The Tampa Bay Rays are headed back to the postseason, and they did it in dramatic fashion. Junior Caminero crushed a two-run walk-off homer Friday night, his 40th of the season, giving Tampa Bay a 3-1 win over Houston and making the Rays the first team in Major League Baseball to clinch a playoff berth this season.
At 88-59, the Rays have owned the American League’s best record for 115 days and lead the Yankees by three games in the AL East. It’s their first playoff appearance in three seasons, after Texas swept them out of the 2023 wild-card round in two games. The clinch is the earliest in baseball since the Braves locked things up on Sept. 10, 2023.
Now the focus shifts to bigger goals: the division title and the AL’s top seed, which comes with a first-round bye and extra rest for the pitching staff. There’s one number worth chewing on, though. Only four of the past 10 teams to clinch first reached the World Series, so rest versus rust will be the debate around the Suncoast for the next few weeks.
What’s your take: should the Rays rest their regulars now or keep the pedal down chasing the top seed?
