1 1 8 8 ARLINGTON, TX SAN DIEGO, CA BEST OF 5 BEST OF 5 4 4 5 5 ARLINGTON, TX SAN DIEGO, CA BEST OF 7 BEST OF 7 3 3 6 6 HOUSTON, TX LOS ANGELES, CA BEST OF 5 ARLINGTON, TX BEST OF 5 2 BEST OF 7 2 7 7 HIGHER SEED HIGHER SEED IS HOME TEAM IS HOME TEAM BEST OF 3 BEST OF 3 SEASON REVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS SEASON REVIEW 4 Fairbanks, Pete 61 Sherriff, Ryan 126 Season Review 4 Fleming, Josh 64 Slegers, Aaron 127 Glasnow, Tyler 66 Smith, Kevan 128 Rays Season Day-by-Day 7 FIELD STAFF & PLAYER BIOS Year-by-Year Comparison 8 Kiermaier, Kevin 69 Other Eligible Players 129 Season Highs 10 Loup, Aaron 73 Players Used 11 Lowe, Brandon 76 RAYS STATISTICS 130 Statistical Breakdown 12 Lowe, Nate 79 Final Statistics 130 Transactions 16 Margot, Manuel 82 Starting Pitchers 131 Meadows, Austin 85 Home Run Log 134 FIELD STAFF Morton, Charlie 88 Batting Splits 136 & PLAYER BIOS 19 Perez, Michael 93 Pitching Splits 138 Renfroe, Hunter 96 Cash, Kevin 19 Pitchers vs. Batters 139 STATISTICSRAYS Snell, Blake 99 Boroski, Stan 23 Fielding Statistics 140 Thompson, Ryan 102 Erlichman, Jonathan 24 At Home 141 Tsutsugo, Yoshi 104 Hoover, Paul 25 On the Road 142 Wendle, Joey 106 Linares, Rodney 26 RISP 143 Yarbrough, Ryan 109 Mottola, Chad 27 Bases Loaded 144 Zunino, Mike 112 vs. Lefthanders 145 Quatraro, Matt 28 POSTSEASON OPPONENTS Snyder, Kyle 29 vs. Righthanders 146 OTHER RAYS USED 115 Timmons, Ozzie 30 Postseason Player Pool 31 Alvarado, José 115 OPPONENTS 147 How the Rays Were Built 32 Beeks, Jalen 116 Adames, Willy 33 Chirinos, Yonny 117 GAME SUMMARIES 159 Anderson, Nick 36 García, Édgar 118 Arozarena, Randy 39 Gilmartin, Sean 119 POSTSEASON HISTORY 179 Brosseau, Mike 42 Kittredge, Andrew 120 Castillo, Diego 45 O’Grady, Brian 121 SUMMARIES GAME Choi, Ji-Man 48 Phillips, Brett 122 TROPICANA FIELD Curtiss, John 52 Reed, Cody 123 & MISC. 208 Díaz, Yandy 55 Richards, Trevor 124 Drake, Oliver 58 Roe, Chaz 125 The 2020 Rays Postseason Guide was published by the Rays Communications department: Dave Haller, POSTSEASON HISTORY Ryan Sheets, Craig Vanderkam, Karly Fisher and Alex Kryah. Layout and design by Erik Ruiz. Additional data provided by Stats LLC, the Elias Sports Bureau and Baseball Reference. Front cover photos by Maddie Meyer / Getty Images; Todd Kirkland / Getty Images; Will Vragovic / Tampa Bay Rays. Back cover photos by Mike Carlson / Getty Images; Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images; Will Vragovic / Tampa Bay Rays. TROPICANA FIELD & MISC. 2020 TAMPA BAY RAYS POSTSEASON GUIDE | 3 | SEASON REVIEW POSTSEASON BOUND ® Over the past 10 full-length seasons (2010-19), seven teams won at least 40 of their first 60 The Rays clinched the AL East title for the first games as the Rays (and Dodgers) just did…all time in 10 years and third time in club history seven of them finished with at least 100 wins (2010, 2008)…the Rays made the postseason for and three of them won the World Series: a second straight season and sixth time in club 2018 Red Sox, 2017 Astros and 2016 Cubs. history…this is the second time the Rays made the postseason in back-to-back seasons (2010-11). ® The Rays won their last 4 games, went 9-2 in their last 11 games and 12-4 in their last 16 ® The Rays clinched a postseason spot on Sep 17, games to finish the season at a season-high 20 won the AL East on Sep 23 and secured the No. games over .500…the Rays went 21-9 in their 1 seed on Sep 26…this is the second time in club last 30 games, 28-11 in their last 39 games and history the Rays finished with the best record in the AL, following 2010 (96-66)…the Rays ended 34-12 in their last 46 games after a 6-8 start. the season having held sole possession of the ® The Rays went 21-9 (.700) against teams that AL’s No. 1 seed for 10 consecutive days and for finished .500 or better, best in the majors. 