The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Back to even...



The Rays put a couple of touchdowns on the board and evened up the World Series at a game apiece, primarily thanks to a huge game from Kelly Crumpton who hit what I believe* is the first inside-the-park homer in a World Series since Alcides Escobar in 2015 and only the second in the last 101 years. Crumpton hit his with two men on in the first over the head of Gold Glover Christian Pache, who stumbled to the ground after going back on it and after a crazy bounce Crumpton was able to circle the bases. This gave the Rays an early 4-0 lead but for the second straight day one of their aces couldn't hold it as Joe Marlette was off today. The final run against came courtesy of a homer allowed by Shane Panzini, making his 2030 postseason debut, but they then put 5 more on the board in the 5th and 6th to break it open. Ed Howard, who couldn't buy a hit in the ALDS and ALCS, had another huge day with 4 hits and 4 runs scored and the Rays will now go to Atlanta on even footing with Johnny Kuykendall hoping to pitch better in Game 3 than his fellow starters in the first two games.

*I didn't follow the World Series not involving the Rays played in this save closely enough to determine whether any of the homers in those were inside-the-park, but odds are that none of them were.

[Art Deco]

The Rays stunk it up tonight as for the third straight game one of their aces didn't pitch like one and like in Game 1 the offense couldn't cover for them. Instead they were stymied by MLB's only 20-game winner this season, Atlanta's Luke La Flam. So it's up to Michael Prosecky to keep them from falling into a 3-1 hole again. While they overcame such a deficit in the ALCS, Atlanta is not San Antonio.

[Art Deco]

And back and forth we go...



The Rays' offense has been feast or famine in this series and tonight they feasted with 9 runs on 18 hits including a pair of homers. The offensive outburst overshadowed (and made less stressful) the great pitching of Michael Prosecky tonight, the Rays' 4th starter who ended up outpitching his three exalted rotation mates in this series. Prosecky took a shutout into the 8th before tiring with a high pitch count in what will be his final start of 2030. It's now a best 2-of-3 and the Rays have assured a return to the Trop. With their "three aces" Tampa Bay has to like its chances but as we saw in the first three games Atlanta won't be tamed easily. James Hays gets first crack tomorrow.

[Art Deco]

Here we go again...



Just like in the ALCS the Rays now have their backs to the wall as Game 5 played out like a repeat of Game 1 - they jumped on Tyler Owens in the first to give James Hays a lead he couldn't hold. Homers have been the chink in the armor for Hays this season and he gave up one to tie and one to lose the lead. And the Rays continued their pattern of getting shut down every other game as Owens and Atlanta closer Matt Allan fanned 13 today. So now we'll head to the Trop with Joe Marlette looking to save the season in two days.

[Art Deco]

Congratulations Atlanta...



The Rays' 2030 went out with a whimper, not a bang as Atlanta crushed them in Game 6 to take the title from them. Michael Chavis, who was a minor league veteran throw-in by the Rays to Atlanta in the deal which brought over Cristian Hernandez (who was pretty much a zero for Tampa Bay all the way through today), turned out to be the one administering the final dagger as his two-out, 3-run homer in the 1st off Joe Marlette pretty much decided the game. And although Kelly Crumpton answered in the 2nd with a solo homer to make it 4-1, three more off Marlette in the 3rd erased all doubt. So while it was still a great season for the Rays, when you've been to the mountaintop like they were last year falling just short is going to sting. We say goodbye to some impending free agents, most notably Andrew Greckel who hit 185 homers for us the last six seasons, as well as bullpen fixtures Tylor Megill and Wennington Romero. And of course rental starter Johnny Kuykendall, who didn't get a chance to pitch Game 7, is also bound elsewhere.

Ed Howard was named Series MVP despite the loss, having gone 14 for 24.

Final playoff stats:





Marlette, who had an 0.44 ERA in his 3 starts in the ALDS and ALCS, was torched by Atlanta for 11 runs in 6 2/3 innings in the World Series.

[Art Deco]

After a close call at a repeat title we should be able to pretty much run it back in 2031 with the exception of Andrew Greckel, who has gone free agent. Now we've also had Wander Franco opt out of his contract but we have a 7/210 offer to him which he seems to favor, so I'm expecting to re-sign him. If for some reason that changes, well we'll have a lot more money to spend but a big hole to fill at SS.

Our position-by-position outlook:

C-JT Realmuto was re-signed for two more seasons and is the best catcher in baseball still at age 39. Here's hoping he doesn't suddenly realize how old he is. Corey Collins has been the perennial backup but he's starting to get expensive (nearly $3M in arbitration) and he may be traded or non-tendered as we can get someone to do what he does cheaper.

1B-Kelly Crumpton returns to hopefully put up a third straight 40-HR, 100-RBI season.

2B-Ed Howard had a bounceback year in 2030 but is going into his final year of team control and is due about $12M in arbitration. I'm going to try and deal him and hand the job to Jamie Reiner, who is about 85% as good as Howard.

SS-Obviously it's Wander, unless he changes his mind and balks at our offer, then it's find a good SS via trade or free agency. We'll hang on to Howard until Wander's situation is resolved.

