Rays Stumble at Steinbrenner Field as Playoff Pressure Mounts
The Tampa Bay Rays came into September riding the kind of momentum every team hopes for—seven straight wins, fueled by the urgency of a playoff chase. As pitcher Drew Rasmussen put it, when your back is against the wall, there’s no room to think about anything other than winning that day’s game. The Rays had trimmed their Wild Card deficit dramatically, and for a moment, it looked like they might pull off a late-season surge.
But baseball has a way of humbling even the hottest clubs, and the Rays were reminded of that over the weekend. Playing at George M. Steinbrenner Field, they dropped three straight to the Cleveland Guardians, capped by a tough 2–1 loss on Sunday. That setback knocked them below .500 at 71–72, leaving them four games behind the Seattle Mariners for the final American League Wild Card spot. To make matters more complicated, three other teams—Kansas City, Texas, and Cleveland—stand in their way. With just 19 games left on the schedule, the margin for error is slim to none.
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What makes this sting even more is how competitive the Rays have been lately. They’ve won 10 of their last 15 games, but here’s the catch: they’re 8–0 against teams not named Cleveland and 2–5 against the Guardians. And because Cleveland clinched the season series, they now hold the tiebreaker advantage should the two teams finish tied. That makes Tampa Bay’s path to October even steeper.
Still, there were some positives to take away from Sunday’s loss. Rasmussen battled through uncharacteristic command issues to deliver five shutout innings, marking his 10th scoreless start of at least five innings this year—a single-season record for the franchise. The defense also flashed, with a couple of clutch plays at the plate cutting down potential runs. Rookie shortstop Carson Williams shined not only with his glove but also with his bat, hitting his second big-league homer to account for the Rays’ lone run.
But the Guardians found a way to break through, ending reliever Garrett Cleavinger’s remarkable 20-inning scoreless streak. Manager Kevin Cash shouldered the blame, acknowledging that Cleavinger had been leaned on heavily, appearing in five of the last seven games. As Cash admitted, the lefty was simply gassed.
The Rays also hurt themselves with a mental lapse early in the game. With two outs in the first inning, Junior Caminero and Brandon Lowe assumed a deep fly ball would drift foul. Instead, it landed fair, and what could have been an early scoring opportunity turned into a missed chance. Caminero later owned up to the mistake, apologizing to his manager and teammates.
At this stage of the season, those mistakes are costly. Every game carries the weight of October, and as Rasmussen said, “Every single game matters.” The Rays know they still have a chance—if they can get hot again and get some help along the way. But with the hardest remaining schedule in the American League, the climb back into contention will not come easy. The final three weeks promise to test just how resilient this group really is.
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