The Tampa Bay Rays got new owners, moved back into a refurbushed Tropicana Field, made a deal for a “forever home” stadium and finished with the best record in the American League.
That's quite a year already. Now the real fun begins.
October baseball has arrived and a matchup against the big, bad New York Yankees is next for the Rays.
AL Division Series
(Best of five)
- Game 1 – Saturday at Tropicana Field, 6:30 p.m.
- Game 2 – Monday at Tropicana Field, 8 p.m.
- Game 3 – Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, 8 p.m.
- Game 4 – Thursday at Yankee Stadium, 8 p.m. (if necessary)
- Game 5 – Saturday, Oct. 10 at Tropicana Field, 8 p.m. (if necessary)
TV: TBS, truTV, HBO Max (stream)
Radio: WDAE (95.7 FM / 620 AM)
It's David vs. Goliath in terms of payroll: The Yankees opened the season with Major League Baseball's third-highest payroll at $302.8 million vs. the Rays ranking 27th at $90.5 million.
But that didn't stop Tampa Bay from winning the AL East Division.
“They do a lot of things really well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Rays. “It’s been impressive what they’ve been able to do from the start of the year to the finish. They haven’t had many lulls in the season, and those handful of weeks where they’ve struggled a little bit, they’ve answered it really well. So it’s a confident group, an athletic group, and we obviously have to be at our best to have a chance to win.”
Gerrit Cole will start for the Yankees against Drew Rasmussen and the Rays in Saturday night's AL Division Series opener. Aaron Judge's status is uncertain due to a calf injury but there's plenty of star power in both dugouts.
From Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger and Luis Garcia Jr. for New York to AL MVP candidate Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda for Tampa Bay, both lineups are littered with talent.
“With our two organizations, there are no secrets,” said Rasmussen, who has had success against the Yankees. “They know who I am. They know how I operate. But on the flip side, like I said, I’m a pretty big believer it’s me versus execution, not me versus the New York Yankees. And so, we’re going to have a game plan going in, and we’re going to do our best to execute it to the best of our abilities. And if we have to tweak some things or change on the fly, I’ve got the best pitching coach in baseball, so that makes life a lot easier.”
ALSO READ: Boosted by Rays' return to Tropicana Field, MLB attendance rises for fourth straight year
The Rays have removed upper-deck tarps and sold out Tropicana Field for Game 1. That includes standing-room only tickets that will bring the crowd over the official 31,042 capacity. Of course, many northern transplants will be wearing navy and rooting for the visitors.
It's an "I-275 Series" of sorts, with the Yankees' spring training and minor league complexes based in Tampa, about 30 miles from the Trop. Their only other postseason meeting was in the 2020 Division Series, won by Tampa Bay in five games before going on to win the franchise’s second pennant.
No team had a better home record than the Rays' 55-26 mark in 2026.
“There was no doubt at certain points of the season there was genuine excitement to get back to the Trop, get back to playing in front of our fans,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I don’t think necessarily the ballpark does anything to help our style of play, but there is an energy that the fans bring in, and we’re looking forward to kind of witnessing that energy.”
Bring on the cowbells.
“We worked really hard to get the bye, and to start the series here at the Trop means a lot to us,” said Caminero, who hit .276 with 42 homers and 101 RBIs.
Cole was set to start Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against Boston on Thursday but the Yankees swept their division rival. The 36-year-old right-hander, a six-time All-Star, was 10-9 with a 3.61 ERA in 22 starts this season after recovering from Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss the 2025 season.
Rasmussen was 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA for the Rays and made the All-Star team for the second straight season. The 31-year-old right-hander twice had surgery for a torn ligament in his elbow in college and needed an internal brace procedure in July 2023 that forced him to miss more than a year.
ALSO READ: Fans on both sides of Tampa Bay are hyped for the Rays' playoff run
He is 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 10 starts and one relief appearance against the Yankees, striking out 70 in 59 2/3 innings.
Judge, a three-time AL MVP who hasn’t played since Sept. 16 because of a calf injury, took live batting practice Thursday at Yankee Stadium and worked out Friday at the team’s facility in Tampa. The teams must submit their 26-man roster to Major League Baseball by 10 a.m. Saturday, about 10 hours before the opener.
“I look at Aaron Judge as being the best player in our sport,” Cash said. “You know we got a unicorn in (Los Angeles Dodgers') Shohei Ohtani that we don’t see it very often and then we got Judge. So it’s different. We haven’t seen that too many games with him not in it … but they have a very good lineup, and they’ve been very good without him. It’s incredibly impressive the offensive success they have had missing the best hitter in our sport.”
Cash said outfielder Chandler Simpson (foot), right-hander Garrett Cleavinger (forearm) and right-hander Tyler Wells (forearm) should be ready to play.
The Rays have never won the World Series, losing to the Phillies in 2008 and Dodgers in 2020. They haven't won a postseason series since 2020 and were eliminated in their first series in 2021-23.
The Yankees are seeking a 28th World Series trophy but haven't won it since defeating Philadelphia in 2009.
WUSF's Rick Mayer contributed to this report.
