Game 1: It was the first time the Rays had played a meaningful game in a while with the White Sox in the thick of a 3-way race for the 2 wild card spots, and the Rays were uncharacteristically bad on the mound in a 10-9 loss. Christian Little had his second straight horrible start after the two starts with 1 hit allowed in 15 innings including the no-hitter, giving up 7 runs again and going 4 8 7 7 3 5 with 3 homers allowed. This put the team in a 7-2 hole, and although Nate Clark's 48th HR of the year with two men on cut the lead to 7-5, an unearned run off Brad Ballmann (who was otherwise great over 3 innings) and a 2-run homer off Mike Mooney in the 8th in his 2 innings of work made it 10-5 Chicago. But the Rays loaded the bases with nobody out in the 9th and Dane Ayers drilled a grand slam (HR #10) to suddenly make it a game again. The Sox brought on closer Tim Manley and he walked Clark with two out but Clark was cut down attempting to steal 2nd and get into scoring position to end the game. Clark and Dayle Jenkins earlier had RBI singles to get the Rays on the board, and his 4-RBI night gives Clark a whopping 137 RBI. The loss was the team's 40th, mathematically ending any outside chance they had of breaking their 2028 record of 122 wins.
Game 2: Danny Ceja finally came down to earth in his fourth start, getting rocked for 6 runs in the first 2 innings although he hung in there to go 4 2/3 and actually struck out an MLB-career high 6. Still he put the Rays in a 6-0 hole as the White Sox jumped all over a Rays starter for the second straight game. But it didn't matter in the end as the Rays stormed back and ending up winning the game in a ridiculous 16-8 blowout. The Rays scored 4 times in the 4th to make it 6-4, and then went off for 8 runs in the 5th and never looked back. It was a team effort as 6 different players each had at least 2 RBI, with Caleb Picciotti leading the way with 3. Isaac DeLeon was 4-5 including his 19th HR, a 2-run shot, and Nate Clark hit #49 for the Rays' first run before driving in another run later. In fact Joe Barker was the only Ray in the lineup not to drive in a run. Corbin Martin took over for Ceja (who missed an undeserved win by one out) in the 5th and picked up his 5th win, pitching through the 7th and allowing 2 runs. Andy Aparicio finished out the game with two scoreless innings. Cleveland won but Oakland lost, meaning the White Sox are hanging on to the 2nd wild card, a game ahead of the A's and 1/2 game behind Cleveland.
September 22: Optioned P Danny Ceja to AAA Durham, recalled P Jon Whiteleather from AAA Durham.
Ceja impressed in his September audition, but with the bullpen used quite a bit the last two days it was time to summon a fresh arm. And it's been a long time coming for Whiteleather, our 4th round pick in 2025 who's spent most of the last three years at Durham with this year being his best as their closer. He had an impressive 11/55 BB/K ratio in 39 1/3 innings, getting 35 saves and only allowing 3 homers. He has 70 stuff to go with 50 movement and control, so he's a legit MLB pitcher.
Game 3: The Rays picked up where they left off the day before, bludgeoning White Sox pitching in a 13-2 rout to take the series as well as the season series 4-3. After scoring 16 yesterday the Rays took a 13-0 lead by the 5th to give them 38 runs for the series. Nate Clark was one of the stars today as he became the first Ray to have a 50-HR season with a first-inning solo shot and then made it 51 with a 2-run HR in the 3rd. Victor de Jesus had a 2-run HR (#9) in the 2nd, while Dane Ayers and Adley Rutschman each knocked in a pair, the latter with his first Rays triple. Also making club history today was Alec Sachais, who became the first non-Blake to win 21 games in a single season as a Ray, tying Snell in 2018 and Money in 2028 for the club record with one more start left to try to break it. He was excellent today with the big lead, going 6 4 0 0 0 9 and lowering his ERA to 3.56. Jon Whiteleather made his MLB debut and it didn't start well, walking the first man he faced and then serving up a 2-run HR to Ray killer Collin Montez, but calmed down from there to go 2 innings with 3 whiffs. Evan Godwin mopped up for the final inning. Cleveland and Oakland each won today, dropping Chicago into a tie with the A's for the second wild card and leaving them both 1 1/2 behind Cleveland.
The Rays concluded their inaugural regular season at Publix Park an astounding 68-13, an .840 win percentage which shattered the MLB-best home record set by the 1932 Yankees, who went 62-15 for an .805 percentage. The team's previous best home record was in 2023 at 63-18, .778. Also we're on track to set the best run differential in MLB history. The 1939 Yankees had a +411 differential, and we're at +410 right now after these last two routs. Of course the 39 Yankees did it in 151 games meaning their run differential per game was 2.72 while ours is 2.63 so we're really only in position to break the "raw" record.
Team record: 116-40. Next up: An off-day, then we close out the season with 3 in Boston and 3 in Cleveland, where we may have some say in who potentially plays us in the ALDS.
Update from the league office:
