No 'better city to clinch' in? Rays eye taking AL East crown in Bronx

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- The Rays enjoyed the opportunity to go crazy inside their home clubhouse 11 days ago, when they celebrated clinching a postseason spot for the first time in three years after Junior Caminero’s walk-off home run against the Astros at Tropicana Field.

It had been a while since they enjoyed a proper, post-clinch party at home. In 2023, they held a delayed celebration at Fenway Park after officially punching their postseason ticket during a loss in Baltimore. In 2022, they went wild in Houston’s visiting clubhouse. They clinched both a playoff spot (calmly) and the American League East title (...less calmly) at the Trop in 2021, but there were still some pandemic-era restrictions in place that season.

But you’re not going to hear any complaints from the Rays about getting a chance to nail down their first division title in five years on the road during the last week of the regular season. Especially when they can eliminate the Yankees with just one win during this four-game, three-day series at Yankee Stadium.

“I don't know if there's a better city to clinch in than New York,” starter Griffin Jax said after pitching five strong innings on Sunday at Tropicana Field. “We'll be enjoying it, for sure, when it happens.”

There is a certain element of pride in keeping a rival from celebrating inside the visiting clubhouse at your ballpark. The Rays did their part to keep the Red Sox dry over the weekend by winning the series, for instance, although Boston clinched a Wild Card spot anyway thanks to some help from Atlanta.

So, sure, it might be a little more fun for the Rays to pop bottles and pour beer all over the place in the Bronx at some point this week. It would be well-deserved after an accomplishment that many never even considered when the season began. Winning the division, especially one as challenging as the AL East, is always the ultimate regular-season goal.

But some players are quick to point out that they have bigger celebrations in mind.

“Obviously that would be pretty fun, but yeah, everyone here knows that the job isn't finished,” outfielder Jonny DeLuca said. “That obviously is an incredible celebration if that happens. But our eyes are further down the line.”

Besides, this week will give the Rays more than just an opportunity to reflect on what they’ve done this season. Playing seven games against big-market, playoff-bound teams with rabid fanbases in New York and Philadelphia, this is also a chance for the Rays to preview what’s to come in October.

Granted, the Rays have been playing high-pressure, high-stakes games against tough opponents for quite some time now -- and they’ve aced virtually every test to this point. But it will be different on the road, especially in the postseason but even during the upcoming series.

“We've done a very good job on the road, kind of rising to those situations and those ballparks that can really create the energy,” manager Kevin Cash said. “But I'm very confident our guys will go in there and embrace those moments.”

“It's going to be exciting. It'll be a good environment. It always is when we're there,” added starter Drew Rasmussen, referring specifically to the Yankees series. “I'm excited to experience that and just have the opportunity to go out and just put our team in the best position we possibly can.”

Lately, a handful of veterans with postseason experience have been telling their younger teammates what they can expect in the playoffs. The main thing they’ve stressed is the increased intensity level of each pitch, which is hard to replicate outside the cauldron of October.

But they’ll get a pretty good feel for it this week.

“We've been playing some playoff teams, very, very important games we played this month. There's definitely a heightened sense of winning this month,” starter Nick Martinez said. “It's going to be as close to a playoff atmosphere (as you can get), definitely New York and possibly Philly, with them trying to fight for home-field advantage.

“It's about winning one pitch at a time, not needing a hero, just doing your part and letting everything fall into place. One pitch at a time, and that's just how you’ve got to take it starting now.”