NEW YORK -- Back in Spring Training, the preseason predictions and projection systems were skeptical of the Rays. After consecutive fourth-place finishes, they were widely picked to finish last in the American League East this year.
Those doubts persisted throughout an up-and-down start to the season. They seemed to reappear every time the Rays stumbled through a brief losing streak. Slights surfaced in other ways, too, with pundits repeatedly referring to other clubs as the team to beat in a division led by Tampa Bay.
Now, there can be no doubt. The Rays are once again AL East champions, and the road to the World Series in the AL will run through Tropicana Field.
“I don't think anything was handed to us all year. Obviously, I think a lot of guys expected [the Yankees] to run away with it, and [it] probably to be New York, Boston and Toronto at the top,” veteran starter Nick Martinez said. “No one really expected us to be here, so we've had to fight for it from the beginning of the season.”
Fittingly, the Rays had to fight to make it official on Tuesday night. After a 2-0 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, the Rays held on to win Game 2, 6-1, behind a dominant performance by ace Drew Rasmussen, who struck out 11 on a career-high 114 pitches and carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.
The victory sealed Tampa Bay’s first AL East championship since winning back-to-back division titles in 2020 and ‘21 and guaranteed the Rays (96-61) the No. 1 seed in the AL postseason field.
This is the fifth division title in franchise history, joining 2008, ‘10 and ‘20-21. It’s the fourth time the Rays have claimed the AL’s best record, as they also did so in 2010, ‘20 and ‘21. After celebrating their return to the postseason inside the home clubhouse at Tropicana Field on Sept. 11, the Rays got to enjoy this one on the visiting side at Yankee Stadium.
Winning the AL East guarantees the Rays a bye through the Wild Card Series round. They will begin the postseason by hosting Game 1 of the AL Division Series at Tropicana Field on Saturday, Oct. 3. Their opponent will likely be one of their division rivals, as the Yankees and Red Sox are all but certain to meet in the Wild Card Series.
For all the questions they have faced at seemingly every turn this season, the Rays have spent nearly the entire season as the top team in the AL. Tuesday was their 88th consecutive day in first place, dating back to June 27, and their 128th day overall atop the AL East standings.
“I feel like it’s just the consistency of the work, and the camaraderie of the group has never really taken a [hit],” left fielder Chandler Simpson said. “Even when we've gone through little hurdles here and there throughout the season, we've always stayed clear in our head and always stayed together, and that's what's able to keep us consistent throughout the year.”
While other contenders have risen, fallen, surged and struggled behind them, the Rays haven’t had a full month with a losing record all season. And they are sprinting to the finish line, having won nine of their last 11 games while putting together an MLB-best 40-19 record since July 20.
That felt like an appropriate date to look back on Tuesday morning, when the Rays reported to Yankee Stadium knowing that just one win in this series would seal the deal. It was, as shortstop Taylor Walls put it, “a pivotal moment” in Tampa Bay’s season.
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Rays were swept by the Red Sox in a four-game series at Fenway Park from July 17-19. Boston was ascendant. New York was only a game and a half back in the standings. Maybe the Rays’ nice little run was nearing an end.
But then Martinez scaled the mound and fired six strong innings in Toronto, providing leadership on and off the field, as he’s done all season. The Rays won three straight against the Blue Jays, followed that up with a winning homestand, then reeled off a perfect 9-0 road trip out west. They haven’t looked back since.
“You can tell a lot about a team with how they respond to something like that,” Walls said. “It's kind of a check yourself in the mirror, like, ‘Dude, are we really this good, or are we about to get our teeth kicked in for the next three weeks?’ But everybody showed up and responded.
“Just being able to stop the bleeding when it's happening, being able to get back up, get going, focus on what's ahead of you and not focus too much on the past -- I feel like that's kind of been the difference this year.”
Ask around the clubhouse about where that consistency comes from, and you’ll hear different versions of the same answer. It’s chemistry that carried them through the course of the season, the bond that brought them together and the belief that they could do what nobody else expected.
“I've said it all year, and it's the unity,” veteran DH Yandy Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “The unity and the joy that this team plays with. … This group is such a special group, and they have been the entire year.”