The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

It was quite a series for the Rays who needed to play 42 innings instead of the prescribed 27 to sweep the Rangers in Arlington, 42 innings in which Rays pitching allowed a mere 5 runs.

Transaction: To make room for the newly-acquired Isaiah Price, Mal Stephens was optioned to Durham. Stephens was a very effective 4th outfielder for us last season but struggled this year in a part-time role at 205/260/335 with only 4 HR in 215 AB.

The Rays had to go 13 innings to take the opener, edging Texas 3-2 on a bases-loaded walk to Tony Fisher, who had earlier homered (#27) with a man on in the 7th to tie the game. Danny Morales turned in another decent start at 5 6 2 2 2 8 and the bullpen went 8 scoreless including 3 from Jadon Smith. Branden Gammage (3-2) ended up with the win after going the final 1 1/3.

The second game was the most straightforward of the bunch and the only one that ended in regulation as Joe Marlette twirled the third complete-game shutout of his career as Tampa Bay topped Texas 8-0. Marlette (9-7) went 9 4 0 0 3 8 on 110 pitches in the gem and lowered his ERA to 3.37. Isaiah Price was brought in for his glove but his bat supported Marlette and his mates today with a 2-run double in the 2nd to make it 2-0 where it stood until the 7th when Price doubled in another run and Danny Charlton put it away with a grand slam (#14).

And then there was the finale, which might have been the longest game in this save as it took a whopping 20 innings for the Rays to complete the sweep, finally breaking the logjam win 5 runs in the 20th to top Texas 7-3. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead into the 7th before Danny Charlton homered to tie it up and it looked like the Rays might take the win a little sooner as Charlton went yard again (#16) in the 13th to make it 2-1. But Branden Gammage put a man on and Ruben Abeyta let him score in the bottom of the inning and on and on we went. Finally in the game's 8th hour Tony Fisher drilled a 2-run homer (#28) and they piled on from there for 3 more including an RBI double from Agustin Lopez, his third of the game and four hit of the day, all of which came in extra innings after he came on in the 9th. Mario Urizar started and went 5 5 1 1 3 3 and 8 Rays relievers combined to allow only two runs over the next 15 innings. Danny Mauricio (7-2) got the win despite allowing Texas a run back in the bottom of the 20th and he actually loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate before Jamie Arnold put an end to the nonsense, getting the final out for his first Rays save.

Team record: 57-49. The sweep bought them sole possession of first place in the AL East, albeit only by 1/2 game over Toronto and 1 over Baltimore. Next up: Mercifully a day off after 42 innings over 3 before playing 3 in Miami against a 40-63 Marlins team.

[Art Deco]

A step back for the Rays as they lost two of three to their cross-state rivals, but fortunately for them the AL East is The Division Nobody Wants as Toronto and Baltimore both lost a couple as well, leaving Tampa Bay still on top, 1 ahead of the Jays and 1 1/2 of the O's.

They did take the opener to extend their win streak to 4, holding on to squeak by the Marlins 5-4 thanks to more bullpen shenanigans. The red-hot Danny Charlton starting things off by clearing the bases with a double to cap a 4-run 4th and they appeared to be cruising from there behind Gabe Bryant (6-4), who was a solid 6 6 2 2 0 4. But the Marlins got one off Tony Alicea in the 8th, the first run he's allowed as a Ray, and then we had The Jadon Smith Experience in the 9th as the roller-coaster closer allowed a run, loaded the bases, but got a whiff to end the game for scare, I mean save, #21.

Leo Gutierrez couldn't find the plate, putting the Rays in an early 5-0 hole and they never recovered after that in a 5-3 loss to Miami. The lefty dropped to 5-4 after a woeful 2.2 4 5 5 6 5 outing. Wander Franco was 2-4 with an RBI single as part of a comeback which fell short.

The Rays had their chances in the finale but came up wanting once again, dropping it 4-2. Danny Morales (4-6) had a rare poor start, going 4.1 7 4 4 0 7 although it wasn't that terrible and they had a couple of great opportunities with multiple men on in the late innings but couldn't convert. Danny Charlton hit a pair of doubles to extend his hit streak to 19 games.

Team record: 58-51. Next up: More away interleague action as we head to Philly for 3 games. The Phillies lead the NL East at 58-48 and boast perhaps the game's top player in Mario Velasquez, the NL MVP the past two seasons who's hitting a cool 350/407/664 with 37 HR and 109 RBI in 105 games already this year.

[Art Deco]

A good series for the Rays that nearly was a great one as a huge comeback in the finale wasn't enough but they still took 2 of 3 in the City of Brotherly Love to remain a game up on Toronto in the AL East. A serious injury to a key player put a bit of a damper on things however.

Wander Franco was the hero in the opener as his 3-run homer in the 7th (#15) gave the Rays a 6-4 lead and they hold on to beat the Phillies 6-5. Danny Charlton gave them a quick 2-0 lead in the first with a 2-run homer (#17) which extended his hitting streak to 20 games but Joe Marlette had a pedestrian outing (5 6 4 4 2 4) in which he allowed 3 in the 5th to allow Philly to take the lead. The pen was excellent from there with Danny Mauricio (8-2) getting the win and Jadon Smith closing without incident for his 22nd save. That was the good news. The bad news is that we have lost star OF Tony Fisher to a severe hip strain after he doubled in the 5th. Fisher, who has hitting 260/363/543 with 28 HR and 76 RBI and had earned 4 WAR and on a pace for 6, is done for the year as it's a 4-month injury. Certainly a grievous blow to the squad.