3B-Cristian Hernandez was underwhelming after coming over from Atlanta but he still hit 28 HR and 95 RBI (even if 3/4 of that came elsewhere) and is making the minimum. Chris Seise will be non-tendered.

IF-If Reiner takes over for Howard and we don't acquire a MI in return, I'm leaning toward Brennon McNair and his 20-25 HR ability, he also plays a good 2B.

LF-Dong-hwan Kim is back. He didn't want to settle for a 1-year deal in arbitration so we'll see what the arbitrator awards.

CF-Chris Gutierrez. Gutierrez should win the Gold Glove and he provides just enough offense so he's back.

RF-Joshua Baez. Back as well.

DH-Andrew Greckel is gone via free agency so this will be Andy Kelley's time to shine. Kelley had the RF job to start 2029, struggled, and lost it to Baez but came back last year and was excellent in the 4th OF role. He'll actually start more in the OF and Kim or Baez could DH some.

4th OF-Aside from whoever's not DHing, JJ Cargill should get a shot as the 4th OF as he's hit over .300 at every stop in the minors and is a good OF.

Bench: We're going to need a corner IF backup.

Rotation-Hays (final year of team control), Marlette, Prosecky and Panzini all return. 5th starter could be Slade Cecconi (again), or Brad Garrard who's been very good at Durham the last couple of years and has MLB stuff. We also claimed John Swanda on waivers from the Twins during October and I am debating whether I want to pay his $3.4M projected arbitration salary.

Bullpen-Tylor Megill and Wennington Romero are gone, but with full years from Nathan Dettmer and Mike Moore we'll be fine and everyone else is back. Might want a third lefty to go with Gavin Bruni and Dax Fulton.

Prospects:




As befits a team which always drafts at or near the end of the first round we don't have the most robust prospect list. As mentioned Cargill at #17 is likely bound for the roster and of course #19 Mike Moore is already a bullpen fixture. Strickland is an exciting hitting prospect and theoretically could take over from Howard at 2B but his glove is mediocre and right now he wouldn't hit much better than Reiner, so let's see him at AAA first. Jonathan Gutierrez has been with us for what seems like forever and has inched up the system but also isn't quite there yet and really needs to be to play 1B.

Salaries:



Stu Sternberg has given me a $160M payroll. The list above does not include Wander, and if he takes his $30M AAV offer we sit at about $144M. But that's before non-tendering Seise and Collins to save $6.6M, and potentially dealing Howard and his $12M so we could have in the neighborhood for $30M to play with.

So it's time to let the offseason unfold.

[Art Deco]

First the big news:



Wander may retire a Ray, which would be a first for any star player I've had in any of my Rays saves.

This enabled us to pull the trigger on an Ed Howard deal:



MacKay and Nunez were marginal prospects and Knack of course was also someone who fell out of favor with us. In return we get a couple of interesting prospects. First, Aranda:



He turns 19 in a couple of weeks and has extremely high potential bat-to-ball skills with the hope of developing average power.

Almedya meanwhile is more advanced, having pitched in AA last year and a starting pitching prospect who has 60 current stuff, 65 potential, as well as 55 current movement, 60 potential. Of course there's a catch here and it's his 35 control. So the net result is a potential 4th/5th starter, maybe a bit higher if he improves his control but he isn't showing that potential yet.

Overall here there are some legit tools from this pair, and we gave up a couple of guys we were looking to get rid of anyway. This makes Jamie Reiner the regular 2B for now. Of course with money we have to spend we will do our due diligence and see who's out there who could make a bigger impact.

Notable retirements: Christian Yelich (Milwaukee retired his #22), Alex Bregman, Michael Chavis (whose last act was to hit the big homer in Game 6 of the World Series to end our season), Nick Ahmed, Miguel Andujar, Jack Flaherty, George Springer, Julio Urias and former Rays Jarren Duran and Jake Bauers.

Awards season:


Gold Glove: Chris Gutierrez was robbed despite having far and away the highest ZR at CF in the AL.

Reliever of the Year: It went to Minnesota's Burl Carraway (1.88 ERA, 42 saves) in the AL although our Kevin DiCostanzo finished 2nd (and the soon to be gone Tylor Megill finished 5th). Veteran Emmanuel Clase of the Dodgers won in the NL for a great 1.12 ERA (shades of Bob Gibson) and 42 saves.

Silver Slugger: JT Realmuto at catcher was our only winner.

Rookie of the Year: The Yankees' Sergio Guardado was the unanimous AL winner after hitting .334-28-93. DiCostanzo finished fifth. Miami's Jerrod Keeshan won in the NL after going 11-8, 2.60.

Cy Young: Well a Ray won it in the AL, just not the one I was expecting:



It seemed that Marlette had surpassed Hays in September but perhaps a lot of the voters either made up their minds early or went with the familiar name as Hays takes his fourth straight Cy. We'll see if he can make it 5 in 5 years in his likely final season with us next year before he prices himself out of Tampa Bay. Meanwhile another grizzled former Cleveland veteran won an NL pitching award as Shane Bieber of the Giants took home his 3rd Cy Young with an 18-12, 3.14, 6.1 WAR season. Bieber had won it with the Guardians in 2020 and 2022.

MVP: There was no clear-cut front-runner in the AL MVP race this year and the voting reflected that. The nod went to Yankee star Gleyber Torres with 12 first-place votes and 331 points, beating out LA's Khalil Watson (8/297), Minnesota's Royce Lewis (7/262) and rookie teammate Sergio Guajardo (4/242). Torres was .295-31-81 with 5.1 WAR. Lewis was the WAR leader with 6.8 primarily off the strength of his defense at 2B. In the NL Washington slugger Kian Manmano was a more clear-cut winner, taking 24 first-place votes to Fernando Tatis Jr's 7, despite trailing him 9.4 to 6.9 in WAR. Manmano had the big power numbers the voters love, hitting .305-52-144.

December 1: The Nationals didn't waste any time giving Ed Howard a 3/41 contract extension.

December 4: Veteran 3B/SS Carlos Correa signed a 2/50 deal with the Cubs after having spent 2022-27 with the club. He had a big year with San Antonio last year, helping them get to the ALCS but is rated as "fragile".

December 5: Milwaukee signed the big prize in the international free agent class, inking 32-year-old Cuban star defector Luis Arana to a 4/78 deal. The CF boasts 70 power and a 60 glove.

December 8: Veteran OF Alex Verdugo signed a 4/50 deal with St. Louis and the Mets gave former Ray Alex Kirilloff a 5/90 extension.

December 9: And there it is - Andrew Greckel joins the Angels on a 5/109 pact. We will net a compensatory 1st rounder as we qualified him.

December 12: We can just call the Mets "Rays North" as they signed Wennington Romero to a 3/21 deal. I've lost count of how many former Rays are on that team now. It appears the Mets plan to use him as a starter as that's a pretty generous deal for a middle reliever.

December 19: First-tier catcher Drew Romo signed a 4/81 deal with Memphis. Added OF Caleb Hampton, 2B Edwin Saldivar and P Seth Elledge to the 40-man roster.

We protected Hampton, who had a nice .308-18-73, 3 WAR season with Durham and was our first round pick way way back in 2023, Saldivar is an interesting guy who has an MLB 80-grade contact tool and 80 avoid Ks, but kind of stinks at everything else including being a 35 on defense. He's the kind of guy who would hit .300 but barely clear a .700 OPS. Elledge is a veteran pitcher who could fight for the 5th starter's job.

We'll see if we take anyone in the Rule 5 since we have several 40-man slots open. We've taken Brad Manross and Jamie Reiner the last two years to be our backup MIs and Reiner at least looks like starter material. We could use an infield backup again.

December 20: Selected SP Jeremy Brooks from the New York Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft.

Oops, we did it again. Couldn't pass up Brooks, who seems like a legit SP in the making:



Quite an impressive season in AA last year and quite a gaffe by the Yankees to leave him exposed. He joins the list of candidates for the 5th starter job and could definitely pitch in long relief otherwise. BNN rates him our now-#6 prospect and #134 overall.

December 24: Signed C Diego Cartaya to a 1-year, $1.5M deal.

We have our Corey Collins replacement as Cartaya of course has been with us the last few years, mostly at Durham, but became a free agent. He's a 45 hitter and a 60 defender, so pretty much an ideal backup catcher.

December 26: The Rockies signed star OF Judson Fabian to a 4/70 deal. He's been a consistent 25-HR, 90-RBI type guy.

December 27: Former Ray and postseason legend Randy Arozarena signed a 3/23 deal with the Red Sox. His career has been derailed lately with injuries and he's rated as "wrecked".

[Art Deco]

January 5: The Rangers traded IF Adalberto Mondesi back to the Royals for 3 prospects.

January 8: The voting is in, and for at least one more year the Hall of Fame will remain the same size as nobody got in with this year's voters being especially stingy (I filled my ballot!):



Somehow the top vote-getter, Ichiro, fell from 67% last year. The voters were underwhelmed with this year's new class as Chris Sale's 36.2% was the most any received.

January 11: A James Hayes trade! No, not our James "no E" Hays, Hayes is a now-former San Diego prospect shipped to Toronto with two other minor leaguers for pitcher Gunnar Hoglund.

January 13: Old friend Tyler Glasnow, currently 37 (where do the years go?) signed a 1/4.4 deal with St. Louis. Mini-Horse spent most of last year in the stable, getting into 20 games as a reliever with El Paso although it looks like St. Louis plans to start him.

January 14: The Mets looked at the free agent pool and said "Why not, what's one more former Ray?" before signing reliever Alex Vesia to a 2/10 deal. Vesia spent 2022-26 with us.

January 17: Tylor Megill got the big bucks from the Cubs, who signed him to start for them at 3/41. We tried Megill as a starter a couple of years ago with mixed results before putting him back in the pen where he thrived. Maybe it'll work for Chicago given what they're paying him. Also in very important news former Ray and current Met Hunter Bishop lost his dog.

January 22: Bad news all around for former Rays as Blake Snell was in a train accident and will miss 5 months with a torn labrum, shortly after signing with Houston. Maybe it was the train that runs behind Minute Maid Park.

February 3: Fear not, Hunter Bishop was reunited with his dog. Hey it's been a slow offseason.

February 12: Time for a big trade!



With the free-agent pickings looking slim at 2B I swung a deal for a pretty good one to take over the position in Castro. I could talk about him or just show you his particulars:



Castro is one of the better all-around 2B in the league, having won a Gold Glove and earning 3.3 WAR last year in half a season and 4.3 the year before, hitting .300 both seasons. The reason he came relatively cheap is that yes, he's a free agent after the 2031 season. Elvis pitched fairly well for us last year in a mop-up role but really wasn't a contender for the rotation; either Jeremy Brooks or Slade Cecconi will take over that role. The two prospects are 1-2 star guys who are longshots to amount to much. Jamie Reiner will return to the backup MI role he held last year. Castro can also play a credible SS so he can fill in there when Wander needs a rest or is hurt.

February 14: And the last of our big-name free agents has signed elsewhere with Johnny Kuykendall joining the Rockies on a 4/74 deal. His 50 movement will be tested in Coors.

February 16: OF JJ Bleday, a solid performer over the last several years with San Diego, signs a 3/46 pact with St. Louis while 3B Jordan Groshans, who was a perennial 25-30 HR, 90 RBI guy with Toronto before slumping in his lone season with the Padres, signed a 2/24 deal with Miami (where he now is IRL).

February 19: Former Ray Austin Meadows is on the move again, signing a 2/15 deal with Arizona. Since being traded by us to Milwaukee during the 2025 season, he's been with a different club every season; perhaps the 2-year deal will give him some relative stability.

February 21: Corey Collins, our backup catcher the last six seasons, signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies.

March 6: After signing him to a free-agent deal the Cardinals released former Rays star Tyler Glasnow, who had cleared waivers.

March 14: We signed a couple of veterans to minor league deals with MLB options (both paying about $1.8M if recalled): 1B/3B Nolan Jones and OF Jesus Sanchez. Both have decent power and are pretty good in the field if we need to call upon them. Sanchez of course started in our farm system before being traded in 2019 to Miami for Nick Anderson.

March 15: Chris Seise, who manned 3B during 2029 and the first half of 2030, settled for a minor league deal with the White Sox.

March 23: Congrats to Tyler Glasnow, who now gets to be paid twice after the Cubs signed him to a 1-year, $2.2M deal.

April 4: Spring Training ends and the only injury of note is that RP Kendall Williams is suffering from elbow inflammation and will miss the first few weeks of the season.

[Art Deco]

Not much heavy lifting needed to get the roster down to 27 with only Mo Hampton, Jr. placed on waivers because he was out of options.

Here's how the OD roster shakes out:

C-Realmuto, Cartaya
1B-Crumpton
2B-W.Castro
SS-W.Franco
3B-C.Hernandez
IF-Reiner, McNair
LF-Kim
CF-Gutierrez
RF-Kelley
DH-Baez
OF-Cargill

Caleb Hampton was close to making the team but I went with Cargill, who should be a useful pinch-hitter.

SP-Hays, Marlette, Prosecky, Panzini, Swanda
LR-Cecconi, Brooks
MR-Adcock, Bruni, Garrard
SU-Dettmer, Moore, Fulton
CL-DiCostanzo

Brad Garrard is the surprise addition with Kendall Williams out injured, and Slade Cecconi is back for another go-round (he's out of options this time so no more yo-yoing).

The preseason predictions are a bit down on us, not fans of our hitting (losing Andrew Greckel does set the O back a bit):



Next up: While the MLB season starts on April 5 we don't start our season until the 7th when we host Boston for 2 games.

[Art Deco]

Let's play ball!



James Hays is ready for a fifth straight AL Cy Young on the basis of his brilliant Opening Day performance, a 2-hit shutout. Usually you don't see a guy go all the way on OD but Hays was locked in and efficient. All of his support came via the longball with battery mate JT Realmuto going deep to break the ice in the 5th, Chris Gutierrez (who only hit 6 all of last season) hitting a 2-run bomb to center later in the inning and then Wander Franco picking up where left off this spring when he hit 8 homers, going deep in the 8th.

And through two games the Rays have yet to allow a run as Joe Marlette was brilliant and Tampa Bay got by Boston 2-0. Marlette wasn't able to go all the way like Hays but he was outstanding at 6.2 3 0 0 1 7 for the win. Kevin DiCostanzo earned his 1st save of the year after pitching around a leadoff triple in the 9th. Both runs came in the 3rd when Boston starter Reynaldo Lopez walked a pair to load the bases and Joshua Baez delivered a 2-run single.

Team record: 2-0. Next up: Toronto visits for another 2-game quickie series as 2031 opens with an interestingly-formatted schedule.

[Art Deco]

The Rays continued their perfect start to 2031 by taking a pair from the Jays including one in dramatic fashion.

Michael Prosecky made it 3 straight games by Rays starters without allowing an earned run as Tampa Bay beat Toronto 5-2 in the opener. The lefty went 6 3 0 0 2 7 in a great start to the season before Cody Adcock allowed the teams' first two runs of the year in the 9th, making a mess that Kevin DiCostanzo had to clean up for save #2. For the second straight game Joshua Baez had a big 2-run single to break open a scoreless game and JT Realmuto added his 2nd homer with a man on in the 8th for insurance.

The Rays won the second game but took a circuitous route to get there, going up 3-2 in the 8th before falling behind in the 9th, only for Joshua Baez to dramatically equalize with a 2-out homer (#1) and JJ Cargill to come off the bench and deliver an RBI pinch-single to walk it off in the 10th. Shane Panzini became the first Rays starter to allow a run this year but he pitched well at 5 5 2 1 3 4. Dong-hwan Kim singled in the go-ahead run in the 8th and it looked like another win but with Kevin DiCostanzo having gone the last two days and lefties due, Dax Fulton got the call in the 9th and made a mess, leaving two on for an ineffective Nathan Dettmer, who walked his first man to load the bases then gave up a 2-run single. Dettmer did stay on for the 10th and vulture the win when Cargill came through in the role I had envisioned for him, singling home Kelly Crumpton with the winner. Wander Franco launched his 2nd homer earlier in the game.

Team record: 4-0. Next up: Our season-opening homestand concludes with 3 against San Antonio in an ALCS rematch.

[Art Deco]

The Rays continued to get dominant pitching and swept the Alamos to start 2031 undefeated at 7-0. They've allowed 11 runs in the 7 games and have a team ERA of 1.12 (calling Bob Gibson).

John Swanda made his Rays debut (in this save - he's been in my rotation in the 2022 Rays save for a couple seasons) and threw 5 scoreless innings to lead the Rays to a 2-1 win over San Antonio in the opener. Swanda was 5 3 0 0 2 7 on 82 pitches and the fourth Rays reliever, Kevin DiCostanzo, picked up save #3. Both runs came in the 2nd on a 2-run Willi Castro double, his first RBIs as a Ray.

James Hays was near unhittable once again and the Rays eked out another 2-1 win over the Alamos to stay unbeaten. Hays followed up his opening day shutout by allowing only an unearned run in an impressive 7 2 1 0 3 12 outing to go to 2-0. Rule 5 draftee Jeremy Brooks made his MLB debut holding the lead with a scoreless 7th and Nathan Dettmer closed it out for his first save. Dong-hwan Kim had an RBI double in the 6th to tie the game up and who else but JT Realmuto came through with the clutch hit, a solo homer in the 7th already giving him 3.

There were a few more runs scored at Tropicana Field in the finale and the Rays had 2/3 of them to beat San Antonio 6-3 and go to 7-0. Joe Marlette went to 2-0 after a fine 7 5 1 1 1 4 outing, and after Brad Garrard made a mess in his MLB debut (2 runs on 3 hits), Kevin DiCostanzo was needed in the 9th for save #4. Kelly Crumpton led the offense driving in 3 on a pair of singles while Dong-hwan Kim had an RBI double and run-scoring single. A couple of rookies got their first starts of the year and were impressive: JJ Cargill was 3-4 and Brennon McNair was 2-3 with a solo homer, his first of the year.

Team record: 7-0. Next up: We take our unbeaten record on the road for the first time this year with 4 games at Yankee Stadium.

MLB News: A couple of milestone homers were hit over the weekend as St. Louis OF Juan Soto hit his 400th and Washington OF Luis Robert launched #300.

[Art Deco]

Our first road trip of the year finds us defending our unbeaten 2031 record in New York. We did not stay unbeaten (although we should have) but we did the next best thing, taking 3 of 4 from the Bombers at Yankee Stadium.

The Rays tasted defeat for the first time in 2031 in the opener thanks to a bullpen meltdown. They took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th but Nathan Dettmer gave up a 2-run homer and then in the 9th up 4-3 Kevin DiCostanzo blew his first save of the year when he allowed a 2-out, 2-run single to Raimfer Salinas to give New York a 5-4 walk-off win. Before all that nonsense Michael Prosecky was excellent again at 6 6 1 1 1 7 and has one 1 run allowed in 12 IP so far, and Joshua Baez drove in 3 with a solo homer (#2) and a 2-run single.

Tampa Bay avenged its first 2031 loss with a 9-4 thrashing of the Yankees in the second game, buoyed by a 5-run 5th. That inning included a grand slam from Cristian Hernandez, his first longball of the year, and he added a solo shot later for good measure and a 5-RBI day. JJ Cargill set the tone by leading off the game with his first MLB homer as part of a 3-hit day (he's a cool 7 for 10 to start the season) and Jamie Reiner got a rare start and went 4-5. Shane Panzini pitched around his defense (the Rays made 3 errors including a pair by Reiner at SS on consecutive batters) to get his first win at 6.1 6 3 1 1 6.

After playing several low-scoring games in the early going the Rays won a slugfest with the Yankees 11-10 in extra innings when Joshua Baez singled home the winner in the top of the 10th. Kelly Crumpton's 2nd 2-run homer of the game and the season tied it at 10 in the 6th and the teams cooled off from there before the New York bullpen blinked first. JT Realmuto added his 4th homer, Andy Kelley had 4 hits and a steal, and Wander Franco drove in a pair. John Swanda was awful in his second Rays start, going 2 7 7 4 3 3 and the three unearned runs he allowed were due to his own error. Nathan Dettmer (2-0) picked up the win with 2 shutout innings and Gavin Bruni earned his first save.

