The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Kevin Kerstetter became a 20-game winner for the second time in three seasons (he missed most of last year) as the Rays came back to take a 5-4 win over the Jays on four homers. Kerstetter pitched well but was ready to leave with a loss or no-decision after going 6 3 2 2 3 5 with his team trailing 2-0 through 5. The bats decided to pick him up in the 6th, though as Jaiden Hardaway led off the inning with HR #29 and two batters later Eric Titcombe (#45) and Bo Angeac (#32) went deep with solo shots to make it 3-2. Angeac added a 2-run shot in the 8th (#33) to provide insurance that was cashed in when Tim Siqueiros gave up a 2-run homer in the 8th to allow Toronto back within one. So playing this almost like a playoff game to get KK #20, I brought in Kikuo Kawase for a 5-out save which he provided, his 37th of the season.

September 26: Activated P Nate Thompson from his rehab assignment at AAA Durham and IF Jim Gebers from the 10-day IL, optioned P Camren Nethercutt and IF Devin Boatman to AAA Durham.

Game 2: The win streak reached 14 as the Rays beat the Jays 9-5 at Rogers Centre. Nate Thompson started for the first time since May 23 and came away with the win despite a pedestrian effort in which he went 5.1 7 5 5 2 1. He'll get another start before the end of the season to see if he's ready for the playoff rotation. Damani Cotton went the final 3 2/3 allowing 2 hits and nothing else to pick up his 2nd Rays save to go with 4 he had with Columbus. Danny Ayala led the offense with 3 hits and 3 RBI including HR #33, Jeremy Glasson homered again in limited action (#5), and Jim Gebers went deep in his first game in a month off the IL (#10).

Game 3: The Rays made it 15 straight by sweeping the Jays 4-3 today. Tim Gates was solid once again (5.2 4 2 2 2 8) to improve to 12-1, 3.26, and Kikuo Kawase had a perfect 2-whiff 9th for save #38. Jeremy Glasson got another start and hit another homer (#6) to pace a fairly muted offense today which was aided by Toronto errors and wild pitches.

Team record: 118-37. Next up: A day off, then we entertain Columbus for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

There isn't much suspense in the AL, with the Royals 3 games behind both the division lead and the 2nd wild card, so if they get hot and either Detroit or Seattle falter it could get interesting. The Rays (of course) and Houston are the other division winners.

Over in the NL things are more fluid with 4 teams within 2 games of each other for the two wild cards, not to mention San Diego only a game behind Arizona for the NL West lead. Milwaukee and Columbus have won their divisions.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: Jeremy Curtis was matched up against Lightning ace Josh Doyle, the reigning NL Cy Young winner and the MLB pitching WAR leader. And it was advantage Curtis tonight as he pitched a gem while the Rays got to Doyle in a 5-1 win. The lefty acquired from St. Louis went 6.2 6 1 1 0 8 and continued on his roll (5 ER in 24 2/3 IP over his last 4 starts) to improve to 13-5, 3.40. It was a 1-0 Rays lead into the 6th when they blew it open with 4 in the 6th on an Omar Rodriguez RBI single and a 3-run blast from Danny Ayala (#34). Jim Golunski picked up save #6 when Danny Medina walked a pair in the 9th to bring the tying run on deck.

Honors from the minors:



Mendoza was a scouting discovery from 2031 who has 80 stuff but only 40 control, so I'm not sure of his MLB future. Pretty, who finished 2nd, has a little more of a chance. We're awash in live bullpen arms with Ken Burgess and Jeff Reece (who was up earlier) ready for MLB and with Tim Siqueiros a free agent and Danny Medina getting expensive (not to mention Jim Golunski), the bullpen could look a lot different next season, although I'll pony up for Kawase as 4-WAR relievers don't grow on trees.

Game 2: In his final chance to make a statement in this year's AL Cy Young race, Josh Carsello made an emphatic one by pitching the team's best game of the season, a 1-hit shutout of playoff-bound Columbus in a 4-0 win, the Rays' 17th straight. Carsello went 9 1 0 0 2 10, walking the two in the 9th with 2 out before fanning former Rays superstar Victor de Jesus to end the game with an exclamation mark. He finishes his 2037 season 17-6, 2.97, with an AL-high 241 whiffs and takes over the AL pitcher WAR lead at 6.0. The Rays got all their offense in the 1st inning with a Bo Angeac RBI single followed by a 3-run Eric Titcombe homer, his MLB-best 46th.