Transactions: Fisher goes on the 60-day IL and Duk-yoon Ko is summoned from Durham to play RF against righties at least. Ko is a solid replacement and was raking to the tune of 306/433/583 with 15 HR in 180 AB for the Bulls. The "Korean Kyle Schwarber" will finally get a long look in the lineup. And in another huge shakeup I finally lost my patience with starting C Willie Gutierrez who hasn't hit all year (208/271/339) and has shown no signs of changing that. Because he had an option and backup Art Bing didn't, Gutierrez was sent to Durham and we brought up our top backstop prospect Billy Doughty, our first round pick 2 years ago, to be the starter. Doughty has developed quickly and unlike the 50-rated Gutierrez, he's a defensive whiz (70) behind the plate. And he can hit some too: 253/313/427 with 9 HR at Durham and he's rated 50 contact and power with 55 potential in both.

Tampa Bay got by the Phillies again 6-4 in the second game. Joe Stack had a 3-run homer (#16) in the first but Mario Urizar (7-9) couldn't hold the lead although a Wander Franco error made 3 of the runs unearned. Undeterred, Justin Blackwell homered (#12) in the 5th to break the 4-4 tie and Urizar powered on to finish 6.2 6 4 1 1 8 for the win with Jadon Smith saving again (#23). Billy Doughty had an impressive MLB debut, singling in his first two at-bats and walking in his third but Danny Charlton's 20-game hit streak came to an end.

The finale was a wild affair in the bandbox they call Citizens Bank Park as the Rays looked to be on the receiving end of a blowout, trailing 10-5 after 7, before scoring 6 times in the 8th and 9th to force the game to extras where alas they ended up losing 12-11 in 10 innings. Gabe Bryant didn't have it today (4 7 7 7 1 3) and just about everyone else who took the mound for Tampa Bay didn't cover himself in glory either, but Justin Blackwell did his best to keep them in striking distance by homering twice (#13 & 14) including a 2-run shot in the 8th. Then in the 9th they got two huge pinch-hits: a 2-run Duk-yoon Ko homer (#3) and with 2 out a 2-run double from Joe Stack to tie it. But they couldn't score in the 10th and the Phillies won it off Tony Alicea (0-1) in the bottom of the inning. Blackwell ended up with 5 RBI and Wander Franco also went deep with his 16th.

Team record: 60-52. Next up: Back home for 3 against the White Sox.

[Art Deco]

The Rays pulled off their first sweep of a 3-game series since late May, dispatching the now 28-84 White Sox and are now 1 1/2 games ahead of Toronto atop the AL East.

The opener wasn't easy though as the Rays had to score 4 times in the 8th to break a 3-3 tie and win 7-4 over Chicago. Joe Stack kept them in it, going 3-4 with a 2-run homer (#17) and RBI double to bring them back from 3-0 down to parity and then rookie Billy Doughty had the biggest hit of his brief MLB career, an RBI single to break the deadlock in the 8th before Luis Berumen's 2-run single broke it open. Leo Gutierrez went 5 5 3 3 1 5 and Ruben Abeyta (3-5) got the relief win.

The Rays romped in the second game, blowing out the Sox 12-2. First-inning homers from Duk-yoon Ko (#4) and Joe Stack (#18) staked them to a quick 3-0 lead, Wander Franco drove in 3 more and Justin Blackwell added a 2-run jack (#15) to lead the offense. It was an easy time and some rare support for Danny Morales (5-6), who was his typical excellent self at 7 3 1 1 0 8.

It took overtime but the Rays completed the sweep with a 1-0, 11-inning win over Chicago. Joe Marlette was in dominant form at 8 3 0 0 0 12 but was saddled with a no-decision as the offense struggled. The breakthrough finally came when pinch-hitter Duk-yoon Ko doubled to lead of the 11th, moved to third on a fly ball and scored on another one, Luis Berumen's sac fly. Tony Alicea earned his first Rays win by going the final 2 1/3 on only 23 pitches.

Team record: 63-52. Next up: From one extreme of competition to the other as the 75-39 defending champion Astros come to town for 3 after an off-day.

MLB News: Good news and bad news for a couple of former Rays. Houston's Dominic Scavone hit career homer #300 while one-time Tampa Bay ace and 6-time Cy Young winner James Hays' season came to an end with a torn rotator cuff.

[Art Deco]

The road to the World Series in the AL goes through Houston as the Astros hold the league's best record and were AL champs after beating the Rays in last year's playoffs. And by that measuring stick the Rays were found wanting this weekend as they dropped 2 of 3 to Houston.

Transaction: Agustin Lopez has groin soreness serious enough to put him on the 10-day IL and OF Rocky Corniell is up from Durham, having been up for 74 AB last season.

Somehow they managed to parlay a mere two hits into a 3-1 win over the Astros in the opener however. Mario Urizar (8-9) pitched one of his best games of the year at 7 6 1 1 0 6 for the win and Jadon Smith got the final out of the game for save #24. The offense all came in the 4th with help from former Ray Jake Baldino, who walked three men including the newly-recalled Rocky Corniell with the bases load and Billy Doughty added a sac fly.

The Rays faced another former teammate in Chris Ferguson and he shut them down as the Astros took a 5-1 win in the second game. Gabe Bryant (6-5) deserved a better fate after going 6 4 2 2 3 7 before the bullpen let it get away completely.

Houston took the rubber game 3-2 from the Rays as a couple of homers in a 3-run 4th off Leo Gutierrez were the difference. Gutierrez (5-5) pitched well outside that stretch but still wasn't great at 5 3 3 3 4 7. Wander Franco had a pair of RBI singles to plate both Tampa Bay runs and Danny Charlton was 3-4 with a pair of doubles.

Team record: 64-54. Toronto took 2 of 3 to pull within 1/2 game of us for the AL East lead. Next up: off to Seattle for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

A not-so-great series for the Rays, who struggled to score runs and lost another game to a 9th-inning bullpen breakdown, but they did salvage the finale and thanks to Toronto losing three times in four games stayed in first place, now a full game up on the Jays.

Danny Morales is 3rd in the AL in ERA and 2nd in pitcher WAR but only has 5 wins in 24 starts to show for it and tonight was a prime example why. He was brilliant again at 8 5 0 0 0 7 and left the game with a 1-0 lead but Tony Alicea (1-2) and Jadon Smith combined to allow 2 runs in the 9th to let Seattle walk off with the win. Alicea put three men on and one scored to tie before Smith came in, walked a man to load the bases and then gave up the winning hit. Of course had the offense done more than a Joe Stack RBI double in the 4th their margin for error wouldn't have been so slim.

The offense was AWOL again in the second game and another fine outing from a starter went to waste before the bullpen really let it get out of hand in a 7-1 loss to the Mariners. Joe Marlette (9-8) was excellent but was let down by the defense as well as the offense as a key Justin Blackwell error led to a pair of unearned runs and Marlette finished 6 6 3 1 2 11. Jon Coggin then gave up 4 runs in the 7th in relief and that was that as bats did get 12 men on base but either hit into double plays or couldn't get them home.

It took a key Seattle error to turn things around but the Rays were happy to grab a win however it came as they took the finale 5-3. A Duk-yoon Ko homer (#5) helped them to an early 2-0 lead but Mario Urizar gave it back going 5 6 3 3 0 5 and they trailed again in the 6th. The first two Rays were retired in the inning before a 2-base error let the next man reach and Justin Blackwell followed with a double to tie the game. Then in the 7th Billy Doughty doubled in the go-ahead run and this time the bullpen held firm to preserve the win. Ken Battle (1-0) got the win, and three more relievers held it there until Jadon Smith had a 2-whiff 1-2-3 9th for his 25th save.

Team record: 65-56. Next up: An off-day to fly cross-country to Baltimore for 3 games. We'll have Danny Arroyave back for that series as he came off the IL for the second time this year. Cristian Hernandez refused a demotion to Durham so he was DFA'd to make room.

[Art Deco]

The Rays played one of their best series of the season, sweeping the Orioles in Baltimore and opening up a 2-game lead on Toronto in the AL East.

It took overtime for them to take the opener as the Rays beat Baltimore 7-5 in 10 innings. A 2-run single Billy Doughty was the decisive knock, making a winner of Ruben Abeyta (4-5) in relief with Jadon Smith earning his 26th save. Earlier they survived a rough start from Gabe Bryant, who went 4.1 5 5 5 4 6 and Danny Arroyave made a triumphant return from the IL, going 4-5 with HR #8 and 4 RBI.

Tampa Bay took another extra-inning win in the second game, this time going 13 to get by Baltimore 6-4. Homers from Danny Charlton (#18) and Joe Stack (#19) were the difference after the Rays came back in a game they looked like they had no business winning. They were dominated by the game's best pitcher Joe White to tune of 7.1 2 1 1 1 13 and trailed 3-0 going into the 7th. But they feasted on the Oriole bullpen with the big blow a 3-run shot from Luis Berumen (#27) to make it 4-3 Rays. Alas, Jadon Smith blew his 7th save of the year when he allowed a leadoff homer in the 9th which forced overtime where Branden Gammage (4-2) went three perfect innings to notch the win.

The Rays were able to complete the sweep in the regulation 9 innings, routing the Orioles 11-2. Danny Morales (6-6) finally got some run support as Tampa Bay scored early and often with Duk-yoon Ko's bases-clearing double in the 4th breaking the game open. Morales went 6 6 2 2 3 7 in another excellent performance and he also was helped out by Billy Doughty's first MLB homer, a 3-run blast, and a 2-run wallop from Danny Charlton, his 19th. The rookie Doughty has been a revelation at catcher since his callup, hitting 357/391/524 and his catcher ERA is a sterling 2.36. One sour note from the game - starting CF Isaiah Price strained his PCL hitting a 2-run triple and will miss 6 weeks, essentially the rest of the regular season.

Team record: 68-56. Next up: A massive 3-game series in Toronto.

[Art Deco]

The Rays took a major step toward locking down the AL East, sweeping the Jays in Toronto in the year's biggest series to date and expanding their lead from 2 to 5 games with only 35 left.

Transaction: With Isaiah Price going on the IL for the rest of the regular season we went bold with his CF replacement, purchasing the contract of 21-year-old Danny Rodriguez, our 2nd-round pick in 2034 and currently ranked the #48 prospect in baseball. D-Rod struggled at High-A Bowling Green before a promotion to AA Montgomery where he hit 321/367/464 in limited at-bats. He is coming up for his glove, rated 65 in CF but he's rated 45 contact, 50 power and 55 eye with 60/60/70 potential there and has 70 speed. The job will be his to lose and all we're asking for is good D and not to be a black hole at the plate.

Danny Rodriguez had a very memorable MLB debut and Tampa Bay took the opener behind their ace Joe Marlette and held on to edge Toronto 4-3. Marlette (10-8) went 5.2 3 1 1 4 6 on 107 pitches and got support from Rodriguez, who homered in his 2nd MLB at-bat as well as solo homers from Joe Stack (#20) and Justin Blackwell (#16). And after Blackwell's homer Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and charged the mound, igniting a brawl and earning himself a 4-game suspension before he could even finish his first MLB game. That homer gave the Rays a 4-1 lead and they then had to survive Tony Alicea giving up a 2-run shot in the 8th to make it 4-3 and a typically-shaky 2037 save from Jadon Smith, who gave up 3 hits to load the bases but hung on for his 27th.

Transaction: D-Rod goes to the restricted list for 4 games and we purchased the contract of OF Jay Farrar from Durham. Farrar, not to be confused with the frontman of alt-country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, is a 29-year-old mostly career minor leaguer who had a brief cup of coffee with Toronto last season before signing with the Bulls as an MiLB free agent. He is a fine defender with some power but his 35 contact is what has kept him out of MLB.

Mario Urizar continued his fine run of late and pitched the Rays to a 4-1 win in the second game. Urizar evened his record at 9-9 after going 6.1 5 1 1 5 7 and has now allowed only 7 earned runs over his last 5 starts, shaving 0.4 runs off his season ERA. Tony Alicea bounced back from last night to earn his first Rays save and 26th of the year overall. Wander Franco (#17) and Danny Charlton (#20) had solo homers while rookie C Billy Doughty continued to impress, going 3-4 with two doubles and an RBI.

