The 2025 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Yes it's time for yet another Rays save, as if the five already in existence (plus the Live Start) aren't enough. One of these years I won't add another save but this is not that year. One thing I do each season is to tweak the format a bit and this year I decided instead of writing recaps or summaries I'm just going to post the box score from each game and list transactions. I'll post on a series-by-series basis so as not to spam the forum with 162+ posts for the season and I plan to post the MLB standings and leaders at the end of every week and perhaps some league news like Players of the Week. There will be periodic commentary whenever I deem it informative but this is going to be more of a "just the facts, ma'am" thread.

I imported eriqjaffe's Steinbrenner Field to use for this season and since I'll get to 2026 before anything's finalized about next year's Rays ballpark situation I'm going to assume they're back in Trop as planned. I made some subjective adjustments to the weather, wind and ballpark factors which I reserve the right to adjust as we see how the ballpark plays IRL.

I'm picking up the season as a LiveStart here on April 15 as the Rays sit at 8-8, third in the AL East and one game behind first-place New York. As far as settings go I have the trade difficulty slider at about 70% hard and the favor prospects at the same slider setting.

Thanks to all of you who have followed the other threads and now here's one more to follow. I moved all of them over to the OOTP26 Dynasty forum since it's likely where everyone ends up but I do hope they end up merging it with the older Dynasty forum as was done in years previous.

Anyway, here's a look at the current Rays crew:



Play ball!

[Art Deco]

April 15:



April 16:



Not sure what's up with the weather, I thought I had set the weather for Tampa before the first game but it said 29 degrees, so I set it again before the second game and it was 55, possible but very unlikely this time of year around here at 7PM. Anyway, two tough losses in a row to start this save.

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



Game 4:



A good bounce-back series for the Rays as they ended up taking 3 of 4 and got back to .500 in a tight AL East. How tight? Here are the current standings and leaders:



Players of the Week:

AL: Kyle Manzardo (CLE), 10-24, 3 HR, 10 RBI
NL: Fernando Tatis Jr (SD), 9-23, 6 HR, 11 RBI

[Art Deco]

Before the game we activated Richie Palacios from his rehab assignment and optioned Coco Montes to Durham.

Game 1:



We then claimed IF Oswald Peraza on waivers from the Yankees, optioning SS Taylor Walls to Durham and DFAing P Cole Sulser to make room on the 40-man.

Game 2:



Game 3:



13-12 has us tied with Toronto two games back of Boston and tied for the second wild card, 1/2 game up on the Angels.

Next up: 3 games in San Diego.

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



A good series and a good road trip as the Rays took 4 of 6 in Arizona and San Diego to move above .500 and stay in the AL East race. Next up: A day off then a return home for 3 against Kansas City.

The league:



Players of the Week:

AL: Jeremy Pena (HOU), 10-21, 2 HR, 5 RBI
NL: Tyler Fitzgerald (SF), 10-23, 4 HR, 6 RBI

MLB News: A tough blow for first-place Texas as they lose star SS Corey Seager for the rest of the season thanks to a broken kneecap. Also facing an early end to 2025 is Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi with a torn flexor tendon.

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



A lot of scoring at The George (not sure what people call this park for short) with the Rays and Royals trading 9-0 wins sandwiched around a 15-8 slugfest in favor of Tampa Bay. The Rays are a game behind the Yankees and Boston who are tied for first, and are in the second wild card, 1/2 game up on Detroit.

Players of the Month (April):

AL Batter: Vinny Pasquantino (KC), .272-9-34
NL Batter: Juan Soto (NY), .284-8-20
AL Pitcher: Garrett Crochet (BOS), 4-2, 2.31, 40K in 39IP
NL Pitcher: Logan Webb (SF), 4-0, 2.66
AL Rookie: This guy!



Kongrats, Kam!

NL Rookie: Connor Gillispie (MIA), 2-0, 3.48

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



The Rays were Judged and found guilty of dropping the series to the Yankees as they were done in by him in the second and third games. It was my mistake to pitch to him with first base open in the bottom of the 8th of a tied Game 3 though.



Some MLB news:



The Giants are off to a ridiculous 27-8 start.

Players of the Week:

AL: Christian Walker (HOU), 9-24, 6 HR, 10 RBI (including a 3-HR game)
NL: Juan Soto (NY), 11-23, 4 HR, 9 RBI

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Transaction: Jonny DeLuca was ready to return and reclaim his CF job, so Jake Mangum was optioned to Durham.

Game 2:



Transaction: Jose Caballero was diagnosed with back stiffness which will keep him out about 10-14 days so he went on the IL and Taylor Walls was recalled from Durham to back up Oswald Peraza at SS.

Game 3:



A good series against a red-hot Phillies team which won their 10th straight when they took the opener. The second game was the wild one with Caminero's 3-run walk-off homer saving the Rays from blowing an earlier 6-1 lead.

Tampa Bay sits 1 game behind the Yankees in the AL East and in the second wild card, 1 1/2 up on 4th-place Minnesota. Next up: Milwaukee comes to Steinbrenner Field for 3.

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



A disappointing series loss with Rasmussen getting pounded in the finale, which was a bit shocking.



Players of the Week:

AL: Jose Ramirez (CLE), 10-20, 2 HR, 6 RBI
NL: Jackson Chourio (MIL), 11-26, 3 HR, 7 RBI

Bad news for the Pirates and baseball fans in general:

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



Rays are now 4 out in the AL East in 3rd and continue to hold a 1 1/2-game lead on Minnesota for the third wild card.

[Art Deco]

Josh Lowe was activated off the IL and Kameron Misner, who had played well but tailed off of late, was optioned to Durham.

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



Oof, that was a brutal series which dropped the Rays below .500 and out of the third wild card slot.



Players of the Week:

AL: Coby Mayo (BAL), 7-17, 3 HR, 6 RBI
NL: Kyle Tucker (CHI), 10-21, 2 HR, 9 RBI

MLB News: The Dodgers will lose SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto for a month thanks to a strained shoulder and the Yankees gave reliever Luke Weaver a 3/27 extension.

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



The sweep got the Rays back over .500 but they trail Detroit and Baltimore, who are tied for the second wild card, by a game and sit 4th in the AL East 5 games behind New York.

MLB News: Philly's Kyle Schwarber hit career homer #300.

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Rasmussen's injury was minor and he'll make his next start.

Transaction: Optioned P Mason Englert to Durham, called up P Kevin Kelly. After his lengthy outing Englert wasn't going to be available for several days and it was time for Kelly to return.

Game 2:



Transaction: Jose Caballero comes off the IL and Taylor Walls is optioned to Durham.

Game 3:



A brutal series for the Rays which saw them drop two below .500 and two back of Baltimore for the third wild card.

Players of the Week:

AL: George Springer (TOR), 10-22, 2 HR, 8 RBI (much of that against us)
NL: Bryce Harper (PHI), 9-28, 4 HR, 6 RBI

[Art Deco]

Game 1:



Game 2:



Game 3:



This team is really spinning its wheels right now and has dropped to last in the AL East, although they're still only 2 games out of the third wild card. Brandon Lowe's injury in the finale is a sprained knee which will bother him for about the next 10 days but is "minimal" so we'll keep him in the lineup.

Next up: They hit the road for 4 in Houston.