TAMPA, Fla. — The clock struck midnight for the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. They played poorly in an 11-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Steinbrenner Field, officially eliminating them from the playoffs.
They'll be home for postseason baseball for the second year in a row, a rarity after five straight postseasons from 2019 to 2023 that included an American League pennant in 2020. The loss drops them to 75-79 on the year with eight games to go, and they're also at risk of having a second-straight losing season. They were 80-82 in 2024.
It's been a disappointing season, with plenty of blame to go around, starting with Mother Nature, of course. This was always going to be a weird year, playing home games outdoors in Tampa after Hurricane Milton blew the roof off of Tropicana Field a year ago, and now it's basically over.
They'll close out the home portion of the schedule with two more against the Red Sox, then finish on then road in Baltimore and Toronto. Then it's over for good.
“You feel frustrated in that it’s back-to-back years of failing, essentially,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters after the game. “We come out of spring training with the expectation that we were going to find a way to play postseason baseball, and we just have not played good enough to do that.
“No finger-pointing. To our entire roster — and certainly myself — we just haven’t gotten it done.”
There have simply been too many bad nights like Friday this year. A normally sound defensive team, the Rays made three errors on Friday, tying a season high. They came from Tristan Gray, Carson Williams and Richie Palacios, none of whom were even on the team two months ago.
Every day infield starters Junior Caminero (back) and Jonathan Aranda (fractured wrist) did not play, and veteran second baseman Brandon Lowe did not start against left-handed ace Garrett Crochet.
Despite the sloppy play and an uncharacteristic rough start from Rays ace Drew Rasmussen — he lasted just three innings and allowed four hits, a walk and two runs on 76 pitches — the Rays were still right in this game late.
They scored single runs off Crochet in the first three innings, and still led 3-2 heading into the seventh. Catcher Nick Fortes had an RBI single in the first, Williams homered in the second and Yandy Diaz hit his 25th of the year in the third. It was also his 100th career homer.
But then Garrett Cleavinger, who's had a great few months out of the Rays' bullpen, got touched for two runs in the seventh. He gave up a leadoff single to Ceddanne Rafaela and then a two-run homer to Jarren Duran, giving the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.
It all imploded in the eighth when newcomer Cole Wilcox got lit up. He walked three and gave up four hits, facing 10 batters and giving up seven runs, but just three earned to make it 11-3. It made the first career grand slam by Tampa Bay's Everson Pereria in the ninth something of a moot point.
So did the loss, obviously. The season will now officially end next Sunday, Sept. 28. They will be home for October. Again.
“Playing in the major leagues is great, but there's nothing that compares to playing postseason baseball in the major leagues,” Rasmussen told reporters. “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 Red Sox are now 84-70 and remain 1.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the final wild-card spot. Cleveland has won eight in a row. Boston and Houston are both 84-70, and have the final two spots for now. Texas, which has lost five in a row, has faded out of the picture.
Boston and Tampa Bay meet again Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. ET. Adrian Houser (8-4, 3.11 ERA) will start for the Rays. Lefty Kyle Harrison, who came over in a trade a few weeks ago, will make his second appearance for Boston.