Tension in Toronto in the finale as the Jays desperately needed a win and the Rays didn't want to backslide as the teams went to the 13th inning looking for the game's first run before Danny Charlton belted a solo homer, his 21st, and the Rays went on to sweep the series with a crucial 2-0 win. Needless to say Tampa Bay pitching was outstanding tonight, led by Gabe Bryant who went 6 3 0 0 1 9 and Jake Bridgewater, who went to 3-0 after pitching 3 scoreless innings to close it out. After Charlton's homer Danny Arroyave doubled and scored on a Joe Stack single to provide insurance, but in doing so he injured himself for the third time in what has been a star-crossed season for him and he'll now miss three more weeks with a hamstring strain.

Team record: 71-56. Not only are we 5 up in the division now but we are also 5 1/2 ahead of AL Central-leading Kansas City for the #2 seed and a bye. Next up: We'll try to extend our 7-game win streak (almost forgot to mention that) at the Trop where we entertain the Yankees for 4 games.

[Art Deco]

The Rays split the 4 games with New York but with Toronto losing 2 of 3 (and being no-hit by Seattle's Bryce Barnett in their first game), the division lead actually grew by 1/2 game to 5 1/2.

Transaction: With Danny Arroyave IL-bound for the third time this year and Cristian Hernandez released, getting the call to replace him is 2031 first-round pick Danny Dicochea, who's toiled on our farm for 6 years. He was at AA Montgomery where he hit 252/303/456 and combined with his time at Durham he had 14 HR and 49 RBI. He's rated 45 contact, 55 power and a 45 at 3B although his defensive metrics were better than his ratings; he'll get a shot at 3B against LHP.

After the Rays and Yankees exchanged a pair of runs in the first inning of the opener there was only one more run scored the rest of the way and unfortunately it was by New York as they eked out a 3-2 win. Leo Gutierrez started and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in the opening frame but settled in the rest of the way and finished 4.1 6 2 2 1 7. The game then held at 2-2 until the 8th when Ruben Abeyta (4-6) gave up a solo homer. Both Rays runs came in the bottom of the first thanks to a 2-run homer from the red-hot Danny Charlton, his 22nd, but the offense was held to only 5 hits.

Danny Morales was excellent once again and the Rays rolled to a 6-1 win over New York in the second game. The righty lowered his 3rd-best ERA in the AL to 2.60 after going 7 3 1 1 2 3 and finally getting over .500 at 7-6, which tells you how reliable pitcher W/L records are. Support came from Luis Berumen, who had an RBI single and a 2-run homer (#28) and a pair of rookies: C Billy Doughty, who was 2-4 with a double and an RBI and is now hitting .382, and in his MLB debut 3B Danny Dicochea, who doubled twice and scored a run.

Transaction: Lefty reliever Jamie Arnold came off the IL and rookie hurler Dwayne Marion was optioned to Durham.

Joe Marlette was on his game and Rays pitching put together a combined one-hitter in beating the Yankees 4-2. Marlette (11-8) went 6 1 2 2 3 7, no-hitting New York through the first 5 before running into trouble in the 6th. Jadon Smith finished up for his 28th save. The offense came from that man Danny Charlton again, with another first-inning 2-run homer (#29) and Duk-yoon Ko, who launched a solo blast (#6).

Transaction: CF Danny Rodriguez, suspended 4 games for charging the mound in his MLB debut, finished his restricted list time and was activated with Jay Farrar returning to Durham.

This was scheduled as a 4-game series but by the time the teams were done in Sunday's finale they had played the equivalent of 5 1/2 games as we set a team record (and perhaps one for all my Rays saves) by playing 23 innings only to lose 7-3 to the Yankees. It was a struggle for the offense all day as they trailed 1-0 in the 7th before Danny Dicochea tied it with an RBI single and Justin Blackwell launched a 2-run double to put them up 3-1. Unfortunately Tony Alicea gave up the lead in the 8th and we went on and on and on (and on and on and on) from there. Mario Urizar was excellent in his start at 5.1 3 0 0 2 6 and Rays pitching put up 14 zeroes after Alicea's blown save including 4 from a guy who normally plays 3B in Luis Cisneros, who does have actual 2-way ability and has mopped up a few times earlier this year. The Rays should have won in the 18th when Danny Charlton hit his second double in extra innings and they then loaded the bases with nobody out. But two straight strikeouts (among the 28 times they whiffed today) and a fly out meant we trudged on and Kenny Battle (1-1) loaded the bases in the top of the 23rd with nobody out and served up a grand slam to lose it. And the Rays only managed 8 hits in those 23 innings meaning there were some really ugly lines in the boxscore: Billy Doughty and Wander Franco were each 0-9, and Danny Rodriguez was 0-8 for example.

Team record: 73-58. Next up: A much-welcomed off-day after playing 23 innings followed by a visit from the other New York team, the Mets, for 3 as we head into the season's final month.

[Art Deco]

Can't complain about taking 2 of 3 from a good Mets team but unfortunately Toronto swept its series and cut the Rays' division lead to 4 1/2 games.

Transaction: September roster expansion time and OF Mal Stephens is back up after spending the first half of the season with the big club as well as P Jordan Rodriguez, who gives us an extra lefty and long man in the pen and who was up for a little while last year.

The Rays waited out the Mets in the opener, scoring in the bottom of the 9th to take a 2-1 win. Alex Rivas' RBI single scored Billy Doughty (who was 2-3 and drove in the other Tampa Bay run) with the walk-off winner. Gabe Bryant was solid at 5 5 0 0 1 5 and Jadon Smith (2-7) picked up the win in relief after a typical scare in the top of the 9th.

