Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela looks on as Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda celebrates his solo home run during the fifth inning in Toronto on Monday.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
It may have come as a surprise to baseball fans to wake up on Monday and find that the Tampa Bay Rays had the American League’s best record and the second-best mark in the major leagues.
From year to year, they are overlooked by pundits and fans outside of central Florida but quite often end up creating havoc within the AL East Division, perhaps the toughest in Major League Baseball.
And now here they are again stirring up trouble against more heavily bankrolled powers from New York, Toronto and Boston. Tampa Bay pays its players a combined US$101-million, compared to the Yankees’ US$292-million, the Blue Jays’ US$283-million, and the Red Sox’s US$267-million.
Yet the Rays entered the first of three games at Rogers Centre on Monday atop the AL East. They had won eight of their previous nine contests and 14 of the past 16, including a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays in St. Petersburg, Fla.
As usual, they are doing it with exceptional pitching, timely hitting and tight defence.
“Not surprised,” Toronto’s George Springer said a few hours before Monday’s game, an 8-5 defeat. “They have really good players and they have always had them. They are well managed and play together.
“They are always able to pitch, hit well situationally and always have a knack for rising to the occasion in big moments.”
Since losing three of their first four series they have won seven of the last nine. They began this visit facing pitcher Kevin Gausman, who was in pursuit of the 2,000th strikeout of his career.
Gausman got it in the fourth inning against catcher Hunter Feduccia on a fastball. The game was stopped and fans gave the 35-year-old a standing ovation as Gausman tossed the ball to the dugout.
“You could argue that his body of work is at the top of the list over the last five or six years,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said before the contest.
Gausman (2-3) was roughed up pretty soundly and left after giving up 10 hits and six earned runs in 4 2/3rds innings.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) after making his 2000th career strikeout during fourth inning MLB baseball action against the Tampa Bay Rays, in Toronto on May 11.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
At the same time, Tampa Bay went with Drew Rasmussen (3-1). Rasmussen allowed four hits and three runs in six innings.
The Rays have won eight straight season series versus Toronto and are 4-0 against them in 2026.
Tampa Bay pitchers entered the evening having allowed three or fewer runs in a franchise-record 16 consecutive games, the longest streak in the big leagues since 2010. Over that span they had yielded just 24 runs and lead all major league pitching staffs in seven categories.
“Their pitching is always good and their defence keeps them in a lot of games,” said pitcher Patrick Corbin, who will get the start for Toronto on Tuesday against ace Shane McClanahan (4-2). “They have a mindset that their guys buy into.
“They are a small-market team without a lot of so-called big-name players but they have done this for quite a long time now.”
Tampa Bay entered the night having won 19 of 20 outings where they scored four runs or more. They put up four against Gausman in the first, the key hit a two-out single by second baseman Richie Palacios. They added two more in the second and seemingly had the game well in hand.
The Blue Jays rallied for three runs n the second, all plated on a home run by shortstop Andres Gimenez. The latter also had a two-run shot in the seventh, his fourth and fifth home runs of the campaign.
Cash has managed the Rays since 2015 and with him in charge nearly always outperform expectations.
“I am very impressed with the way guys have played this year, and they want to keep doing it,” Cash said beforehand. “Our guys do a pretty good job at what they are good at.”
No argument there.
“What is this, about 15 years with them being very good?” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Everyone calls them pesky or upstart but the top of their lineup is as good as anybody’s in baseball and they seem to have a never-ending supply of great pitchers.”