ST. PETERSBURG -- Erik Neander believed in the Rays team he assembled earlier than most, of course, and Tampa Bay’s president of baseball operations said as much during an unplanned speech before Opening Day at Busch Stadium.
The results of the regular season proved his assertion that the Rays would be better than publicly expected because of what he later coined as the “three P’s”: power from the top of the order, pressure from the rest of the lineup and pitching from all over the staff. They got enough of all three to claim the best record in the American League (98-64).
But as it turned out, the Rays set themselves apart with three “C’s.”
“On top of all that was a really, really special group,” Neander recently told MLB.com, “when it comes to their chemistry, their camaraderie and their cohesion.”
The Rays have been saying their chemistry was special since the early days of Spring Training, when veteran starter Nick Martinez liked the vibe -- and the attendance -- at a weekly trivia night at the Sunseeker Resort in Port Charlotte, Fla. The ups and downs of a 98-win campaign only brought them closer together.
Now, they’re going to see how far that camaraderie -- the unquantifiable force they’ve touted as the “power of friendship” -- can carry them through October.
“I believe there's a direct correlation to the type of clubhouse you have to how guys play on the field. Man, we play for each other,” Martinez said. “We've been playing for each other since the beginning of the season and even through the dog days of the summer.”
Tampa Bay has had plenty of good clubhouses over the years, as longtime Rays like Yandy Díaz and Taylor Walls have noted. Neander, manager Kevin Cash and the coaching staff create an environment where players can be themselves, which usually brings out the best in them.
But those same players are just as quick to say this group is unique, that the mood around this particular team has been especially cohesive and conducive to success. It’s a unified group full of, as Martinez calls them, “vibes guys.”
“I’ve said it all year. It’s the unity, the unity and the joy that this team plays with,” Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “This group is such a special group, and they have been the entire year.”
Sure, it’s easy for the club with the AL’s best record to say they like each other. People often retroactively apply great chemistry to successful teams. But that’s not the case here. They’ve been saying it all year, and they’ve meant it all along.
Want proof? Well, here’s another quote from Díaz, who has been with the Rays since 2019: “I really, truly think it’s one of the best groups we’ve had since I’ve been here.” He said that on March 25, the day before Opening Day.
As much as the group trivia outings flashed the potential for good vibes, the Rays really felt it first the night they landed in St. Louis and bused to their suburban hotel. After a long Spring Training capped by a long day, with an even longer season ahead of them, about 20 players gathered in the lobby and set out for the first of many unofficial team dinners.
“It just felt like guys in here just appreciated the time with one another like no other team that I've been on so far,” said Walls, who got called up in 2021. “It was like, 'Dude, what are we doing?' Everybody did everything together, and I think that's something special.”
Reliever Cam Booser picked up on that quickly when he was called up from Triple-A Durham, saying it was a consistently upbeat and selfless team with tone-setting leaders like Martinez and Drew Rasmussen.
Martinez has clearly emerged as the clubhouse’s central figure, a testament to the well-known impact he can have considering he checks two boxes that usually don’t make for a team leader in baseball: He’s a starting pitcher, and he joined the team this year as a free agent.
“Second to none,” left fielder Chandler Simpson said. “I don’t know where we would be without him.”
They might not be spinning a wheel of mayhem in the clubhouse after wins, for instance, resulting in the player of the game giving Cash a hug. They might not play so “unselfishly,” as second baseman Richie Palacios described their successful style.
And they might not be here, either, if not for the three “C’s.”
“This group is as connected, top to bottom, as any we've had here -- and we've had some unbelievable groups,” Neander said. “Baseball, more than a lot of the other sports, it is a team sport, right? It's individual competitions on the field, but you can win with a team.
“And these players absolutely have won as a team.”