Things went much easier for the Rays in the second game as they scored 5 in the 4th to break things open and cruised to an 8-1 win over New York. Leo Gutierrez (6-5) might have pitched his best game of the season at 6.1 5 1 1 3 6 and was able to cruise thanks to an offensive outburst which included homers from Danny Charlton (#24) and Art Bing (#6). Charlton was 2-2 with the homer and 2 RBI and Joe Stack added a 2-run single. One note on Stack: I've managed him in 578 games over four seasons but only noticed today how large he's represented at the plate in the graphics and looked it up to see the dude is 6'8" (!). Talk about Stacked!

The Rays should have finished off a sweep as Danny Dicochea came off the bench to hit his first major league homer, a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 7th which put them up 3-2. But the normally reliable Branden Gammage (sporting a sub-2 ERA coming in) coughed up a 3-run homer in the top of the 8th and the Mets took a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay. At last Dicochea's homer took Danny Morales off the hook from another undeserved loss as the starter with some of the worst run support in the league was brilliant again at 6.1 5 2 1 3 10 so instead he picked up his 14th no-decision in 27 starts. The loss actually went to Tony Alicea (1-3), who put the two men on ahead of Gammage coming in to face the lefty to whom he surrendered the decisive homer. Duk-yoon Ko had an early solo homer (#7).

Team record: 75-59. Next up: More interleague action as a bad (55-79) Atlanta team visits for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

The Rays pulled off the sweep of a struggling Atlanta squad, extending their lead in the AL East to 6 1/2 games and reducing their magic number to clinch the division to 20. Included among the three games was a remarkable performance by a rookie.

Rookie Danny Rodriguez tied it with a homer in the 3rd and Luis Berumen's 2-run shot (#29) later in the inning won it to back a dominant outing from Joe Marlette in a 4-1 Rays win over Atlanta. Rodriguez, who famously homered and started a brawl in his MLB debut in Toronto, hit his 2nd big league homer and Marlette (12-8) went 6 4 1 1 1 10 to lower his ERA to 3.11. Jadon Smith had an uneventful 9th for save #29.

Tampa Bay had to go overtime to beat Atlanta again as Joe Stack's walk-off homer (#21) in the bottom of the 10th gave the Rays a 5-4 victory. The Rays clung to a 2-1 lead after solo shots from Justin Blackwell (#17) and Danny Rodriguez (#3) going into the 7th but Mario Urizar put two men on and Jake Bridgewater came in and surrendered a 3-run homer to put them in a 4-2 hole. Fortunately they immediately responded with a pair in the bottom of the inning to tie it, including a solo blast from Luis Berumen (#30). Urizar finished 6.1 6 3 3 1 6 and Jadon Smith (3-7) was dazzling in relief, fanning 5 over two perfect innings to pick up the win.

After winning a couple of tight affairs the Rays had their way with Atlanta in the finale, routing them 13-2. The big story was two more homers from rookie Danny Rodriguez, who hit 4 over the 3 games of the series and has 5 in only 28 at-bats as a big-leaguer. And he threw in a triple as well giving him a cool .929 slugging percentage. He's only rated 50 for power (with 60 potential) but is on quite the tear right now. Also coming through big was Danny Charlton, who's been deadly in the second half of the season and went 3 for 4 tonight with HR #25 and 4 RBI. Justin Blackwell also homered again with his 18th being a 3-run shot. Gabe Bryant (7-5), who's had to suffer no-decisions in over half his starts this year, was well-supported for a change and was a solid 6 7 2 2 2 6.

Team record: 78-59. Next up: Oakland visits for 3 games. The A's are 70-66 and a game out of the last AL wild card so it's a big series for them.

MLB News: A couple of big milestones were reached with Boston's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doing something his daddy was unable to do in a Hall of Fame career as he collected hit #3000. Vladito will no doubt be joining his father in Cooperstown at some point in the future. Also former Ray and current Padre Joey Bart, still productive at 40 on his way to a 3+ WAR season, clubbed his 300th career homer which is quite an accomplishment for a catcher.

[Art Deco]

A disappointing series for the Rays who couldn't keep their recent momentum going as they dropped 2 of 3 to Oakland. Toronto won 2 of 3 in the meantime, so while the magic number is down to 18 the division lead is also down to 5 1/2. Still in really good shape but let's not make this a habit.

The Rays did roll in the opener beating Oakland 7-3. They got big games from Mal Stephens and Danny Dicochea, who each homered (#5 for Stephens, #2 for the rookie) and drove in a pair. Leo Gutierrez (7-5) took a shutout into the 6th before losing some steam and finished 6 3 3 2 1 6 for the win.

Oakland thumped Tampa Bay 10-4 in the second game although after the Rays scored a pair in the 6th they had cut the lead to 4-2 before the bullpen let it get away. Danny Morales (7-7) turned in a rare mediocre start, allowing a single run in each of the first four innings and finishing 6 8 4 4 3 6. A 2-run Danny Charlton homer (#26) off a lefty halved the A's advantage but Danny Mauricio and Jamie Arnold combined to allow 5 runs and that was that. Luis Berumen had a consolation solo shot (#31) in the 9th.

Every time we think veteran closer Jadon Smith has turned a corner he ends up blowing a game and that was the case today as he lost a 1-0 lead in the 9th and the A's went on to prevail 3-1 in 12 innings. Joe Marlette was brilliant in going 8 5 0 0 0 9 on 89 pitches and in hindsight should have gotten a chance in the 9th but he was tiring and Smith had been on a roll of late. After putting two on with two out, he gave up an infield single and then walked in the tying run to blow his 8th save of the year to go with 7 losses (some of which were in the same game). Ruben Abeyta (4-7) then gave up a 2-run homer in the 12th to lose it, but had the offense done more than scratch out a solitary run none of it would have mattered.

Team record: 79-61. Next up: A day off before heading to Cleveland, where the 70-70 Guardians await for 3 games. They're actually a contender in the terrible AL Central, only a game behind Kansas City.

