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Photo by Mike Carlson/ Who watches the watchmen? I realized I was in the deep end of both baseball fandom and analytics when the first thing I did when I saw the umpire crew for the Rays vs Rangers series was to check out how good this crew was by their expected metrics. Thankfully, our friends at UmpireScorecards has a tremendous amount of data to query and look through. Their daily scorecards throughout the season are a ton of fun, but their website has so much more, and I was able to use their resources to research the crew for this Wild Card series. The good news...

Photo by Mark Blinch/ The Rays open the Wild Card round on Tuesday.

Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports The Wild Card games will be broadcast on ABC. All three (if needed) start at 3:08. If you want to hear a local broadcast, you can listen to the game on WDAE radio. Generally the team has sponsored official watch parties in the Tampa Bay area when the team is playing on the road — with the idea that the “party” is in the stadium if they are playing at home. But many of you won’t be at Tropicana Field, yet would still like be able to commiserate/celebrate with other Rays fans. We’ll use this post to report on any watch parties we...

Photo by Julio Aguilar/ Wild Card Series at Tropicana Field The Rays will be playing the Rangers in the three-game Wild Card series this week. Because the Rays had the best record among all non-division winners, they have the home field advantage for all three games. That means you have many opportunities to see an actual playoff game in person. Please allow me a quick rant. If you’ve been a Rays fan for a while you know that the least appealing and accessible start time will always be ours. In this case, there are some time zone issues so that other teams also get...

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports Rays win 99th game of the year behind Aranda’s bat And breathe... Yandy, Randy, and Isaac are still healthy along with Glasnow, Eflin and Fairbanks. Despite everything that this team has endured over the past six months, they will enter October with 99 wins to their name and a formidable core group of players, even if that core is missing key members such as Brandon Lowe, Shane McClanahan, Wander Franco, and the duo of Rasmussen and Springs. Sunday afternoon proved to be the end of a trying six months of baseball for a Rays club...

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports This has been a weird season, but the postseason starts before you know it! Go Rays!

Photo by Cole Burston/ Rays outlast Blue Jays in ten innings. All games count, even when they don’t ultimately matter. The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-5 on Saturday in a game the Rays managed more like a Spring Training game, giving players rest than the second to last game of the season, preparing for a postseason run since they already have the top Wild Card spot secured. The Blue Jays ultimately clinched the postseason despite the loss but certainly needed the win more than the Rays. The Rays jumped onto the board early in the top of the first...

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports Stay fresh for the Wild Card Go Rays!

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports Only time will tell! Go Rays!

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports A great night from Glasnow and Josh Lowe especially. Hello friends, we’re winding down the regular season and facing off against a team that typically is challenging the Rays in the AL East, and yet this year it’s the Orioles, and the Red Sox haven’t put up much of a fight. Let’s take a look at how things went tonight. The matchup was Tyler Glasnow (still on limited innings) and Brayan Bello. The Rays went three-up-three-down in the top of the inning and then Glasnow had his first 1-2-3 of the game. Josh Lowe kicked off the...

Allen Eyestone / USA TODAY NETWORK A Beantown charcuterie of sorts Go Rays!

Photo by Paul Rutherford/ The Rays took a commanding early lead today, leading some of us to think this would be the relaxing, laughter-filled, have Erasmo pitch three inning win we all needed. But starting in the fifth inning they proceeded to give that lead back. They did hold on for the victory, but it was hardly relaxing. This game started off oddly; it was a 7:10 start, but Boston starter Tanner Houck wasn’t even on the field until 7:13 at which time he took his warm up pitches. I would have thought that the players need to be in position at the game’s start...

Photo by Julio Aguilar/ Yes real tattoos! The Tampa Bay Rays have announced events and activities on both sides of Tampa Bay leading up to the Postseason and during the American League Wild Card Series. Events will begin with Postseason Pop-Up Parties, taking place throughout the Tampa Bay region on Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1. Other events and activations include two Rays flash tattoo events in St. Petersburg and Temple Terrace and various locations for fans to pick up Rays Up Tampa Bay yard signs, presented by Bayfront Health. The full schedule of...

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Rays end their final homestand of 2023 going 3-3 and getting outscored by Toronto 14 - 21 Rays look to end the 2023 regular seasons at the Trop with a series win against the Toronto Blue Jays. Here’s how the lineups stacked up: Last one at the Trop before we’re back for the postseason #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/GEPYayc5rQ— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 24, 2023 Let's end the road trip with a W! #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/8fyhi8ekoC— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 24, 2023 After two singles by...

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports After blowing a five-run lead, the Rays comeback to win Saturday with contributions from Junior Caminero making his MLB debut and Ramiel Tapia making his Rays debut. This game was a performance sandwich with outstanding offense in the first and ninth innings, sloppy pitching, and defense in the middle. Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Rays recovered from blowing a five-run lead to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 in their penultimate regular season home game of the 2023 season. The first inning saw the Rays strike first when Yandy Diaz...