CHICAGO — It was a little past 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot was standing in front of his locker at Rate Field. He was eager to talk about his projected start on Wednesday, his 30th of the year, which is something of a milestone.

The 28-year-old right-hander from Indianapolis is great with the media, and he answered every question with a great answer. He was excited about 30 starts — "30 is a big one'' — and finishing the season strong. He talked about ''playing for the guys in the room'' and "taking the ball every fifth or sixth day and give your team a chance to win.''

Fast forward about six hours, and my phone dinged with a text from the Rays' media relations team. Pepiot was being ''scratched with fatigue'' from Wednesday's start.

A quick change of events, to be sure.

We caught up with Pepiot again today at the same bat time, same bat place, looking for an explanation. The Rays' Opening Day starter hasn't missed a beat all year, and has been really good the past month or two. 

And now, he was down, with just 18 games to go.

What gives?

"Until they made the final call, I was fully prepared and ready to go (Wednesday),'' Pepiot said. "It was a late decision, and I was ready to go until they told me otherwise.''

I asked him if the scenario would have been any different if this had been a playoff game. After all, he's pitched 163 innings already this season. Last year, he threw just 130.

"That would be up to them. But if they told me to take the ball, I'm taking the ball.''

A late-night decision 

Pepiot said the final decision wasn't made until after Tuesday's game, a 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox that brought the Rays to 72-72 but still 4.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the final wild-card spot. And he's adamant that this is a day-to-day situation, and he's not being shut down for the season. 

Manager Kevin Cash said the same thing a few minutes later in the Rays dugout.

"The timeline (on the Pepiot decision) was pretty simple. He expressed that he wasn't feeling himself,'' Cash said. "I have talked about all of this publicly. We are managing work loads of him and Ras (Drew Rasmussen) and (Shane) Baz, all of these guys and we want to do right by them.

"Ryan Pepiot has had a tremendous year and a really good season for us. We'll be mindful and kind of take it day to day and see how he feels. 

So he'll pitch again in 2025?

"Oh yeah. But I don't have a day yet picked out,'' Cash said. "I don't see why he shouldn't (pitch again).''

Pepiot is 11-10 with a 3.59 earned run average this season, and he's been terrific lately. In his last three starts, he's pitched five scoreless innings each time, and didn't even allow a hit last Thursday in the win over Cleveland. He allowed just one hit in each of the other two starts over Washington and St. Louis, both wins.

He's only the second pitcher in MLB history to pitch five scoreless and allow one hit or less in three straight starts. San Diego's Dylan Cease did it in 2024.

He's have five other starts where he didn't allow a run through the first five innings. He's proven himself to be a top-of-rotation pitcher. Granted, he started on Opening Day not because he was the ace of the staff, but because Shane McClanahan — the projected Day 1 starter — got hurt in his final spring training start. 

He said he's felt great all year, but this time he hasn't bounced back as quickly from his last start.

"It just kind of lingered a little bit from the last start, just an overall total body fatigue,'' Pepiot said. It's not the arm, it's just everything. It's 163 innings when I only pitched 130 last year. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. It was a mix of everything, talking to everyone, that I wouldn't throw today and take it day by day.

"We're just taking each day and going from there. Nothing is set in stone yet. We've had multiple conversations on where we're at in the season and monitoring innings. We talked before the game, and during the game, and after the game we made the decision. We'll do another bullpen and see how it goes.''

Playing it safe a Rays' protocol

The Rays are overly cautious with pitchers, and make a conscious effort to keep them healthy. It's been very pronounced with Rasmussen, who's coming off his third elbow surgery, and Baz, who's pitching his first full season. So it's no surprise that they're looking out for Pepiot here, as well.

The timing, of course, is weird. A Wednesday night game in September against the last-place White Sox is NOT a playoff game. But it does have meaning — and some would say it has a lot of meaning while they're chasing a playoff spot. I get that.

But they are 4.5 games out with 18 games to go. Not only do they have to catch the Seattle Mariners, who have won four straight since getting swept in Tampa early last week, but they also have to catch the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals.

That's a very tall task.

The Rangers are 14-4 in their last 18 games, the best record in baseball. The Guardians just took three of four from the Rays and the Royals, who were once seven games under .500, are ahead of the Rays, too.

Now, let's be clear about this. I am not saying it's time for the Rays to throw in the towel and surrender. Not saying that at all. But it's very important that Pepiot enters the offseason healthy. It's critical that he's ready to go in 2026, when the Rays are back in Tropicana Field and a playoff team again.

There are only 18 games left. Wouldn't it make more sense to just pat Pepiot on the back and say ''great season?'' Wouldn't it be great to finish on a high note, with four straight starts where he was practically unhittable?

Wouldn't that be great?

Shut down Rasmussen, too?

We've seen enough of Ryan Pepiot to know he's a great pitcher. If he doesn't throw another pitch this month, he's had an undeniably great year. 

He does not need to throw another pitch.

Quite frankly, I'd say the same of Rasmussen, too. For me, he's been the feel-good story of the year, starting all season on a short leash, but he's 10-5 with a 2.64 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.98. Only six other starters have a WHIP under 1.00 in all of baseball.

I've seen enough of him, too, and that's ONLY because I want him to show up to spring training 100 percent healthy. My heart would just break if someone has a serious injury in the final few weeks of the season.

The rub, of course, is that these guys are professional athletes who love to compete. Taking the ball away from them is tough enough in the sixth inning when they're pushing 90 pitches. Telling them they're done for the year? Man, that's really hard.

But it also might be the most logical move. The Rays' odds of making the playoffs right now is just 1.4 percent. Sure, there's a chance, but it's very slim. 

Shut him down. 

And live to fight another day. Or year. Safety first, and let's send Pepiot into the offseason feeling good, both physically and mentally.

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