[Art Deco]

The Rays continue to sputter in September, losing 2 of 3 in Cleveland as the bullpen has become a problem again. Toronto split its 4 games so the magic number is down to 15 and the division lead is 5. Still not worrying but a series win or two would be nice.

The Rays jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 5th in the opener behind a 2-run homer from Luis Berumen (#32) who was 3-3 on the day, but Mario Urizar couldn't hold it and Cleveland scored 6 in the bottom of the inning to go to a 9-3 rout. Urizar (9-10) finished 4 9 6 6 0 2 as he faced 6 men in the 5th without retiring any of them and they all scored.

Tampa Bay did bounce back to take the second game 10-7, but not thanks to the bullpen. It should have been a laugher as they took a 6-1 lead behind Gabe Bryant, who was excellent at 5 4 1 0 1 7 but had to leave after 93 pitches. This let the Guardians feast on the Rays' bullpen, getting two runs apiece off Jamie Arnold, Jon Coggin and Tony Alicea, with the last of those runs tying the game at 7 in the 8th. Fortunately Danny Charlton came through with a 2-run shot (#27) in the 9th and Joe Stack went back-to-back with him (#22). This gave Alicea (2-3) an undeserved win and Jadon Smith put two on in the bottom of the 9th before recovering for save #30. Earlier rookie Danny Rodriguez had a solo homer (#7) and an RBI single.

And it was the bullpen which failed the Rays once again as they took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th only for Branden Gammage (4-3) to give up a grand slam to let Cleveland walk it off 7-6. Danny Charlton followed up yesterday's game-winning homer with two more (#28 & 29) to drive in 3 and stake them to the lead and Leo Gutierrez was decent at 5.2 6 3 3 0 8. Although a pair of relievers got them through the 7th and 8th, Gammage came on with lefties due in the 9th and Smith & Alicea tired, and he failed spectacularly.

Team record: 80-63. Next up: A day off to head back to the Trop where we'll play 3 against Kansas City who at 73-70 leads the AL Central by a game over the Guardians.

Although the Rays had a poor week one guy couldn't be blamed:



On the farm: Durham won the division in the IL and began its playoff series against St. Paul, splitting the first two games of their best-of-5.

[Art Deco]

The Rays did bounce back to take 2 of 3 from the Royals, but Toronto won't go away as they swept their series and cut the Rays' division lead to 4 1/2 games. Still, time is running out and the magic number is down to 13.

High drama in the opener as after Kansas City scored in the top of the 12th to go ahead 2-1 the Rays got back-to-back 2-out doubles from Duk-yoon Ko and Luis Berumen in the bottom of the inning to pull out a 3-2 walk-off win. Joe Marlette was magnificent once again at 7.1 2 1 1 0 9 but Tony Alicea allowed his man to score in the 8th to let the Royals tie it up. Jadon Smith (4-7) got the win despite allowing the run in the 12th.

Things were a bit more straightforward in the second game as Danny Morales was on point as usual and they beat Kansas City 5-1. He did scatter some hits but did so effectively, going 6.2 9 1 1 0 5 to improve to 8-7 and lower his ERA to 2.63. Billy Doughty's second MLB homer, a 2-run shot in the 2nd, held up until they tacked 3 more on in the 8th including Danny Charlton's 30th, also a 2-run blast. Tony Alicea made up for his blown save yesterday by getting one today, his 2nd as a Ray and 27th overall.

The Rays were unable to complete the sweep, losing 6-3 in the finale after Mario Urizar ran into a brick wall in the 5th, giving up 4 runs. That wiped out a 2-1 Tampa Bay lead and Urizar dropped to 9-11 after finishing 4.1 9 5 5 2 7. The hot duo of Danny Charlton (#31) and Luis Berumen (#33) had solo homers for the Rays.

Team record: 82-64. Next up: The homestand continues with 3 against Minnesota.

[Art Deco]

The Rays could not have scripted the weekend any better, dominating the Twins by an aggregate score of 18-2 in a sweep, and seeing the Jays get swept to up their division lead to 7 1/2 and reduce their magic number to 7.

Transaction: Danny Arroyave is back from his third stint of the season on the IL and rookie Danny Dicochea, who was productive in his first MLB action, is returned to Durham.

Gabe Bryant and two relievers combined on a 3-hit shutout as the Rays took the opener from Minnesota 5-0. Bryant (8-5) went 6 3 0 0 1 5 and Branden Gammage needed only 15 pitches to work through a pair of scoreless innings. Danny Arroyave had a big hit in his latest return from the IL, a 2-run single that made it 3-0, and Justin Blackwell capped the scoring with a 2-run homer (#19).

Leo Gutierrez pitched the most dominant game of his nascent MLB career as Tampa Bay routed the Twins 8-1. The young lefty (who had 76 IP coming into the year so is not classified a rookie) was a nearly-unhittable 7 1 0 0 1 12 today to improve to 8-5 and he was amply supported, primarily in a 6-run 5th inning. Mal Stephens kick-started the inning with a 2-run triple and Joe Stack capped it with a 3-run homer (#23). Wander Franco completed the scoring in the 6th with his 18th longball of the year and third hit of the day.

Every season is a work of art for Joe Marlette but this year might be his masterpiece as he toyed with the Twins today in a 5-1 Rays win. The lefty is on pace for a 7-WAR season which would be his best and today's 7 2 1 1 0 9 outing not only makes him 13-8, 2.84 with 234 Ks in 190 IP, but it's the latest in a remarkable 8-start run in which he has a combined line of 55 26 9 7 10 73 and been named star of the game each time. The bats did all their damage with 5 runs in the 4th, highlighted by a 3-run Danny Charlton shot (#32).

Team record: 85-64. Next up: Our longest homestand of the season continues with 3 against Baltimore.

