Tampa Bay Rays Retrospective
What went wrong in 2025
"I thought it was an all-encompassing type of suck"
That quote from Rays closer Pete Fairbanks is from last season, but I think it fits well with how this season turned out. I had high hopes for this team. This team was considerably stronger on paper than last year which topped out at 82 wins. They were projected to win the same amount this year, and I thought that was straight up laughable. With multiple starting pitchers coming back from injury, new off-season additions, and young players poised to break out, I thought they'd cruise past those projections. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way. The Rays closed out their season with a 13-4 drubbing at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays to finish with a 77-85 record. If you told me the Rays would have a worse record in 2025 compared to 2024, I would've said you were crazy, but here we are.
So with that out of the way, let's break down what exactly went wrong for the Rays this year:
1 - Streaky offense
The offense as a whole was hit or miss. The Rays were relying on younger players to break out and while some players (Caminero, Arranda, Simpson) answered the call, others (J Lowe, Morel, Mead) just never found their groove. They did improve considerably in home runs (150 to 182) and OPS (.668 to .714), but they just weren't consistent enough across the board to go the distance.
2 - Streaky pitching
The Rays rotation was riddled with injuries last year and looked to bounce back with the return of Shane McClanahan along with break out seasons from others like Taj Bradley and Shane Baz. Unfortunately, McClanahan didn't pitch a single inning and Bradley and Baz just never managed to get in a good rhythm. You never knew what kind of game you were going to get from those two, and it's hard to go on a playoff run with inconsistency like that. Drew Rasmussen was a steady hand for the Rays, but they needed more out of their other guys. The bullpen went through some rough patches as well, with the usually reliable Pete Fairbanks and Edwin Uceta slumping at certain points. These slumps resulted in several blown leads in July as the Rays began to unravel.
3 - New stadium
The Rays underwent a change of scenery this season due to the Trop being battered by Hurricane Milton in October of last year. Their temporary home for this season was Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. It was a major adjustment for the Rays, going from a dome with artificial grass to an outdoor stadium with real grass, and it led to mixed results. Steinbrenner's smaller dimensions allowed for more home runs, which was good for the offense, but not so good for a pitching staff that tends to struggle with the long ball.
4 - Front office swings and misses
The Rays looked to rebound from a disappointing 2024 season with the signings of catcher Danny Jansen and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. Unfortunately, those two just couldn't get it together.
Jansen brought a veteran presence to the team, but his framing left much to be desired. Out of the 56 qualified MLB catchers this season, Jansen finished 50th in pitch framing runs with a dismal -8. His offense wasn't much better, as he hit just .204 in 73 games before being shipped off to Milwaukee at the trade deadline.
Kim looked promising on paper, but the former Gold Glover just couldn't stay healthy and even when he was available, he failed to live up to expectations. This meant that the Rays had to rely even more on Taylor Walls and his .599 OPS.
5 - AL East Resurgence
I was wrong about the AL East this year.
The Yankees were coming off a World Series run, but I thought they'd fall victim to the classic world series hangover and that their rotation would struggle mightily without their ace Gerrit Cole. However, led by Carlos Rodon and newly acquired Max Fried, their rotation rose the occasion while Aaron Judge captured yet another MVP award en route to a 94 win season.
The Red Sox were projected to win around 80 games, but they ultimately finished with 89 wins due to some effective front office moves. Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman did wonders for Boston's pitching staff, Alex Bregman was a solid free agent signing, and the offense surprisingly started to click after trading Rafael Devers.
But my biggest miscalculation of them all was the Toronto Blue Jays. Coming off a dreadful 74-88 record in 2024, the Jays didn't make any flashy moves in the offseason, picking up 40 year old pitcher Max Scherzer and a solid but not game changing shortstop in Andres Gimenez. I figured they'd be lucky to finish at .500, and I couldn't have been more wrong. They finished with 94 wins and nearly won the World Series.
The Rays ultimately finished 19-28 against the rest of the AL East, a far cry from their 31-21 record against them just a few seasons ago.
So in the end, as I said at the start, it truly was an all encompassing kind of suck. Definitely not the worst season I've endured, but a disappointing one nonetheless. With that being said, the future is still bright and I look forward to seeing the Rays back in action at the refurbished Trop next year.
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