By Rays Are About to Find Out Just How Ready They Are for October
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
ARLINGTON, Texas — For nearly five months, the Tampa Bay Rays have answered just about every question thrown at them.
They have survived injuries. They have handled slumps. They have found ways to win close games. They have gotten production from stars, role players, and just about everyone in between.
Now comes the real test.
If the Rays want to prove they are more than simply a good regular-season team. If they want to prove they can make a legitimate run deep into October, the next few weeks should tell us everything we need to know.
The Rays have reached the most difficult portion of their schedule, and there aren’t many soft spots remaining.
The Rays entered Thursday at 83-56, sitting atop the American League East with a four-game advantage over the New York Yankees.
They also owned the best record in the American League. That’s the good news.
The bad news?
Look at who is waiting.
Texas. Atlanta. Houston. The Athletics. Boston. The Yankees. Philadelphia.
Of the Rays’ remaining opponents, the Athletics are the one team clearly out of the postseason race.
Everybody else either occupies a playoff position or remains close enough to have something significant to play for.
Welcome to September.
Welcome to playoff baseball before the playoffs even begin.
Rays’ Remaining Schedule Looks Like an October Preview
There is no easing into this stretch.
After opening September against the Mets, Tampa will head to Texas for four games against a Rangers team fighting for its postseason life.
From there, the Rays travel to Atlanta to face one of the best teams in the National League.
Then Houston comes to Tampa Bay.
Then comes the one apparent break in the schedule — a series against the Athletics.
After that?
Boston. Four games at Yankee Stadium. And finally, three games in Philadelphia against the Phillies to close the regular season.
That’s not a schedule designed to allow a team to coast into October.
It’s a schedule that will expose weaknesses.
It’s also a schedule that could turn Tampa Bay into one of the most dangerous teams in baseball entering the postseason.
The Yankees Aren’t Going Away
Perhaps the most important part of this entire stretch is what is happening behind the team in the AL East.
The Yankees have hung around.
New York entered Thursday four games behind Tampa, and its remaining schedule isn’t nearly as intimidating.
That makes every Tampa Bay series important.
And sitting there near the end of the schedule is the one series everyone should already have circled.
Rays-Yankees.
Four games at Yankee Stadium during the final week of the season. It might determine the AL East.
It might determine the No. 1 seed in the American League.
It might determine which team gets to sit at home during the Wild Card round while everyone else fights for survival.
MLB’s current postseason picture has the Rays holding the top spot in the AL East, with New York occupying the first Wild Card position.
The Rays entered September having won six of their first nine games against the Yankees, meaning Tampa Bay has also put itself in a strong position in the season-series tiebreaker.
But nobody in that Rays clubhouse should want this thing coming down to mathematics.
Take care of business and make the tiebreaker irrelevant.
This Is Where the Rays’ Pitching Has to Carry Them
We’ve talked all season about how this Rays roster is constructed.
This isn’t a team built around waiting for somebody to hit a three-run homer every night.
The Rays win with pitching. They win with defense.
They win by taking an extra base, getting a runner over and squeezing everything they can out of an opponent’s mistake.
But we’re about to find out whether it works against October-caliber teams night after night.
Because Atlanta can hit.
Houston has been through postseason pressure before.
Boston knows the Rays. The Yankees certainly know the Rays.
And Philadelphia could very well be preparing for a postseason run of its own when the Rays arrive for the final weekend.
There aren’t going to be many nights where the Rays can play poorly and wait for the opponent to beat itself.
They’ll have to earn these wins.
Junior Caminero Has a Chance to Introduce Himself to October
Junior Caminero is already becoming one of baseball’s biggest young stars.
Now he gets the stage.
Caminero entered September tied with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the American League lead with 37 home runs.
Chandler Simpson, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the league’s top hitters and entered the month in the batting-title conversation.
But September provides something statistics can’t.
Pressure.
The great players don’t just put up numbers; they deliver when everybody in the ballpark knows the game matters.
Caminero will get plenty of those opportunities over the next few weeks. So will the rest of this Rays lineup.
The Rays Have Earned the Right to Control Their Own Destiny
There is one thing the Rays shouldn’t forget while looking at this schedule.
The other teams have to play the Rays, too.
We can look at Atlanta, Houston, New York, and Philadelphia and talk about how difficult those games will be.
But those teams aren’t exactly thrilled about seeing Tampa Bay on their schedule either.
The Rays didn’t accidentally get to 83 wins.
They didn’t accidentally climb to the top of the American League.
They have been one of baseball’s best teams because they have consistently found different ways to win.
Now they have an opportunity to prove it against some of the best competition baseball can offer.
September Will Tell Us What Kind of Rays Team This Really Is
This is the part of the season I’ve been waiting to see.
Forget what happened in April. Forget the winning streaks from earlier in the summer. Forget the projections.
Over the next three-plus weeks, the Rays are going to play games that feel different.
Bullpens will be managed differently. Every mistake will become more costly. Every series will affect playoff positioning.
That’s exactly what the Rays need.
If the Rays come through this stretch still sitting atop the American League East, nobody should consider them simply a nice regular-season story.
They should be considered a legitimate World Series threat.
And if they struggle?
Then we’ll know what questions we have about this team heading into October.
The Rays don’t have to wait until the postseason to discover whether they’re ready for postseason baseball.
It’s already here.
