ST. PETERSBURG -- You wouldn’t know it from the way he pitched, but Drew Rasmussen didn’t feel totally comfortable in Game 1 of the American League Division Series until around the fourth inning.
He was feeling the sold-out crowd at Tropicana Field. He was channeling the intensity of his first postseason start in five years. The adrenaline was flowing a little more than normal, and his heart was pounding a little harder than usual.
It took Rasmussen a couple of innings to settle in and learn a valuable lesson that he’ll carry into his start in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series on Monday night at The Trop.
“You don't necessarily have to try harder just because it's the postseason,” Rasmussen said Sunday afternoon. “That was a mistake I made earlier in my career. I think about my start in Boston in the '21 ALDS, where you get to this stage, and you sit there, and you go, ‘OK, now I have to be something more and something bigger, something better.’ And that's just not true.”
Especially not when you’re as good as Rasmussen.
The right-hander carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of a 1-0 win over the Yankees to begin the Rays’ first-round sweep, and manager Kevin Cash said Rasmussen was the “pretty obvious, easy choice” to set the tone against the Guardians in the ALCS.
It might not be realistic to expect more of the same from Rasmussen this time out. But if anyone can do it, it’s probably the guy the Rays view as “the standard” for their pitchers.
“Hopefully, he can go and come close to doing what he did in Game 1 of the DS. That would be great,” Cash said before the Rays’ workout at Tropicana Field on Sunday. “I know he's excited to go. I know the guys are excited to play behind him.”
For good reason. It’s been more than three months since the Rays walked off the field on the losing end of a game that Rasmussen pitched. They have won 13 consecutive games he started, a stretch that dates back to the All-Star Game.
“He's such a good role model for this team,” fellow starter Griffin Jax said. “Young player, veteran player -- doesn't matter. He's the same guy every single day.”
Rasmussen would have been on tap to start Game 4 of the ALDS, had the Rays not finished a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium last week. Instead, he is fully rested and ready to pitch at home against a Cleveland team that he pitched well against during the regular season.
He gave up three runs (two earned) over five innings in a 3-1 loss at Progressive Field on April 29, when he was on the wrong end of a gem by Guardians starter Gavin Williams. He bounced back by striking out nine and allowing only three baserunners over seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 win against Parker Messick at The Trop on July 26.
Rasmussen laughed as he noted he was “incredibly invested” in the outcome while watching the Guardians’ Game 5 victory over the White Sox at home on Saturday night. He had already begun preparing to face Cleveland’s lineup, thinking he could shift his full focus to the White Sox if they quickly finished the series after taking a 2-0 lead.
He picked up his prep for Chicago early on Saturday, but that didn’t last long once the game started.
“Watching how the game was unfolding,” he said, “very quickly pivoted back to Cleveland.
“It's a fun opportunity to get to compete, obviously, at this time of year. But also, being able to take in a game like that of that magnitude as a fan is special.”
Of course, it was easier for Rasmussen to appreciate the significance of that game while watching from his couch. When he makes his way to the mound Monday night, with the crowd behind him and a national audience following along, he’ll try to ignore the importance of what’s taking place.
Game 1 will come down to the same two things as always, Rasmussen said: “Preparation and execution.” If nothing else, he’s learned to not make the postseason about anything more than that.
“I wish I could go back and tell a younger version of me that exactly what you've done to get to this point is the exact same thing that will provide success moving forward,” Rasmussen said. “I think the ultimate lesson that I learned was that you don't have to be anything greater than what you already are.”