TAMPA -- The Rays were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Friday night in the same way they realistically fell out of the playoff race over the last few months.
They had a chance early on, then everything fell apart. And they showed some fight near the end, but they’d dug a hole too deep to escape.
Leading the Red Sox by one run after six innings in their final series opener at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Rays saw trusted reliever Garrett Cleavinger give up a two-run homer to Jarren Duran in the seventh before the game got out of hand in an ugly, seven-run eighth inning. Everson Pereira hit a grand slam in the ninth, but it was too little, too late in an 11-7 loss.
The defeat dropped Tampa Bay’s record to 75-79 on the year, nine games behind Boston for the third American League Wild Card spot with only eight to play. The Rays have recognized their fate for some time amid a late slide down the standings, but they had to accept it late Friday night.
“You feel frustrated, in that [it's] back-to-back years of failing, essentially,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We come out of Spring Training with the expectation that we're going to find a way to play postseason baseball, and we just have not played good enough to do that.”
This is the first time the Rays have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since their five-year drought from 2014-18. They made the postseason every year from 2019-23 before finishing 80-82 last season. They haven’t won a postseason game since Game 1 of the 2021 AL Division Series.
“Playing in the Major Leagues is great, but there's nothing that compares to playing postseason baseball in the Major Leagues,” starter Drew Rasmussen said after working three innings in his 30th start of the season. “It's some of the greatest experiences I've ever had. So, yeah, it sucks. It sucks to not be in the playoff picture.”
The Rays would have to win seven of their last eight games to finish with a winning record or salvage six of eight to avoid a second straight losing season. They only have a two-game edge over the Orioles (73-81) as they look to avoid only their second last-place finish in the AL East since dropping the “Devil” from their name and becoming the Rays in 2008.
“It’s tough. You look around this room, and we definitely have the talent to make the postseason and go have some fun,” Cleavinger said. “But some things didn't bounce our way this year, and we'll look forward to kind of righting that ship and turning it around.”
At times, it seemed the Rays had done exactly that.
After a so-so start, the Rays reeled off 25 wins in a 34-game span from May 20 through June 26, putting them at 46-35 exactly halfway through the season. But they’ve gone 29-44 since then, with an 18-34 stretch from June 27-Aug. 27 and 10 losses in their last 14 games since a season-high seven-game winning streak brought them within two games of the third AL Wild Card earlier this month.
That rollercoaster ride of streaks and skids left them caught in the middle and, now, on the outside looking in.
“No finger-pointing,” Cash said. “To our entire roster, and certainly myself, we just haven't gotten it done.”
The next eight games won’t have playoff implications for the Rays, but they are still critical to two of their three remaining opponents, with the Red Sox and Blue Jays still looking to nail down spots.
And there are personal stakes for many Rays.
All-Star slugger Junior Caminero is in pursuit of Carlos Peña’s single-season franchise records for home runs (two shy) and RBIs (13 away). Starters like Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz are capping wire-to-wire seasons in the rotation with career-high workloads, a key point in their development and a foundation for next year.
Veterans like Yandy Díaz will look to finish strong. He appears to be sprinting toward the finish line after hitting his career-high 25th homer (the 100th of his career) and boosting his season average to .300 in the series opener. Young players like Carson Williams, who hit an opposite-field homer off Cy Young candidate Garrett Crochet on Friday night, will continue to gain experience.
Still, this isn’t how they set out from Spring Training to spend late September. They had another month of baseball in mind.
“It's very frustrating, but there's nothing we can do about it,” Díaz said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “It's surprising. It got to us this year. That is not the way we wanted it, but again, we just have to start getting ready for next year.”