By Rays Own the American League’s Best Record, but Their Depth Is Being Tested
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Tampa Bay Rays have spent most of this season proving people wrong. Now they must prove they have enough healthy players to finish what they started.
The Rays entered Sunday with an 85–57 record, the best mark in the American League and tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second-best record in baseball. Only the Milwaukee Brewers, at 88–55, had won more games.
Tampa Bay also held a four-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East.
Those are impressive numbers for an organization that entered the season with questions about its rotation, the bottom half of its lineup, and whether it had done enough during the offseason to compete with the Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The Rays answered those questions by winning.
But the questions have changed.
It is no longer whether the Rays are good enough to reach the postseason. The Rays have put themselves in an excellent position to do that.
The question is whether their roster can withstand another wave of injuries and remain strong enough to win once October arrives.
That challenge became much more serious when Shane McClanahan was placed on the 15-day injured list with left forearm tightness.
McClanahan experienced the tightness after pitching five innings against the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
For a pitcher with his injury history, any discomfort involving the arm is going to set off alarms.
“Anytime a guy talks about his arm, we’re going to do right by him,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
“Shane’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
McClanahan said the team made the decision to prevent a relatively minor issue from becoming something worse.
“As of last night, we made the decision as a team not to let this compound, not let this snowball, and kind of try to nip it in the bud quickly,” McClanahan told MLB.com.
The Rays hope he can return before the regular season ends. Hope, however, is not a postseason pitching plan.
Injuries are piling up at the wrong time
Losing McClanahan would be concerning enough on its own. He is not the only pitcher the Rays are trying to replace.
Reliever Manuel Rodríguez went on the 15-day injured list with a lower-back strain. One day later, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger joined him because of forearm tightness.
Cleavinger had struggled recently, allowing 10 runs over his final 8⅔ innings before going on the injured list.
Still, he had appeared in 51 games and was one of the few left-handed options in Cash’s bullpen.
Edwin Uceta is not expected to return this season because of a shoulder injury, while Ryan Pepiot underwent season-ending hip surgery in May.
The position-player side has also been tested.
Jake Fraley has missed most of the season following hernia surgery. Infielder Ben Williamson remains sidelined by a hamstring injury, and shoulder problems have derailed Gavin Lux’s season.
That is a lot of talent, and a lot of innings and at-bats to replace.
That is why organizational depth can’t be something discussed only during spring training.
It becomes one of the most important parts of a championship race when the calendar reaches September.
The Rays are finding that out now.
Saturday’s victory offered an encouraging answer
The Rays’ 6–3, 10-inning victory over Texas on Saturday was a perfect example of why there is still reason to believe this roster can handle the pressure.
Drew Rasmussen gave the Rays exactly what they needed, allowing one run on three hits over seven innings.
Tampa Bay has now won nine consecutive games started by Rasmussen, who has developed into the dependable top-of-the-rotation starter every contender needs.
Junior Caminero hit his American League-leading 38th home run. Jonathan Aranda delivered the biggest swing of the night, launching a three-run homer in the 10th after the Rangers intentionally walked Yandy Díaz.
It was Aranda’s 19th home run of the season.
Richie Palacios, one of those players whose versatility becomes increasingly valuable when injuries thin a roster, hit his career-high eighth homer.
It was his third home run in four games.
Liam Hicks delivered a two-out RBI single in the eighth. Jorge Mateo entered as the automatic runner in the 10th, and Taylor Walls moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt.
Tyler Wells then worked two scoreless innings to secure the victory.
That was not simply Caminero carrying the offense or Rasmussen dominating from the mound. It was a collection of players filling smaller but important roles.
That is what depth looks like when it works.
Now Ty Johnson gets his opportunity
The next test will involve Ty Johnson, the 24-year-old right-hander promoted from Triple-A Durham after Cleavinger went on the injured list.
Johnson posted a 3.03 ERA and a 0.963 WHIP over 21 appearances for Durham, including 10 starts.
His ability to pitch multiple innings could be especially helpful for a bullpen that may be asked to cover more outs while McClanahan is unavailable.
Alex Cook has also returned from Durham, while Cole Sulser and Griffin Jax were recently reinstated from the injured list.
None of them should be expected to replace McClanahan on their own. That is not how the Rays operate anyway.
They will try to cover his innings collectively.
Perhaps with a traditional starter, perhaps with an opener, and almost certainly with several pitchers moving between different roles.
That approach has worked for the Rays before. It is about to face one of its toughest tests.
October will demand more than survival
The Rays deserve credit for reaching this point with the American League’s best record.
They rank among the league’s better offensive clubs, are hitting .260 as a team, and have been powered by an outstanding core of Díaz, Aranda and Caminero.
Díaz entered Sunday hitting .304 with 21 home runs. Aranda was batting .278 with 19 homers, while Caminero has emerged as one of the American League’s most dangerous power hitters.
Tampa Bay is 38–24 against teams with winning records. That is not the résumé of a club taking advantage of a soft schedule.
But postseason baseball exposes weaknesses quickly.
A short rotation becomes more noticeable. A bullpen missing dependable arms becomes more difficult to navigate. One weak matchup in the lineup can become the opponent’s preferred escape route in every important inning.
The upcoming schedule will only increase the pressure. After leaving Texas, the Rays face Atlanta and Houston before finishing the regular season with series against Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
There will be very few easy nights.
The Rays do not need every injured player to return immediately. They do need McClanahan’s forearm tightness to be temporary, the remaining starters to keep pitching deep into games, and the reinforcements from Durham to provide useful innings.
Most importantly, they need the supporting players to continue doing what Palacios, Hicks, Mateo and Wells did Saturday.
The Rays have already shown they are one of baseball’s best teams. Their record says that much.
Now comes the harder part.
They must show that their roster is deep enough and healthy enough to still look like one when October begins.
