ST. PETERSBURG -- Clad in a matching T-shirt and hat declaring the Rays American League champions, with goggles not yet over his eyes for the incoming onslaught of champagne and beer, manager Kevin Cash found a spot in the middle of the Rays’ clubhouse at Tropicana Field late Monday night and summoned Yandy Díaz.
“Dime, Cashy,” Díaz shouted, grasping a big cut of his (now traditional) celebratory tomahawk steak in his right hand.
“We’ve got one more bite! We’ve got one more bite!” Cash said, holding up one finger on his left hand as he addressed the team. “I think we’ve got a flight to Milwaukee!”
And with that, the Rays’ fourth party in the past six weeks was on. Or rather, it continued on. The Rays’ 7-3 win over the Guardians in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night at Tropicana Field felt like both a culmination and a celebration for the AL’s best team.
“A team like this, a night like this, it just shows what's possible here, what baseball can be, and to have some finality about a new stadium, what's ahead,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “To have a team like this deliver in a year where all that gets resolved, there's so much momentum. There's so much excitement about four more wins, but just everything that's ahead for this franchise, this community, the fans of this team -- and we’ve got plenty of room for more. Let’s keep it going.”
The Rays spent nearly the entire season atop the AL standings. They were the league’s top-seeded team in the postseason. They were the first team to clinch a playoff spot. They clinched the division at Yankee Stadium, then made short work of the Yankees in an AL Division Series sweep.
The Guardians put up a fight in the ALCS, gaining a 2-1 edge with two more games to go at Progressive Field, but the Rays reeled off three straight wins to reach the World Series for the third time in franchise history and the first time since clinching a spot in the Fall Classic at Petco Park in San Diego during the pandemic-affected 2020 postseason.
This time, as they did exactly 18 years earlier, they got to do it at Tropicana Field. And getting the chance to celebrate inside their rebuilt home dome, before a sold-out crowd of 40,230, was only part of what made this night so special.
“Sky’s the limit,” All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero added. “Very happy for this team right here.”
Caminero’s jubilation was evident from the moment the game ended, as he dropped to his knees and looked to the sky with gratitude. He somehow assumed possession of a giant Rays flag and started running toward the still-packed seats, eventually attempting to plant it in the Trop’s turf as “All I Do Is Win” blared over the speakers.
As he did after blasting a walk-off home run to clinch the Rays’ spot in the playoffs, Caminero shouted into a microphone, “Tampa! This is for you!” That has been a theme of Tampa Bay’s run through the postseason, a desire to recognize the community that couldn’t enjoy baseball inside the Trop last year and can now call the Rays its team for generations to come.
“[Clinching in] New York twice was pretty fun, too. But this is special to be here at home, in front of our fans,” said managing partner Patrick Zalupski, whose ownership group assumed control of the club roughly 13 months ago. “Our fans were unbelievable tonight. I mean, this narrative that Tampa Bay fans don't show up is total nonsense. It was as loud in there tonight as I've ever heard for a baseball game in my entire life.”
Cash agreed with that sentiment, which had him even more excited to see -- and hear -- World Series games back at Tropicana Field next week.
“Excited to see what those 40,000 people can bring on Games 3, 4 and 5, for sure,” Cash said. “I thought the DS crowd, Game 1, was the best crowd I've ever heard. This crowd tonight, they might have been a little bit better.”
Of course, the Rays gave it plenty of reasons to get loud. Then they found plenty of reasons to get loud afterward, moving from a televised presentation on a stage constructed above second base to time with their families and, finally, back into their clubhouse.
They drank and sprayed champagne. They drank beer and poured it all over anyone who crossed their path. They smoked cigars and danced, as they often do, to “Bad Girls Need Love Too” by The Toxic Avenger. And they munched on more of those tomahawk steaks, hoping for one more bite -- and one more celebration.
“It’s the power of friendship, man,” said Shane McClanahan, one of the few Rays who was part of the 2020 club. “We all pull for each other. We all love each other. We all hang out with each other.”