The Rays took the series by taking another extra-inning win from New York in the finale but it was the polar opposite of yesterday's game as pitching ruled the day in a 2-1 Tampa Bay win in 12. James Hays continued his utterly dominant start to 2031 by going 8 2 1 1 0 9 in his third start and has a season line of 24 6 1 1 4 29 to start the year. Raimfer Salinas' 5th-inning solo shot was the first run Hays has allowed this year and it canceled out a Brennon McNair homer (#2) in the 2nd. The Rays had numerous chances late in the game to win before finally breaking through on Kelly Crumpton's RBI single in the 12th. Kevin DiCostanzo (1-1) got the win and Mike Moore notched his first MLB save.

Team record: 10-1. Believe it or not it's not the best record in MLB - that distinction goes to Kansas City which remains perfect at 10-0. Next up: We head to the Lone Star State to play 3 against the Rangers.

[Art Deco]

After getting off to a blazing 10-1 start the Rays were brought back to Earth by the Rangers, whose pitching put a strangehold on them in a series sweep.

Joe Marlette started the opener but ran up such a pitch count he had to leave after 4 innings despite allowing only an unearned run, and Gavin Bruni let the game get away as they dropped to opener to Texas 5-2. Marlette had an odd and wild 4 2 1 0 6 7 line which took 90 pitches, so he gave way to Bruni (0-1), who promptly gave up the go-ahead run in the 5th and 3 more in the 6th. JT Realmuto was the only Ray hitting today with an RBI single and solo homer (#5) as former Rays farmhand Mike Mank (sent to Texas 4 years ago in the James Hays deal) has finally blossomed into the ace he was projected to be, going to 2-0, 1.88 after an 8 5 2 2 0 6 outing.

Michael Prosecky was solid but the Rays' bats were turned to sawdust by Texas's Cris Bringas, who brought it today going 8 1 0 0 1 11 as the Rangers topped Tampa Bay again 3-0. Prosecky (1-1) was 5 7 3 3 1 3.

More of the same in the finale as Shane Panzini pitched well but Rangers pitching got it done in a 2-1 Texas win. Panzini (1-1) went a fine 6 4 2 2 1 6 but made one mistake, yielding a 2-run Daz Cameron homer. Dong-hwan Kim had an RBI double in the 8th for his 2nd hit of the day but he couldn't be brought home on a day where the Rays had some chances (8 hits + 2 walks) but couldn't capitalize on them.

Team record: 10-4. Despite the sweep they're still 3 up on Toronto in the division. Next up: An off-day then we stay in the Lone Star state to play 3 against Houston.

[Art Deco]

We will certainly be happy to put the state of Texas in our rearview mirror after dropping 2 of 3 to Houston to make it 5 of 6 in the Lone Star State after being swept by the Rangers.

The Rays did take the opener 7-5, but had to hang on after going up 7-0 by the 2nd inning. Willi Castro led off the game with his first Rays homer and later in the 1st Joshua Baez (#3) and Andy Kelley (#1) hit 2-run homers. This gave John Swanda (2-0) a huge lead to work with, but he gave a good chunk of it back in the middle innings, finishing 6.1 7 4 3 1 6. Mike Moore was shaky, giving up a 5th Houston run, but Kevin DiCostanzo closed it out with a perfect 2-whiff 9th for save #5.

It's unusual to call a 9-0 loss "frustrating" but that's what it was for the Rays as it was a closer game most of the way and they repeatedly put baserunners on only to fail in bringing them home. They hit into a whopping 5 double plays on the evening in a game which was 1-0 Houston through 5 and 3-0 after 6. James Hays didn't have his best stuff and took his first loss of the season against two wins after going 6 7 3 3 1 5. Jeremy Brooks and Brad Garrard then made sure there would be no comeback after combining to surrender 6 runs in the 7th inning.

The Rays usually don't figure to lose both the James Hays and Joe Marlette starts in a series but that's what happened as Marlette was inefficient and the Rays couldn't do much outside of a few homers as they lost the game 5-4 and series to the Astros. Marlette (2-1) couldn't make it past 4 innings again, taking 92 pitches to go 4 7 4 3 1 6 and while they were a few bright spots on offense it wasn't enough. Kelly Crumpton did go 4-4 with a solo homer (#3), Cristian Hernandez hit a 2-run blast (#3) and Dong-hwan Kim added a solo shot (#1) but nothing else was generated.

Team record: 11-6. The lead is down to 2 over Baltimore which moved into 2nd. Next up: The marathon 10-day road trip ends with 3 in Chicago against the White Sox.

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After starting the year 10-1 after the first four games of their 13-game road trip in New York, the Rays are happy to finally be returning to Tropicana Field after going 2-7 the rest of the trip including dropping 2 of 3 to the White Sox to close it out.

They did win the opener 7-4, jumping out to an early 7-1 lead and holding on. Joshua Baez had a big game, homering twice and driving in four to give him 5 dingers on the year. Dong-hwan Kim chipped in too, going 2-3 with 2 RBI. Michael Prosecky (2-1) was decent at 5.2 7 3 3 0 3.

The second game was a tough one to swallow as they led 4-1 in the 5th inning only to end up losing 5-4 to the White Sox. They got solo homers from Dong-hwan Kim (#2), Chris Gutierrez (#2) and JT Realmuto (#6) and looked in good shape, but Shane Panzini had a rough 5th and gave up 3 to allow Chicago to tie as he finished 5 7 4 3 4 2. Cody Adcock (0-1) then gave up the go-ahead run in the 6th and that concluded the night's scoring.

The Rays dropped the finale 3-1 as the bats couldn't generate much. John Swanda (2-1) wasn't bad at 5.2 6 2 2 4 1 but had to pitch out of some jams. Andy Kelley's solo homer (#2) in the 5th was the sum total of the offense.

Team record: 12-8. Next up: As mentioned we're back home and it's for 4 games against Baltimore which is one game behind us at 11-9.

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The Rays' malaise continued as they ended up splitting the 4 games with Baltimore, good enough to maintain a 1-game lead in the AL East but they're still living off their 10-1 start.

Dax Fulton's rough start to 2031 continued and Baltimore scored twice off him in the 8th to hand the Rays a 4-2 loss in the opener. James Hays turned in his usual excellent start at 6 3 2 2 2 10 and Kelly Crumpton's solo homer (#4) in the 6th tied the game at 2. But Fulton (0-1), after getting Nathan Dettmer out of a jam in the 7th, didn't have it in the 8th and the Orioles pulled into a tie atop the division with the Rays.

The Rays evened up the series with a 4-1 win behind a fine (if again relatively short) performance from Joe Marlette. The lefty has pitched well again this season but has struggled with efficiency, and given that he's rated relatively low for stamina his outings haven't exactly been that long. Today he managed to last long enough to go to 3-1 with a 5 1 0 0 2 5 line on 87 pitches. The pen did its job and Kevin DiCostanzo finished for his 6th save. JJ Cargill had an RBI double and Joshua Baez provided insurance after Baltimore closed within 2-1 with a 2-run homer (#6) in the bottom of the 8th.

A back-and-forth third game of the series went Baltimore's way when they scored 3 times in the 6th to take a 6-4 win over Tampa Bay. The day did not start well for the Rays with Michael Prosecky leaving after one batter with a herniated disc which will put him out of action for a week. Brad Garrard took over and was terrible, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 1 2/3, but Jeremy Brooks relieved him and went 3 scoreless. The Rays fought back via the longball to grab a 4-3 lead on four solo homers including a pair from Cristian Hernandez (#4 & 5), and one each from Joshua Baez (#7) and Dong-hwan Kim (#3), but trouble loomed in the 6th. Brooks put a man on and was relieved by Gavin Bruni (0-2) who was terrible himself, allowing Brooks' man to score and two of his own to take the loss.

Transaction: After the game Garrard was shipped out to Durham and we recalled veteran Seth Elledge, whom was signed to a minor league deal last year and has been in the Durham rotation where he had a 1.31 ERA and 23 whiffs in 20 IP so far.

A milestone homer and some good pitching enabled the Rays to split the series and stay in first with a 6-2 win. Down 1-0 in the 2nd, JT Realmuto came up with the bases loaded and slugged a grand slam, the 300th homer of his Hall of Fame-bound career and 7th of the year. Andy Kelley added HR #3 to back a quality outing from Shane Panzini (2-1), who went 6 4 2 2 3 6. Seth Elledge made his Rays debut in relief of Panzini and went the final 3 innings, holding Baltimore hitless and whiffing 4 for the save.

Team record: 14-10. Next up: After a 13-game road trip before coming back home for this series, we're on the road again with the longest trip by distance we can make to Seattle for 3. The Mariners have the worst record in baseball at 5-17 and we'll try to keep them that way.

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The Rays came into Seattle facing the 5-17 Mariners, and did come away with a pair of wins although they had to eke them out. Combined with Baltimore dropping 2 of 3 to Minnesota they hold a 2-game lead in the East.

The opener was one they'd like to forget though as they squandered a 4-1 lead in the 5th in a nightmarish inning that saw Seattle score 5 times with help from a pair of Tampa Bay errors in a 7-5 loss. Joshua Baez's 2-run shot (a team-best #8) gave them that lead but John Swanda had major trouble and couldn't finish the inning, leaving up 4-3. Cody Adcock (0-2), who hasn't been a paragon of consistency either, really made a mess with his own error as well as one from Diego Cartaya and by the time the dust settled it was 6-4 Mariners. Swanda finished 4.2 7 4 3 2 2 and if Seth Elledge continues to look good a change in the rotation is possible.

The Rays rode the arm of James Hays to squeeze out a 2-1 win in the second game. Hays (3-1) was outstanding at 7 1 1 1 1 7 in the win and Kevin DiCostanzo finished for save #7. Willi Castro's 3rd-inning RBI double and a 5th-inning Wander Franco sac fly brought home the necessary runs.

The finale was maddening if ultimately successful for the Rays as they had to essentially win the game three times before finally prevailing 5-3 in 11 innings after blowing the lead in the 9th and 10th. Chris Gutierrez' second RBI single of the day (to go with 2 steals to give him an AL-best 9) ended up the winner. Joe Marlette had his usual effective but short start at 5 4 1 1 1 7 on 98 pitches and it looked like the Rays would pull out the win when JT Realmuto broke a 1-1 tie in the 8th with an RBI single. But Kevin DiCostanzo couldn't get it done in the 9th, giving up a 2-out RBI single to let Seattle tie. Kelly Crumpton doubled in a run in the top of the 10th to make it 3-2, but Gavin Bruni gave it right back on a Julio Rodriguez homer leading off the bottom of the frame. Finally the Rays got their runs in the 11th and Bruni (1-2) held on for a vultured win.

