NEW YORK - The Rays didn’t just beat the Yankees in the American League Division Series. They did it by turning their pitching staff into a moving puzzle, and every piece ended up in the right place.
That was the idea from the start, even with the anxiety running high enough to have Erik Neander checking his Oura Ring. The Rays’ president of baseball operations said the device had been sending him warning signs before and during the series, and for good reason.
The Yankees were loaded on the mound, and the Rays understood they’d have to navigate a brutal assignment: “You’ve got to beat an ace every night. And our guys did that.”
The Rays answered with a three-game sweep, holding New York to five runs and 12 hits, eight of them singles, while finding just enough offense to keep control of each game. They scored once in Game 1 on Jonathan Aranda’s homer, plated five in Game 2 while taking advantage of the Yankees’ shaky defense, and finished the job Wednesday with four more runs, including home runs from Ryan Vilade and Victor Mesa Jr.
But the real edge came from how Tampa Bay handled its pitchers.
With five off days after the first-round bye and another day off built into the best-of-five format between Games 1 and 2, the Rays built a plan around using only three traditional starters while still leaning on all five pitchers who finished the season in the rotation. That group - Drew Rasmussen, Freddy Peralta, Nick Martinez, Ian Seymour and Griffin Jax - had been their best collection of arms down the stretch, and the Rays found a way to keep them all involved.
It worked almost perfectly.
Rasmussen handled the opener, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth before Austin Wells broke it up with a two-out double. Peralta got through the fifth in Game 2, but Seymour’s three relief innings were just as vital. Then in Wednesday’s clincher, Martinez made his first career postseason start at 36 and didn’t make it through the fourth, but Seymour and Jax combined for 10 outs behind him.
Out of the Rays’ 81 outs in the series, 68 came from those five rotation pitchers. Baker, who saved all three games, added nine more. Cam Booser and Kevin Kelly handled the other four.
“That’s the series right there,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We were able to stay in rhythm, stay in sync. … And the way our pitchers just executed multiple times through that lineup was really, really impressive.”
The willingness to shift roles was a major part of the story, especially for Seymour and Jax. Both started the year in the bullpen before moving into the rotation, and both were asked to slide back into relief work when the matchup demanded it. Martinez said that kind of adjustment never became an issue.
“We’re all about just getting outs as a pitching staff, man,” he said between champagne sprays. “We know how important every out is in the playoffs, and we don’t care what capacity we do it in. We just want to get outs.”
The sweep sends the Rays home Thursday afternoon to wait for the winner of White Sox-Guardians. The ALCS opens Monday and Tuesday with Games 1 and 2 at Tropicana Field.
Compared with the tight planning required for the Yankees, the next round should be simpler. Rasmussen is lined up for the opener on extra rest.
Peralta’s strong record at Tropicana Field makes him a strong candidate for Game 2, with Martinez in line for Game 3 on the road. The biggest call may be whether Jax or Seymour gets the ball in Game 4, with the opponent - Guardians or White Sox - possibly shaping that decision.
“We’ll have a little time here to organize ourselves,” Neander said as the clubhouse celebration was winding down. “When you’ve got five starters that have thrown the way these guys do, it makes it a little easier not to overthink it too much.
We got work to do, without question. But winning it in three, you give yourself a little bit of time to make sure you really enjoy it.
And these guys have a night that they deserve to have.”
The Rays will enter the next round with a notable postseason note as well: Bryan Baker became the first Rays pitcher and the fourth in major-league history to record a save in each of his team’s first three playoff games. The others were Dennis Eckersley, Mark Wohlers and Manny Corpas.
There’s also a broader logistical wrinkle ahead. With the Brewers and Dodgers already advancing in the National League, the Rays would be the road team if they reach the World Series, which would mean hosting Games 3, 4 and 5 on Oct. 26-27-28 if necessary.
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