NEW YORK -- Two weeks ago, Kevin Cash set the tone for the rowdy celebration raging in the visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium with a message that made it clear the Rays weren’t done. They had accomplished their regular-season goals, getting back to the postseason and winning their first American League East title in five years, but that wasn’t the end.
They had more in mind. Eleven more wins. Three more chances to pop champagne, pour out bottles of beer, smoke cigars, sing and dance together.
The Rays took another big step toward their ultimate goal on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, capping a sweep of the Yankees with a 4-3 victory in Game 3 of the AL Division Series, then once again turned the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium into their bar, lounge and dance floor.
Three wins down, eight more to go.
“We're loving it, man. We want to keep going,” a shirtless and soaked Nick Martinez said amid the celebration. “Like Cashy said, there's two more bites on the bone for us, and we know it. We know what's at stake. We know we want to keep playing.”
Game 1 of the AL Championship Series is set for Monday at Tropicana Field, with the Rays hosting the winner of the Guardians-White Sox series that Chicago currently leads, 2-1.
The Rays earned their spot by completing the first sweep in a best-of-five postseason series (or longer) in franchise history, and they dealt the Yankees only their second sweep (alongside the 1980 ALCS) in a best-of-five series.
“Very special. Not an easy feat,” Martinez said. “Again, [the Yankees are] a very dangerous team. It's great to not have to play another game because you don't want to leave a team like that hanging around.”
Recognizing the work ahead of them, the Rays made sure they savored the moment.
A year to the day after their ownership group’s introductory press conference at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Rays managing partner Patrick Zalupski, co-chair Bill Cosgrove and CEO Ken Babby stood on the edge of the fray and smiled. Nearly the entire roster took part in a choreographed dance in the clubhouse. Players sang and danced to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” and Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York” rang through the sound system.
“I love drinking beer, and I love popping bottles. That's what it comes down to. I love it,” outfielder Ryan Vilade said. “This team is so special. We play for one another. We love each other, and we're not done. We don't want it to end.”
When Cash made his way through the stadium’s lower-level tunnel and sat behind a table for his postgame press conference, he looked shockingly dry considering the state of the group he’d just walked away from. There was a reason for that.
“This is my second shirt, second hat,” he quipped. “I've changed it twice.”
None of this was expected of the Rays. They were widely picked to finish last in the AL East. Even as they spent much of the season atop the AL standings, observers singled out other contenders as the league’s “team to beat.” But they proved themselves throughout the 162-game marathon, and they handily beat the AL’s second-best team in a three-game sprint by playing their game.
They pitched well. They played clean defense. And their dynamic lineup showed it can score in a bunch of different ways.
“They're a team by every definition. Every sense of the word 'team,' it's there. I've never seen anything like it,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “These guys care so much for one another, and you want to win for so many reasons: the community, the team, it's our job. But man, for this group, you want them to do it that much more.
“You want to see them have these moments because of the way they've come together, and they deserve it.”
As they did in the first two games at Tropicana Field, the Rays rode their starting pitchers most of the way in Game 3. Martinez gave up two runs while recording 11 outs. Ian Seymour picked up four outs. Griffin Jax came out of the bullpen to handle two innings. Then Cam Booser, Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker finished the job in the eighth and ninth.
“We knew what we were up against,” said Baker, who got the save in all three games. “To be able to come out and execute after a week off, it shows a lot about our group.”
Meanwhile, two key role players delivered the biggest hits of the night for Tampa Bay. In the fourth inning of his postseason debut, Vilade dropped a home run just over the right-field fence for a solo homer off Max Fried. In the sixth, Victor Mesa Jr. blasted a tiebreaking, two-run shot to right-center and slowly backed out of the batter’s box as he stared into the Rays’ dugout.
“I love the energy we brought, man. We fought every single pitch on both sides of the ball from the very first pitch,” Martinez said. “Guys brought the energy every game, man. And when we do that, we're dangerous.”
This was the Rays’ first postseason series win since the 2020 ALCS, when they beat the Astros in seven games. They didn’t advance in each of their past three trips to the playoffs, losing to the Red Sox in the 2021 ALDS before getting swept in AL Wild Card Series matchups against the Guardians (2022) and Rangers (‘23).
But history could be on Tampa Bay’s side now. The Rays have only advanced past the ALDS twice before, in 2008 and ‘20, and they went to the World Series both times. Now, they are four wins away from their third Fall Classic appearance -- and eight away from the first championship in franchise history.
Until then, the message won’t change.
“The exact same,” Cash said. “Let's continue what we're doing.”