By By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Rays are going back to the playoffs.
Tampa Bay became the first team in baseball to clinch a postseason berth when Junior Caminero crushed a first-pitch fastball from Houston reliever Bryan Abreu over the fence, turning a 1-1 game into a dramatic 3-1 Rays victory.
Jonathan Aranda had doubled right before the Caminero bomb and was standing at second base.
Caminero was standing at the plate. One swing later, the Rays were standing in the postseason.
Caminero has spent this season growing from a promising young player into one of baseball’s biggest stars.
With one swing, he delivered the Rays’ biggest win of the season and added another remarkable achievement to a year already filled with them.
It was Caminero’s 40th home run, making him the first player in the Rays’ 29-year history to produce multiple 40-homer seasons.
Carlos Peña is the only other Tampa Bay player to reach 40, setting the franchise record with 46 in 2007.
Caminero also joined Juan Gonzalez and Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews as the only three players in Major League history to post consecutive 40-home run seasons before turning 24.
That is not simply a good young player having another productive season. That is historic company.
And Caminero is doing it while carrying the championship hopes of a franchise that has been searching for a new face.
Evan Longoria once held that role. David Price and Blake Snell had their moments. Randy Arozarena became a postseason sensation.
Now it belongs to Caminero.
When the Rays needed one swing to send them back to October, their young superstar supplied it.
Bryan Baker worked a scoreless ninth inning and earned his third victory of the season, allowing the Rays to end the night at the plate.
Then it was on to the champagne shower celebration in the locker room.
Winning 88 games and securing a postseason berth before any other team in Major League Baseball deserves champagne, loud music, and one unforgettable night inside the clubhouse.
But nobody should confuse this celebration with mission completion.
The Rays are in. Now they need to win the American League East.
The Rays are back—but this cannot be enough
This is Tampa Bay’s 10th postseason appearance and its first in three years.
For an organization that spent most of its early history buried near the bottom of the standings, reaching October for the 10th time should never be dismissed as routine.
Neither should becoming the first team in baseball to clinch.
Manager Kevin Cash has watched this club overcome injuries, shifting roles and the pressure of trying to protect its place atop the division. After the clinching victory, he made it clear how highly he thinks of this group.
“Very excited. Very impressed and proud and encouraged with this group,” Cash said. “It’s been pretty consistent all season long how special we thought this group was, and they’ve just gone out on the field, night after night, and backed it up.”
The Rays are 88-59 and hold a three-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Winning the East would give the Rays a better postseason position and help them avoid the immediate danger of another short wild-card series.
After what happened in their previous three playoff appearances, that should be a major priority.
The Rays have lost seven consecutive postseason games. Their last three trips ended in the opening round.
Texas swept Tampa Bay in the 2023 Wild Card Series. Cleveland did the same in 2022. In 2021, the Rays won the opening game of the American League Division Series before losing three straight to the Boston Red Sox.
The Rays’ last postseason series victory came in the 2020 AL Championship Series against Houston, played in San Diego because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That unfinished business hangs over this celebration.
This team has earned its place in October. Now it must prove that merely getting there is no longer the standard.
Celebrate now, then finish the job
Cash understood the balance following the victory. He wanted his players to enjoy what they had accomplished without losing sight of what remains ahead.
“The guys are pumped in there, rightfully so. We’re in,” Cash said. “I think they all acknowledge we want to continue this, but we’re going to celebrate the heck out of it tonight.”
A postseason berth should never be greeted with a shrug, especially after the Rays missed October in each of the previous two seasons.
Players and coaches put too much into these 162 games not to enjoy the moment.
The Rays should celebrate Caminero’s swing. They should celebrate becoming the first team to secure a playoff spot. They should celebrate returning to a stage where this organization believes it belongs.
Then they need to wake up and finish the division race.
A three-game lead with 15 games remaining is an advantage, not a guarantee.
The Yankees are close enough that every loss is uncomfortable and every win matters.
The Rays cannot afford to ease off simply because one objective has been secured.
The bigger prize is still available.
Winning the AL East would validate everything the Rays have accomplished throughout this season.
More importantly, it would place them in the best possible position to end that seven-game postseason losing streak and make a legitimate run at the World Series.
The Rays are back in October because their young superstar launched them there with his 40th home run.
It was a historic swing and a night Tampa Bay baseball fans should enjoy.
The Rays have clinched a playoff berth. Now win the division.
