild Card will be Toronto at the Yankees with the winner playing the Rays.

In the NL, the Cardinals also avoided a tiebreaker game by beating the Cubs 5-4 on Anderson Tejada's walk-off single in the 9th. They'll play the Diamondbacks in one NLDS. The news wasn't all bad for the Cubs, though, as the Brewers were swept by the Mets by the score of 2-1 today on a New York walk-off HR by rookie Lupe Mannelli, meaning the Cubs grab the second wild card and will travel to LA to play the Dodgers with the winner of that game playing the 106-win Columbus Lightning in the other NLDS. Milwaukee went 2-8 over its final 10 games to lose a playoff spot.

[Art Deco]

The final team stats:



It's a typical breakdown, first in most categories, mediocre to bad in defensive numbers. This was probably our best baserunning team, both in steals and baserunning overall.

The final batting stats:



Nothing big to complain about here. Connor Kirkley was a little disappointing, as was Carlos Perez in the backup role considering he's likely the full-time C next season. Dayle Jenkins' numbers were quite impressive in his limited number of at-bats.

The final pitching stats:



What a season from Jack Leiter, who turned out to be our best pitcher despite starting the year in long relief. And how about 3.5 WAR from Christian Little in only 88 innings? At the bottom of the list, you can see what a bad second half JDLC had, ending the year with slight negative value. He's still the closer as we go to the postseason but his leash will be short.

Also this. WTF?



Burkes was probably the front-runner to share the catching spot with Carlos Perez next year, as you can see he hit very well at Durham and was a 70 at catcher too. Also a 1st round pick at defensive end at 6'0", 200? That's small for a DE in the 1960s. Well it's time to use some of this surplus talent to go get a catcher.

[Art Deco]

October 2: The NL Wild Card Game:



A wild, back-and-forth game won by Pete Alonso's 3-run HR in the 7th. Luis Berdin, acquired by the Cubs from the Rays in the Yordan Alvarez/Jordan Diaz/Mike Mooney deal, hit a 2-run pinch-hit HR to put the Cubs ahead in the top of the inning. Alvarez was injured which is why he didn't play in the game. He was 243/332/466 with 30 HR and 80 RBI this year, almost a carbon copy of his two seasons with the Rays as he just ain't that 50-HR guy any more.

October 3: The AL Wild Card Game:



Well that was unexpected. Watching the game play out, I thought there was no way the 2-1 score in the third would hold up, as it turns out none other than Brendan McKay had the game-winning homer. So we're playing the Jays in the ALDS, the team that eliminated us in the 2021 Wild Card Game and the 2022 ALDS. Time for some revenge, at least for Shane McClanahan, Keibert Ruiz and Jose Alvarado, the only current Rays on those teams, with McKay in the other dugout.

[Art Deco]

Congrats to the Columbus Lightning for their first-ever playoff win in their first game, saved by old friend Jack Filby. Of course when they were the Marlins they didn't make the playoffs often but when they did they went all the way (1997 and 2003). Meanwhile, ex-Rays figured in quite big in the other game. Matt Manning went toe-to-toe with Jack Flaherty and threw 7 innings of 1-run ball, Brandon Marsh doubled in the lone Cardinals run, and the losing pitcher was Jeremy Bienick, whom we dealt to St. Louis earlier this year to get Victor de Jesus.

[Art Deco]

A rare ALDS Game 1 win for the Rays as they always seem to find themselves in a hole at this round (remember last year's 9-0 shellacking by the Yankees?). Although the box above names Keibert Ruiz as "man of the match", it really belongs to Judson Fabian. He homered in the bottom of the 1st to answer Skyler Messinger's homer in the top of the inning to immediately tie the game, and then he hit a big 2-run triple in the 4-run 2nd that broke it open for the Rays. Shane McClanahan was cruising through 4 2/3 but ran into some trouble in the 5th and 6th, so while the 10 strikeouts were impressive it wasn't quite the dominant performance he consistently put up in last year's playoffs. The bullpen was great, though, even the struggling JDLC had a scoreless inning although it took 22 pitches. Alec Sachais will get the nod tomorrow, not Leiter.




Elsewhere, after sweeping Detroit in last year's ALDS Texas made it 5 straight over the Tigers, surviving a brilliant outing from Kumar Rocker listed above. They scored in the 9th then broke it open against Tiger closer Adam Lukas, whom the AI left in throw 73 pitches. Oof. The Dodgers even up their series with a big game from Pete Alonso, picking up where he left off in the wild card game, and the D-backs go up 2-0 and put St. Louis on the brink of elimination.

[Art Deco]

Welp:



This means Jack Leiter is bumped up to Game 3, and Blake Money will get a start after all in Game 4, if necessary.



It was the full Alec Sachais experience at the Trop in Game 2, as he showed his brilliance with 0 walks and 12 Ks in 6 innings, but gave up a pair of solo homers. Those two put the Rays behind for a short while, but Nate Clark equalized with a longball in the 6th and then they took it to Toronto in the 7th on a Connor Kirkley homer followed by a rally that culminated in Clark's 2-run single. The bullpen was excellent again, with Jose Alvarado going 1 2/3 to get the win and Daniel Espino striking out all 4 Jays he faced for the save. We now head for Toronto in 2 days with a chance to sweep behind our hottest pitcher, Jack Leiter.



And the Tigers finally beat the Rangers in the playoffs, evening their series at 1. And they got the better of Texas's ace, Wil Diaz.

[Art Deco]

Congrats to the D-backs, who sweep the Cardinals in a bit of a surprise (not that they won, but that they swept). A couple of former Rays factored in with Gavin Lux hitting a 2-run HR to get Arizona going and Tommy Mace (whom we had at Durham for a few years) pitching a scoreless inning as the opener. Meanwhile speaking of ex-Rays, Austin Meadows went deep for LA as they take a 2-1 lead over the 106-win Lightning.