Playoff Race Update: The Royals haven't gained any ground on Detroit or Seattle, so the AL is pretty much set. The NL West and the wild card race on the other hand are completely insane:



More monthly hardware:




Game 3: The 17-game win streak is over as the Rays were beaten almost single-handedly by their former superstar OF Victor de Jesus, who hit a pair of homers, including a grand slam, and drove in 7 in a 9-5 Columbus victory. de Jesus victimized Jon Soranno first, for the slam, as Soranno went 5 3 6 6 5 7 in another consistently inconsistent outing. He then hit a 2-run shot off Tony Rey in the 7th after the Rays had pulled within 6-5. The Rays received a couple of bases-loaded walks in the 6th and a 2-run Mike McKee single, but with several regulars getting a rest there wasn't a miracle comeback.

Team record: 120-38. Next up: 3 games at home vs Toronto, which would normally close out the season but we have that makeup game at Fenway.

Playoff race update going into the final weekend:



If things stay like this until the end, OOTP may break.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: The regular lineup was in there, but you wouldn't have known considering how listless the offense was in a 4-0 loss to the Jays at Publix Park. They were shut down by Toronto's David Gallegos and 2 relievers on 5 hits, but the main takeaway from this game is how much better Nate Thompson looked on the mound. His final line was 5.1 5 3 1 2 7 with the last two runs scoring off him in the 6th thanks to an error and a runner he left on whom Damani Cotton allowed to score. But the big thing was the 7 strikeouts after he only fanned 1 in his first start back. He looks to be rounding into form and will start either Game 2 or Game 3 of the ALDS as the top 3 for the series will be Josh Carsello, Kevin Kerstetter and Thompson. Depending on the opponent's primary handed-ness, Game 4 will go to Jeremy Curtis or Tim Gates. Jon Soranno need not apply.

Playoff race update: The wild, wacky NL West & Wild Card races raged on today with several of the contenders playing each other. St. Louis beat Atlanta 5-4 on a 9th-inning grand slam from Gunnar Henderson; the Padres beat the Dodgers 3-1 and the Cubs won while Arizona lost. So this is how it shakes out, with the Padres getting a leg up in the West:



There's still technically a race in the AL as the Royals won and the Tigers lost yesterday to allow KC within 2 with 2 games left. Their wild card avenue was closed off though when Seattle won and clinched the 2nd spot to play Houston for the right to play the Rays in the ALDS.

Game 2: The Rays overcame an 8-3 deficit in space of two innings to take a 10-8 win over Toronto as we mark the days until the playoffs start. Jon Jimenez had a huge day, driving in 5 with 4 of them coming on a 7th-inning grand slam (#24) that gave Tampa Bay the win. His one of four Rays homers as Omar Rodriguez (a 2-run shot, #33), Eric Titcombe (#47, a solo shot) and Mike McKee (#6, a 2-run blast) also went deep. Kevin Kerstetter started and thankfully didn't need to win today to get his 20th as he went 5 7 6 6 2 8 with his final line inflated by same bad relief work from Danny Medina, who gave up 4 hits and 2 runs of his own after coming on in the 6th. Chris Toombs got the win with a perfect 7th, his 3rd, and Kikuo Kawase nailed down save #39.

Playoff race update: Despite losing, the Tigers clinched the AL Central when Kansas City also lost, settling the AL. Over in the wild and wacky NL things got a bit clearer as St. Louis beat Atlanta again, Arizona lost again to Houston, the Padres once again beat the Dodgers and the Cubs lost once more. As a result, the Padres won the NL West and St. Louis clinched the first wild card, so it's down to the second wild card which has Chicago and Arizona tied for it with Atlanta and the Dodgers one game behind. So we can still have anywhere from a 2 to 4-way tie for it depending on how things go tomorrow.

Meet your next Rays star:



Alexander, the #25 prospect in baseball, was acquired last winter from Seattle in the trade that sent Ricky Loya to the Mariners and while Loya's had a fine rookie season with the Mariners (.300-23-65, 2.7 WAR) Alexander could be something special. He struggled with an aggressive promotion to Durham to start the year but after going to Montgomery in late April he tore up the league.

