Playoff Feel In May Appears In New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays Rivalry

During the 60-game pandemic season of 2020 and the season that followed in 2021 when things were slowly emerging from the pandemic, the Tampa Bay Rays added a new adjective to describe themselves against the Yankees.

The word was nemesis as the Rays won eight of 10 meetings in 2020, followed by a five-game ALDS decided in San Diego. Then in 2021 they won 11 of the 19 meetings, including seven of 10 in New York with five of this wins coming within the first two months when the Yankees sputtered around the .500.

Last season, the pendulum turned with the Yankees winning 11 of 19 meetings as the Rays receded from 100 wins to 86 wins and a quick exit to Cleveland in the wild card. This time the Rays roared to a 13-0 record while the Yankees became ravaged with injuries, saw their quality of play to plummet and leading some elements of society to declare the season to be over.

While the Yankees ended their 42nd game out of 162 trailing the Rays by eight games, the quality of play picked up and the biggest thing is you can say is they can certainly hang with the best team in baseball in terms of record. The Rays are 31-11 after winning four of the first seven meetings with three of those coming by one run and 18-11 since their extremely quick start.

This weekend featured playoff like games that hinged on decisions of managers and pitchers with their pitch selection.

On Friday, the Yankees brought in Michael King to protect a two-run lead in the eighth inning only to see him allow a three-run homer to Josh Lowe. Then in the bottom half Kevin Kelly decided not to attack Aaron Judge in the strike zone, resulting in a walk and manager Kevin Cash opted to go with Jason Adam to face Anthony Rizzo. Adam then decided to go with his changeup and the pitch landed in the right field seats, giving the Yankees the 6-5 win that became official when Aaron Boone’s decision to use Wandy Peralta for the save worked out.

“I mean he’s a good hitter obviously,” Adam said Friday. “I was thinking first pitch let’s get a strike here. My changeup has been a pitch that got me here, so I trust it. Tried to throw it probably a little too high in the zone. I haven’t seen the replay but he’s a good player, put a good swing on it and it kind of stinks.”

A day later, Nestor Cortes lost command in the fifth when he began facing the Rays in the dreaded third time through the lineup. It led to a Yandy Diaz grand slam and a six-run deficit but shortly thereafter the Yankees held a 9-6 lead aided by the decision to have Anthony Volpe bunt for a hit and steal two more bases before Aaron Judge made his second homer of his 29th multihomer game a 439-foot go-ahead two-run homer.

As Volpe energized the Yankees and helped send their comeback from a six-run deficit off ace Shane McClanahan to the finish line, the vibe in the dugout was something like let’s beat them after trailing by six runs similar to how the Rays did it to Gerrit Cole a week ago at home.

“We’re facing the best,” Judge said. “They’re bringing it every single night; we’re bringing it every single at-bat. There were a lot of gritty at-bats. It’s fun to be a part of.”

And Saturday also saw more decisions pay off. Clay Holmes was used for four outs when Ron Marinaccio gave up two hits and while he gave up two runs on a soft single, he did not let the game escalate further.

Holmes entered after Boone opted for Oswaldo Cabrera as a pinch hitter for Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the five-run sixth and that decision paid off in the form of a two-run single for a three-run lead.

The final meeting before the rivalry reconvenes July 31 in St. Petersburg saw another playoff type game with the verdict going to the Rays thanks to Taylor Walls’ sudden burst of power. After hitting .172 in 142 games last year, Walls ended the series by raising his average from .262 to .281 highlighted by a go-ahead grand slam.

The grand slam occurred after two decisions did not work for the Yankees. The first being using Albert Abreu and the second with him deciding to throw four straight changeups with the final pitch landing in the right field seats.

Still the Rays like many others know no lead is safe and if not for a 10 mph fairly stiff wind in left field, the lead might have been lost. Instead Judge ended an entertaining weekend by hitting a fly ball that fell short at the warning track and was secured by Jose Siri’s glove after Adam’s three-pronged reaction even if Judge did not think the ball was heading out.

“I thought that was like 30 rows deep,” Adam said. “But thankfully he missed more than I thought, and Siri was camped.”

“I hit it good but off the bat I hit it too high, especially you know how deep it is out there. I’m kind of praying for a miracle once it got up there,” Judge said.

The Yankees still face an eight-game deficit and this week brings a reliance on the Mets to help out while they take care of things in Toronto. In the meantime, they can enjoy the improved quality of performances while drowning out those voices who say or tweet a 162-game season in an expanded playoff field can end on Mother’s Day weekend.

“They were tough,” Walls said. “I feel like every time we got a lead they would respond and either take it back or put some runs up and match whatever we did that inning before.”