On the Farm: Not only was it a great weekend for the big club, the Bulls got the job done in the opening round of the International League playoffs, routing St. Paul 9-0 in the decisive 5th game of their series behind a trio of players who saw action in Tampa Bay this season. Top pitching prospect Dwayne Marion hurled a 4-hit shutout, a Maddux on 95 pitches while Frank Duron was 3-5 with a homer and 3 RBI and Jay Farrar was 2-4 with a homer and 3 RBI as well. Durham advances to face Indianapolis in the best-of-5 championship round.

[Art Deco]

The Rays keep rolling ahead of the playoffs, sweeping the Orioles at Tropicana Field and making it 6 wins in a row and 8 of their last 9 as they've reduced the magic number for clinching the AL East to 3 games.

Transaction: Mal Stephens is hurt again, straining an ab muscle although he should be back for the postseason. OF Rocky Corniell was recalled from Durham.

Billy Doughty and Danny Charlton were the stars in an 8-3 win over Baltimore in the opener. Doughty drilled a 3-run homer (#3) while Charlton knocked in 3 with a 2-run single and RBI double. Danny Morales (9-7) was very good at 7 4 3 3 0 4 for the win.

The Rays needed to put their comeback boots on to take the second game as Luis Berumen launched a 3-run homer (#34) in the bottom of the 8th and backup catcher Art Bing won it with a walk-off RBI single in the 9th as they prevailed 5-4. Mario Urizar started and pitched fairly well, but the bullpen marred his final line of 6.1 6 3 3 2 5. Jadon Smith (5-7) picked up the win with a scoreless 9th.

Tampa Bay took the finale 2-0 to finish the sweep behind a great game from Gabe Bryant and three relievers who combined on a 5-hit shutout. Bryant (9-5) went 6.2 4 0 0 2 5 and lowered his ERA to 3.01 while Jadon Smith fanned a trio of Orioles in the 9th for his 31st save. Alex Rivas was the star on offense, going 4-4 with 3 doubles, a run scored, a steal and an RBI as he was involved in both Rays runs. The sweep caused grievous damage to Baltimore's playoff hopes, knocking them 3 1/2 back of the third wild card with two teams ahead of them.

Team record: 88-64. Next up: An off-day then Boston visits for our final 3 regular season home games.

Durham Update: The Bulls are up 2-1 in their best-of-5 IL Championship Series against Indianapolis.

[Art Deco]

The Rays were a blown save away from a sweep of the Red Sox and clinched both a playoff spot and at least a tie in the division but thanks to Toronto sweeping its series the magic number sits at 1.

That blown save came in the opener as Jadon Smith did it for the ninth time this year, losing a 2-1 lead in the 9th as the Rays went on to drop a 5-2 decision in 14. Danny Arroyave had hit a clutch 2-out, 2-run homer (#9) in the bottom of the 8th to make it 2-1 Tampa Bay but Smith couldn't stand the prosperity, and then Ken Battle (1-2) gave up a 3-run homer in the 14th. Leo Gutierrez pitched very well in his start at 5.2 3 1 1 0 4.

The Rays rode a couple of big homers to a 6-3 win over Boston in the second game. Danny Arroyave made it consecutive games with a longball with a 3-run shot (#10) in the first, and Luis Berumen hit his 35th with a man on in the 5th to provide the bulk of the offense. Joe Marlette (14-8) was decent at 6.1 6 3 3 1 9 and with a tired bullpen Danny Mauricio stepped into to handle the 9th and pick up his first save of the season.

Tampa Bay got four homers in a relatively comfortable 8-3 decision over Boston in the rubber game of the series and the home regular season finale where they went an impressive 53-28. Alex Rivas (#6) and Joe Stack (#24) each belted two-run dingers in the first while Danny Charlton (#33, a 2-run shot) and Danny Arroyave (#11 solo, giving him a hat trick of homers over the weekend) went yard in the 7th. Rivas added an RBI double for a nice afternoon for a change the poorly-supported Danny Morales (10-7) got the win despite not being his best at 5.2 8 3 3 3 5. Danny Mauricio made a bit of a mess in the 9th today so Branden Gammage had to finish up for his 5th save.

Team record: 90-65. Next up: 3 games in Toronto, so any win will clinch the division.

MLB Pennant Chase: As we head into the final week of the season here's the lay of the land:

AL: The Astros and Rays will win their divisions and get byes through the wild card round while the Royals have opened up a healthy 3-game lead in the Central. Texas has clinched the first wild card and Toronto is 2 games up in the second over Oakland, which leads the Mariners by 1 game and the Yankees by 2 for the third.

NL: The divisions are all spoken for with the Cubs and Arizona taking the top two seeds and the Mets #3 division winner. The wild card is truly where things get wild:



Good luck handicapping this one.

[Art Deco]

The Rays are AL East champs for the 19th time in club history after taking the second of four games with the Jays on their way to a series split.

The champagne was put on ice for a day after the Rays fell 3-1 in the opener at Toronto. They had their chances (9 hits, 2 walks) and loaded the bases in the 9th but couldn't get the hit they needed. Mario Urizar (9-12) was pretty good at 6 7 2 2 3 8 but suffered the loss. He'll get one more chance to hit double digits in wins with a final-day start.

Instead it was the second game that saw the Rays crowned kings of the AL East as they scored 3 times in the top of the first and made those runs stand up in a 3-2 win over the Jays. Duk-yoon Ko went solo (#8) and Danny Charlton had a 2-run jack (#34) to provide the scoring but that was all they'd manage. Instead it was down to the staff to hold it and it was a team effort as Gabe Bryant couldn't finish the 5th, going 4 5 2 2 4 5 on 91 pitches after walking the leadoff man. Danny Mauricio (9-2) got him out of the mini-jam and earned the win and then three more relievers preserved the slender 1-run lead with the good Jadon Smith showing up tonight, striking out the side in the 9th for save #32 to start the party.

The Rays gave several regulars a rest the following night and lost another 3-1 decision to Toronto. Leo Gutierrez (8-6) started and held the fort until the 5th when he gave up a 3-run homer to Spencer Torkelson and finished on the wild side at 4.2 3 3 3 5 3. Danny Charlton's RBI double plated the lone Tampa Bay run.