Game 3: The Rays closed out the home portion of the 2037 regular season with a 9-2 whipping of the Jays behind the hot bat of Jon Jimenez and the hot arm of Tim Gates. Jimenez, who homered and drove in 5 yesterday, hit 2 more homers and drove in 5 more to give him 26 and 122 respectively, a career-high in the latter category. Gates, meanwhile made the "Tim Gates start", going 6 5 2 2 2 5 to finish his excellent maiden Rays season at 13-1, 3.25 with 176 whiffs in 149.2 IP. Tony Rey, who's really pitched well in September after being the season-long whipping boy, went 3 shutout innings and fanned 4 for his 2nd save of the year. He's only allowed 4 ER in his last 18 2/3 IP over his last 12 appearances. Jim Gebers was 2-3 with a HR (#12) and 2 RBI.

Team record: 122-39. Next up: A makeup game in Boston to close the regular season out.

Playoff Race Update: The NL, which a couple of days ago could have seen a divisional tiebreaker and a wild card tiebreaker tournament, ends with just one conventional tiebreaker game as the Cubs and Diamondbacks both won to set up a head-to-head matchup tomorrow to determine the NL's 2nd wild card and who will face St. Louis in the wild card game.

[Art Deco]

The Rays took a 9-3 win in the makeup game to finish the regular season with a record of 123-39. Bo Angeac nearly reached the 100-RBI mark but fell one short despite a 4-RBI day on a 2-run double and a 2-run homer (#34). Jim Gebers was 3-5 with a HR (#12) and 3 RBI as well, while Jeremy Curtis picked up the win going 5 5 3 3 2 4 to end the season 14-5, 3.46. Four relievers got in an inning of work to finish it off.

Next up: The ALDS vs either Toronto or Seattle.

[Art Deco]

The Diamondbacks will now face the Cardinals in the NL Wild Card Game after overcoming the Cubs in the tiebreaker:

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Final Standings & Leaders:



What a year for Omar. The final Rays team stats:



Nothing remarkable here as compared to previous years. We hardly ever steal bases anymore. The individual batting stats:



Jeff Hayes' hot September still couldn't get him into positive WAR territory. The pitching stats:



A bit surprising that Kerstetter was behind Curtis in WAR and only slightly ahead of the much-maligned Jon Soranno. Obviously it was due to Kerstetter being fairly homer-prone but I'm betting 75% of them were solo shots.

[Art Deco]

Quite the thriller, with former Ray Nate Clark delivering the game-tying single in the bottom of the 9th to bring St Louis all the way back from a 4-0 deficit to set it up for Gunnar Henderson's walk-off winner in the 12th:

[Art Deco]

Incredible drama at Rogers Centre as after Toronto tied it late, it looked like Seattle had won on a homer in the top of the 9th. But in the bottom of the frame Steve Barth and Henry Quintana, who is rated 30 for power, went deep back-to-back to give the Jays the win, setting up an ALDS showdown with the Rays. In the early days of this save the Jays eliminated the Rays in the 2021 and 2022 seasons before the Rays got their revenge in the 2029 ALDS by sweeping them.

[Art Deco]

This must be the post-season of the unlikely power hitters. After 30-rated Henry Quintana won the AL Wild Card Game, 30-rated Ernesto Mordasini hit a key blast for Milwaukee to put them up 1-0. Mordasini was originally a Rays property, dealt as an 18-year-old 8 years ago to the Brewers in a deal for Alex Buitrago.

[Art Deco]

For the first couple of innings, it looked like it might be one of those ALDSes as the Jays jumped all over Rays ace Josh Carsello to take a 4-0 lead. And after Bo Angeac homered to get one back in the bottom of the 2nd, Carsello loaded the bases again in the 3rd with one out and his day was over. And Damani Cotton came in, escaped the inning without further damage and went 3 2/3 of scoreless relief to buy time for the Rays bats to get going and come back for an 8-4 win in the series opener. It was a team effort, although Jon Jimenez had a big 2-run double and Angeac and Daniel Vasquez went deep back-to-back in the 7th to put it away. Kikuo Kawase got the last out of the game for the save after Mike Wherry put two men on in the 9th. It wasn't all good news, though - Tim Siqueiros' Rays career is over as he suffered a torn labrum. The longest-tenured current Ray (with the team since 2029) was due to be a free agent this winter.

In the other DS games:



The Brewers are one game away from the NLCS, the Astros blew a 5-2 lead in the 9th only to pull it out with back-to-back doubles off former Ray Jordan Diaz, and speaking of former Rays the Cardinals got 5 homers from them with Jasson Dominguez, Nate Clark and D'Andre Hodges combining to get St. Louis even in their series.