22 of 29 days beginning on Aug 30. ® The Rays only lost once in their last 16 series The Rays have reached the postseason six ® (11-1-4) beginning on Aug 4…the Rays only had times since 2008, an achievement topped by two losing streaks all season: July 29–Aug 2 (5) only three clubs—the Dodgers (10), Yankees (9) and Sep 7-10 (3)…aside from that, they didn’t lose and Cardinals (8)—and matched by four others back-to-back games on any other occasion. (Athletics, Braves, Cubs, Red Sox)…the Rays are seeking their sixth trip to the Division Series ® The Rays trailed in 40 of their 60 games but had since 2008, a feat matched by only the Dodgers 20 come-from-behind wins, most in the AL and (seeking a 10th), Cardinals (seeking eighth), 2nd in the majors behind the Padres (22). Yankees (seeking eighth) and Red Sox (6). ® The Rays and Diamondbacks are the majors’ BEASTS OF THE EAST youngest franchises, joining the league in The Rays won the AL East by 7 games over the 1998, and each have been to the postseason Yankees, matching the Athletics for the largest six times in their first 23 seasons (26.1 pct.)… cushion for a division winner in 2020…prior to only the Yankees, who have gone in 56 of 118 this season, the largest divisional lead in franchise seasons (47.5 pct.), have reached the postseason at a higher rate…the only franchise with more history was 6 games through May 23, 2010. postseason appearances in their first 23 seasons ® The Rays went 27-13 (.675) against the AL East, of existence was the Royals (7)…the Rays and the best intradivision winning pct. in club his- Diamondbacks have matched or exceeded tory…the Rays won the season series against all the number of postseason appearances of five four AL East teams for the second time (2010). older franchises: the Nationals/Expos (six in 52 seasons), Padres (six in 52), Rockies (five in 28), ® The Rays were a season-high 4.5 GB of the Mariners (four in 44) and Marlins (three in 28). Yankees through Aug 5, but after that the Rays went 35-13 and the Yankees went 24-25. HOW THEY GOT HERE ® The Rays claimed sole possession of first place The Rays went 40-20 (.667), finishing the season in the AL East on Aug 22 and ended the season with the best winning pct. in club history, ahead of on a run of 37 consecutive days alone in first. their 97-65 (.599) mark in 2008…albeit in a short- ened season, the Rays won two-thirds of their games—a benchmark reached by only seven other ABOUT THE OFFENSE teams in the last 50 seasons: 2020 Dodgers (.717), The Rays averaged 4.82 R/G, their highest since 2018 Red Sox (.667), 2001 Mariners (.716), 1998 2010 (4.95)…they finished among AL leaders with Yankees (.704), 1995 Indians (.694), 1986 Mets (.667) 197 XBH (2nd), 105 2B (2nd), 12 3B (tied for 1st), and 1975 Reds (.667)…five of the past six reached 243 BB (2nd) and 48 SB (4th)…the Rays led the AL the World Series, and four of those six won it. in runs as late as the end of play on Sep 2. | 4 | 2020 TAMPA BAY RAYS POSTSEASON GUIDE SEASON REVIEW SEASON REVIEW ® From Aug 12 through season’s end, the Rays ® No Rays pitcher qualified for the ERA leader- ranked 3rd in the AL with 66 HR behind the board…Tyler Glasnow led the club with 57.1 IP… White Sox (73) and Blue Jays (72)—they were the Rays, Braves and Dodgers all won their divi- tied for 25th in the majors and ranked 13th in sions without a qualifying pitcher…prior to this the AL with 14 HR through Aug 11…the Rays season, the only teams in major league history hit multiple homers in 22 of their last 42 games, to win a division without a qualifying pitcher FIELD STAFF & PLAYER BIOS after doing it only twice in their first 18 games. were the 2018 Dodgers (won NL pennant) and 2017 Astros (won World Series). ® The Rays had 18 different players with a homer, most in the majors…the Rays were held without ® The Rays ranked 7th in the majors and 3rd in a homer 19 times but went 14-5 (.737) in those the AL in starter ERA (3.77)…they ranked 3rd games, the highest winning pct. since the 1906 in the majors in bullpen ERA (3.37) behind the Cubs went 99-34 (.744) in homerless games… Athletics (2.72) and Dodgers (2.74)…the Rays their 14 wins without the benefit of a homer bullpen ranked 3rd in the majors with 269.2 IP. were the most in the majors, ahead of the ® Rays starters completed 6 IP only nine times, STATISTICSRAYS Indians (11) and Nationals (11). tied with the Tigers and Red Sox—two teams that finished 23-35 and 24-36, respectively—for ® The Rays offense struck out a major-league- fewest in the majors. most 608 times, ahead of the Brewers (582)… this included double-digit strikeouts in seven ® The Rays used 12 starting pitchers, tied for 4th consecutive games to end the season and 18 of in the majors behind the Red Sox (16), Braves their last 25 games beginning on Aug 31.