Tampa Bay came back late to salvage a split of the series, edging the Jays 4-3 on a bases-loaded walk in the 8th to Alex Rivas. Danny Rodriguez's 2-run single put them up 2-0 in the 2nd but Joe Marlette gave it back in the 3rd and was touched for a solo homer in the 6th to finish 5.2 7 3 3 1 8 and conclude an outstanding regular season at 17-9, 2.94 with 251 whiffs in 206 IP, good for 6.7 WAR and a shot at a Cy Young. They took him off the hook in the 7th with the tying run before loading the bases in the 8th and getting the Rivas walk to win it. Danny Mauricio (10-2) made it double-digit relief wins and Jadon Smith cruised through the 9th again for save #33.

Team record: 92-67. The Rays conclude the regular season with 3 games at Yankee Stadium, where they can play spoiler as New York is a game out of the third wild card.



Some love from the league for our slugging DH.

As we head into the final weekend of the season we have some truly crazy wild card races.



In most years the AL race would be the talk of baseball but it takes a back seat to the incredibly insane NL race with six teams fighting for three spots and only separated by 2 games with three of them tied. Thankfully we no longer have tiebreaker games or it might take an extra week to sort out the NL. And there's head-to-head action among the group with Memphis playing St. Louis and San Diego facing San Francisco.

[Art Deco]

The Rays finished out the regular season where despite clinching the AL East still got to play spoiler as their win in the opener against the Yankees was the difference between New York staying home or taking the third wild card as the Yankees finished in a 3-way tie with Oakland and Seattle which was resolved in the A's favor. The Rays did drop the final two games but it was all academic.

That first game win came after yet another epic meltdown from the bullpen. They took a 6-2 lead into the 9th only to lose it but prevailed 7-6 when Justin Blackwell reached the 20-homer mark with a solo shot in the 10th. Jadon Smith was one of the culprits again, blowing his 10th save of the year after giving up a bases-loaded walk and a run-scoring single with all 4 runs charged to Jake Bridgewater. Smith (6-7) did stay in to "save" his vultured win. Before all that they got a good start from Danny Morales, who went 5 4 1 1 2 3 to finish with a 2.71 ERA, and four other homers including a pair from Joe Stack (#25 & 26), Wander Franco (#19) and Luis Berumen (#36).

The Rays dropped the second game to the desperate Yankees, falling short 5-4. The offense was bookended by 2-run homers from Luis Berumen (#37) in the first and Art Bing (#7) in the 9th, the latter pulling them within run. Between that they got a typically mediocre start from Mario Urizar who finished 9-13, 4.48 after going 5 6 5 5 1 5.

Tampa Bay dropped the regular-season finale 7-6 to New York. Gabe Bryant (9-6) struggled in his final tuneup for the playoffs at 5 9 5 5 1 3 while they did get a 2-run homer from Joe Stack (#27) and a 3-run jack from Duk-yoon Ko (#9) in the 8th which made it a one-run game. But thanks to Oakland's win over Texas, the victory was bittersweet for the Bombers.

Final Regular Season Record: 93-69. Next up: The ALDS where we await the winner of the Oakland-Kansas City wild card series. I'll have the final standings/stats post up next.

[Art Deco]

Not shown here for space reasons are the third wild cards. I mentioned in the previous post that Oakland took it in the AL, winning a 3-way tiebreaker over the Yankees and Seattle. The NL, which was much more crazy going into the final weekend, actually settled out more straightforwardly with LA and Memphis as you see grabbing the first two and third going to San Francisco which ended up in a tie with El Paso and beat them 5 out of 6 in the regular season. Also with the strikeout leaders cut off I'll mention that Baltimore's Joe White took the pitching triple crown as well as being the pitcher WAR leader with 7.8, outpacing our Joe Marlette who had 6.7. So this is the playoff tree:



By taking the 2 seed, we avoided a stronger team in the ALDS as the top two wild cards had better records than 82-80 Kansas City and of course third wild card Oakland.



A great final two months of the season turned a season of stop-start struggle into a comfortable division win. A lot of the earlier struggles were due to injuries as key players like Luis Berumen and Danny Charlton missed time, not to mention Danny Arroyave playing about half the season due to multiple IL stints and not playing that great when he was in the lineup. Also a couple of rookies installed in the lineup in August had an impact in the turnaround with Billy Doughty hitting over .300 while playing excellent defense at catcher and Danny Rodriguez playing very good as well in CF with a respectable output at the plate. And given how bad the final overall defensive numbers are, imagine how bad they would be without those two. (The keystone combo of Justin Blackwell and Wander Franco are downright awful, though). So it's a testament to our pitching staff that they led the league in ERA despite a defense that was among the worst at allowing hits on balls in play. The offense meanwhile ended up pretty good, even if it is a bit three-true-outcomes-prone.



We had a lot of injuries this year which is why you see a lot of players listed above as only Franco, Stack and Blackwell were in the lineup every day from start to finish. Losing Tony Fisher really hurt as the likes of Duk-yoon Ko and Mal Stephens couldn't come close to matching his production, although we fared quite well when he was out for other reasons.



Just a truly excellent season from the pitching staff, which overcame a terrible defense. I doubt many (if any other) teams got 17 WAR from their top 3 starters and I was kind of surprised to see Gammage with 2.8 WAR in relief (only giving up 2 homers all year really helped) and Urizar with a respectable 2.7 despite putting up very mediocre surface numbers. But nearly everyone was a positive contributor (Alicea was worth 1.8 WAR overall including his time in Memphis) with the only knock the penchant for blown saves which had a lot to do with underplaying our Pythagorean record by six games. But undoubtedly some of those blown saves were due to our leaky defense.



The farm system is in very good shape (ranked 6th in MLB), and the promotions of effective contributors D.Rodriguez and Doughty proved that. Marion was up briefly and struggled but he remains an elite pitching prospect who could make a big contribution next season.