Playing in perhaps the toughest division in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays were the class of the field this season.
The Thrifty Rays won their fifth AL East title with a 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees in the second game of a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday as Drew Rasmussen allowed one hit in 6 2/3 innings and Yandy Diaz hit a pair of two-run singles.
Tampa Bay took the AL East for the first time since 2021 and swept that team by three days with the earliest division clincher in team history. The club also won division crowns in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season along with 2010 and 2008, when it reached World Series and had the franchise’s first winning season.
“It means a lot,” Díaz said through a translator. “It’s a tough division. It’s a competitive division almost every year. With this group we knew that from the beginning, but we still believed in ourselves either way. So here we are at Yankee Stadium celebrating and we feel really happy to get the job done.”
Tampa Bay (96-61) opened a six-game lead over the second-place Yankees (90-67) with five to play and will be the No. 1 seed. 1 with home field advantage in the American League playoffs. The Rays are two games back Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in the majors and home field advantage throughout the postseason.
The Rays have led the division since June 27 and spent 128 days in first place ahead of the Yankees, who were without Aaron Judge for 66 games because of a broken right rib and a sore right calf that will likely keep the slugger out of next week’s best-of-three Wild Card series at home.
Tampa Bay initially moved into first place after an 8-5 win over Chicago White Sox on April 14, but lost the lead despite winning 13 of 18. The Rays regained the lead after a 4-1 victory in Boston on May 10 and held it there until June 13, when they lost seven of 13.
“We’ve played really good baseball up to this point,” said Rasmussen, who underwent elbow surgery in 2023. “We got off to a little slow start in April, but to play the way we’ve played since the beginning of May, this group is different. We have a lot of fun together. We love being together and we’re trying to spend as much time as possible.”
The Rays won their last division crown as they returned to Tropicana Field and went 55-26 at home this season. Last year, Tampa Bay finished 77-85 overall and played home games at Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training home, because the dome roof at the Trop was destroyed during Hurricane Milton in October 2024.
The Rays secured this AL East title after receiving approval for a financing plan that will allow them to build a new stadium in Tampa, Florida, expected to open in 2029.
“Everything the franchise has gone through, having Tampa Bay on your chest tonight, the staff, the players for Tampa Bay, all of it, it’s just really special,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said.
After closer Bryan Baker retired Yankees rookie George Lombard Jr. for the final out, the Rays shook hands on the field and exchanged hugs by the dugout to start their celebration.
As many Yankees fans left the stadium, Rays fans moved closer to the visitors’ dugout and began cheering for the newly minted division champions. After the party went inside, the Rays splashed bubbles and beer on each other while jumping up and down and dancing to loud music in their club.
“I’m very happy because this is a special group,” the third baseman and AL MVP candidate Junior Caminero said. “When I (went) to spring training the first (day), I looked at this group and (I thought), we have a playoff team this year, and we made it.”
Rasmussen held the Yankees hitless until Heliot Ramos started the seventh inning with a double to left field. The righty walked Jazz Chisholm Jr., but Kevin Kelly retired Austin Wells after allowing Lombardi’s run-scoring single.
After finishing with three hits during a 2-0 loss in the opener, the Rays wrapped up the division title with a seventh in three innings in the nightcap. Taylor Walls had a single and Díaz lined a single to center for a 4-0 lead. Díaz added another two-out single in the ninth for his AL-leading 175th hit.
