A Tampa Bay Rays Blog: Ball on a Budget
The Rays played all last season in the home run prone Steinbrenner Field, and made their return to the pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field by….hitting three home runs. They won their home opener against the Chicago Cubs 6-4. Let’s start with the bad news. Anyone who had the wild fantasy that Shane McClanahan would return after over […]
We made it home! Go Rays!
There has been plenty of discussion surrounding Kevin Cash’s lineup decisions. Cash addressed those concerns recently, noting that the team expects to experiment with different lineups throughout the season. Much of the focus has centered on Chandler Simpson’s place in the order and Junior Caminero’s lack of traditional lineup protection. It’s not a matter of […]
The Rays beat the Twins today 4-1, and won their first series of the season. This was a quintessential pitcher’s duel, with both starters pitching at least six strong innings. Nick Martinez, making his second start as a Ray, was especially impressive. He gave up one hit – of course it happened to be a […]
Go Rays!
Every so often a blind squirrel finds a nut and the Rays bullpen did just that this evening tossing three scoreless innings to lock down a 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. However, the real story on the frigid Saturday night was the performance turned in by Steven Matz, who picked up his second win […]
Go Rays!
Defense, defense, defense Rays lose 10-4 on a cold home opener in Minneapolis Nick Fortes continued his red-hot April with a two-RBI double to open the scoring in the first. Jake Fraley led off the fourth inning with a double, and Ben Williamson swapped spots on the bases with Fraley with another double. 3-0 Tampa […]
Go Rays!
It’s a week of home openers, as the Rays extended road trip to allow more time for the Trop to be prepared to welcome fans again sees them head to Minnesota next for their home opener, before flying back to St. Pete to host the Cubs on Monday. With the Rays sitting at 2-4 on […]
The Rays have completed their first week of games facing off against a pair of NL Central teams. Below are five early trends to watch as the Rays look to build momentum in April. It’s still early, but these indicators can give us a directional sense of what’s real and what might regress. 36.7% is […]
Early season schedules are a peculiarity, and a getaway game on an early April afternoon is one of those things. The Rays were licking their wounds from a rough loss on Tuesday night—but a blessedly solid outing from the returning Shane McClanahan—and were hoping to come away with a series win before hitting the road. […]
Go Rays, actually!
It has been a long time since we’ve seen a start from Shane McClanahan. Since August 2, 2023, in fact. But the former All-Star has dealt with bad hand after bad hand in terms of injury, and his path back to the majors hasn’t been an easy one. Tonight, all eyes were on the mound […]
Go Shane!
On this week’s episode of Rays Your Voice, I’m joined by Cole Mitchem to break down the Rays opening series against the Cardinals, implementation of the ABS challenge system, and do a full break down of the Rays farm system heading into the 2026 season. While there isn’t a consensus top prospect in the system […]
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The Rays opened a three-game series in Milwaukee on Monday winning a close one against the Brewers. Cedric Mullins was dropped from the starting lineup for the first time this season, which made sense with lefty Kyle Harrison starting for the Brewers. Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson were the only two left-handed hitters in the […]
Go Rays and also singles!
Wander Franco’s re-trial in the Dominican Republic for his role in a relationship with an underage girl has been delayed to an unknown date. The new trial was scheduled to begin today, but with Franco and the girl’s mother being tried simultaneously, the courts have been delayed, according to Luis Tomas Rae Barett, due to […]
A roster crunch forced the Rays’ hand in trading Jake Woodford to the Brewers, but I’m still a bit disappointed by it on a personal level because he was one of my favorite players in camp this spring. He’s a funky, unique pitcher with an offspeed pitch that has no comps from his slot. It’s […]
The Rays escaped from St. Louis with a win. Although the Rays offensive production was impressive — 11 runs, 17 hits and 4 walks — there was not one minute when this win felt assured. The Rays started out with the lead. After having been no-hit for six innings yesterday, the Rays were able to […]
Go Rays!
The Cardinals beat the Rays 6-5 in a game that went ten innings. The Rays’ offense showed fight, scoring four in the ninth to tie after being shut out for the first eight innings. Joe Boyle gave up two runs early on, but once he settled in, he was fantastic, retiring 15 straight hitters. But […]
Go Rays!