Team record: 16-11. Next up: The road trip continues with 3 in Cleveland.

MLB News: Future Hall-of-Famer Mike Trout hit his 600th homer over the weekend.

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The road trip slogged on with three in Cleveland and the Rays managed to prevail in two of them, maintaining their 2-game lead on Baltimore.

With Michael Prosecky still out with a herniated disc, Seth Elledge made his first Rays start and it was a smashing success in a 3-2 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field. Elledge went 5 2 0 0 2 5 on 90 pitches for his first Rays win and the bullpen barely hung on with Nathan Dettmer allowing a 9th-inning run but securing his 2nd save. Joshua Baez doubled and drove in a run to lead the offense.

The Rays clubbed six homers in the second game, scoring 10 runs - and lost. Despite taking leads of 6-3 and later in the game 10-9, Tampa Bay pitching was terrible today and Cleveland edged them 11-10. They had hit four homers by the 3rd inning to take that 6-3 lead with Wander Franco (#3), JT Realmuto (#8), JJ Cargill (#2) and Andy Kelley (#4) all going deep but Shane Panzini kept giving back the runs his mates got for him and finished 2.2 7 5 5 1 2. Jeremy Brooks was bad in relief again, giving up 2 runs in 2 innings as did Gavin Bruni, but the Rays came back to regain the lead with 2-run shots from Realmuto again (#9) and Cristian Hernandez (#6). Alas they couldn't hold that lead either as Mike Moore (0-1) had a rare poor outing giving up the tying and go-ahead runs.

6 runs in the first 4 innings won the Rays the game and the series and they held on to beat Cleveland 6-4 in the finale. Kelly Crumpton got things going with a 2-run homer in the 1st (#5) and JT Realmuto added a 2-run double to give them a big early lead. John Swanda was solid in going to 3-1 at 5 5 1 1 2 4, but Slade Cecconi gave up 3 in the 6th to get Cleveland back in it before Dax Fulton and Cody Adcock closed it out with much of the bullpen running on fumes. Adcock retired the final 6 Cleveland hitters to notch first MLB save.

Team record: 18-12. Next up: An off-day then we finish the road trip (and a stretch of 16 of 19 away from the Trop) with 3 games in Detroit.

Team news: Veteran catcher Keibert Ruiz opted out of his minor league deal with Durham so we signed another veteran backstop, David Garcia, to a deal with the Bulls to give us depth at the position. Garcia was an All-Star in 2026 and earned 1.7 WAR in about 100 games with Atlanta last season.

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Another good series for the Rays, but one that should have been even better if not for a huge bullpen meltdown which cost them a sweep. Baltimore dropped 2 of 3 so the lead expands to 3 games.

The Rays had their hitting shoes on in the opener as they trounced the Tigers 14-5 at Comerica Park. They had 17 hits, blasted 4 homers and were circling the bases all game. Kelly Crumpton was 2-5 with HR #6 and 4 RBI, Cristian Hernandez was 3-4 with HR #7 and 2 RBI, and the Rays also got longballs from Joshua Baez (#9) and Dong-hwan Kim (#4). Kim and Willi Castro joined Hernandez on 3 hits. The scoring orgy made up for an off-game from James Hays (4-1), who got his strikeouts but struggled otherwise at 6 9 4 4 1 8 with a pair of homers allowed.

The second game was one of toughest losses the Rays will have this season as they blew a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the 9th and lost 7-6 in 11 innings to the Tigers. The ingredients for a win were all there: Kelly Crumpton had another big game, driving in 3 including HR #7, Wander Franco went deep with his 4th and drove in a pair, and Joe Marlette was sharp at 6 3 1 1 3 6. But with a 4-run lead, Kevin DiCostanzo was passed over in the 9th for Cody Adcock, who put the leadoff man on and promptly gave up a 2-run homer, and then gave up another hit before being yanked for DiCostanzo, who had his own troubles and allowed a 2-out, 2-run single to let Detroit tie. The Tigers then broke through against Mike Moore (0-2) in the 11th to give the Rays a hard loss to swallow.

The Rays did show resilience in the finale, winning a close one 3-2 in 10 after yesterday's debacle. Michael Prosecky returned after missing a start due to a herniated disc and was very good, but perhaps shouldn't have come out for the 6th when he gave up a leadoff homer which tied the game at 2. He finished 5 5 2 1 1 2 and for a change the bullpen (which came into the game with a collective 4.35 ERA) held up its end with 5 scoreless innings. And in the 10th Chris Gutierrez singled, stole second, went to third on a bad throw and scored on Willi Castro's sac fly for the winner. Kevin DiCostanzo bounced back from yesterday's blown save by pitching the 9th and 10th, whiffing four and going to 2-1. Their first two runs came on Kelly Crumpton's 2-run blast, his 8th of the year, making it four straight games in which he's homered.

Team record: 20-13. Next up: At long last we're back home after 16 of 19 away from the Trop as we host Minnesota for 3 games.