[Art Deco]

October 12: Placed P Tim Siqueiros on the playoff IL, activated P Ron Adams.

Adams has such good stuff that I'd like to at least see him take over Siqueiros' setup role after getting his feet wet.



No need for a comeback today as the Rays scored early and often on their way to an 11-1 rout of the Jays to move one game away from the ALDS. Danny Ayala, who couldn't buy a postseason homer until last year, blasted two today as part of a 4-4 effort, Bo Angeac had another huge game, and Daniel Vasquez homered for the second straight day as the bats had their way. But even more impressive was the return of Nate Thompson, who was 5-0, 1.76 in last year's playoffs and picked right up where he left off despite missing most of the season with a torn labrum by going 7 shutout innings. The only bad news is that Ron Adams, just activated after missing most of the season himself, had to leave with a sore elbow which will keep him out a week. I'm not going to IL him though because that would force him to miss the ALCS.

In the other ALDS game, Houston took a 3-0 lead into the 9th and was three outs away from a 2-0 series lead before they blew it in the 9th for the second straight day, this time fatally by allowing 8 runs, so the Tigers even things up.

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The Rays had their chance to sweep but couldn't score in extra innings and eventually the Jays made them pay when Steve Barth took Jim Golunski deep with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 14th to reduce Tampa Bay's series lead to 2-1. Toronto has an almost all-RH lineup and they jumped on another of our lefties as Kevin Kerstetter couldn't handle an early 4-1 lead. Damani Cotton tried to replicate his Game 1 magic and failed, but Danny Medina was heroic with 4 1/3 scoreless innings which at least bought them time for Danny Ayala's 2-run blast to tie it. But despite having at least one baserunner in every inning afterwards, they couldn't push across the go-ahead run.

In the other DS games, late scoring was the name of the game in the Houston-Detroit series as the Astros got 5 in the 10th to take a 2-1 series lead and both the NLDSes are going to a deciding Game 5.

[Art Deco]

Well here we are, going to a Game 5. The Rays had lots of runners on against Jonathan Willey early but couldn't get them home, and Eric Titcombe's 2-run 8th-inning homer was too little, too late in a 3-2 loss. Tim Gates had one bad inning, and it cost him when the Jays got all 3 of their runs in the 2nd. Gates ended up leaving with a herniated disc in his neck and is through for the playoffs as our pitching injuries pile up. Josh Carsello will hope to pitch a lot more like his Cy Young-caliber self of the regular season than what he showed in Game 1 when we go back to Publix Park to decide this.

And with Detroit taking a win over Houston, all 4 of the Division Series are going to a Game 5 now:

[Art Deco]

It's the Brewers and the Cardinals, who made it in completely different ways. Milwaukee routed San Diego as you can see above, but the Cardinals pulled out a miracle win over Columbus in the other game. The Lightning needed one more out, the Cards had men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out in the 9th, and Tyler Gibson delivered the 2-run single, setting it up for former Rays star Jasson Dominguez to hit the tiebreaking homer in the 11th.

[Art Deco]

Well, here we go again. It's kind of amazing that we either get beat in the DS or win the Series, having only lost the ALCS once (2027) and the World Series once (2024). Obviously I underestimated how susceptible our lefties were to the almost exclusively-RH hitting Toronto lineup as Carsello was terrible in both starts and Kerstetter in his, but today the problem was also the offense, held to two hits through 7 innings. But the biggest issue is the short series, always a crapshoot even if one team finished ahead of the other by 33 games.

Meanwhile in the other ALDS Game 5:



Houston at least got a great game out of their ace, and took a tight win to face the Jays who I think they should beat.

[Art Deco]

With the Rays out, I'm going to condense the daily LCS posts.

October 18, NLCS Game 1:



October 19:



October 20:



October 21:



October 22:

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October 23:



How about those Jays? They've won 7 straight after dropping the first two games to the Rays in the ALDS and will now play in their first World Series since 1993. Matt McGhee was named Series MVP.

October 25:



Blue Jays-Brewers World Series, just as we all called it. Danny Rosales was a one-man wrecking Brew crew, with a grand slam in the 1st, a 3-run shot in the 5th, and the series-winning walk-off RBI single in the 9th for an 8-RBI day. Needless to say he was named Series MVP.

[Art Deco]