If you happen to watch a Rays sport this October, you might end up alternating between two ideas: Wow, that man is admittedly good! And: Who’s he? Tampa Bay is the perfect workforce within the American League, and likewise probably the most neglected.
This isn’t a brand new downside. Within the decade that MLB has tracked such issues, precisely one Ray has ranked within the high 20 in jersey gross sales: third baseman Evan Longoria, who completed 20th in 2010. The gamers say that they draw motivation from being ignored. However as they progress this October–opposing the Yankees within the ALDS–baseball followers received’t ignore them for much longer.
With assist from the inimitable Rays media information, the Baseball Reference Stathead software and the Rays themselves, here’s a complete viewer’s information to the Rays:
If you happen to see a participant standing on second base and waving his arms: He has hit a double. “Someone simply did it the primary sport,” says super-utilityman Mike Brosseau. “We had been all like, OK, that is what we acquired this 12 months.”
If you happen to see two gamers pretending to shoot arrows: Shortstop Willy Adames and first baseman Ji-Man Choi are celebrating one thing. It’s not clear how this began or what qualifies for this celebration.
If you happen to see a younger participant following round a veteran: that veteran might be third baseman Joey Wendle. “He’s the last word skilled,” says Brosseau. “All the things he does is the appropriate factor to do.” Wendle is barely 30, however Tampa has the fourth-youngest lineup (common age 27.1) in baseball, so he qualifies as a father determine. The youngsters are all the time attempting to impress him.
If you happen to like vogue: Your favourite Ray is Adames. “Willy loves the digital camera and the digital camera loves Willy,” says Brosseau. “It’s an awesome relationship.” Adames can typically be seen sporting a high hat on highway journeys.
If you happen to like video video games: Your favourite Ray is ace lefty Blake Snell, who has a gaming room in his home. He streams Fortnite, Name of Obligation and MLB: The Present on Twitch, the place his channel, @classiclyfamous, has greater than 33,000 followers.
If you happen to like consuming: You will have many choices in your favourite Ray. Begin with Choi. “That man completely powers via meals,” says righty Tyler Glasnow. “Choi crushes the [postgame] unfold.” Rumor across the Tampa Bay clubhouse has it that Choi as soon as ordered 16 sushi rolls.
One other sensible choice is Glasnow himself, who, in response to the Rays media information, “retains a WiFi-powered toaster oven in his locker and makes use of it to prepare dinner small meals.” That’s not precisely true, says Glasnow: He used to preserve a WiFi-powered toaster oven in his locker and use it to prepare dinner small meals. “It was a quarantine factor,” he explains. “It was after we had been right here for coaching and every part was closed. I may carry after which eat immediately.” His go-to was “boring-ass athlete meals” similar to salmon and candy potatoes. (Yeah, it’s a formidable toaster oven.)
After which there’s second baseman Brandon Lowe, whose spouse, Madison, owns Candy and Lowe Bakery. She focuses on intricately-decorated cookies, generally with a Rays theme, and generally delivered to the Rays clubhouse. Brandon contributes by taste-testing and washing dishes.
If you happen to like Renaissance males: Your favourite Ray is righty Charlie Morton. He can’t learn music however taught himself to play the guitar and has written a dozen songs, sung at a buddy’s marriage ceremony and carried out at bars in a number of minor-league cities; he has been recognized to spend 14 hours barbecuing; he constructed his household’s kitchen desk.
If you happen to like school soccer: Your favourite Ray is outfielder/first baseman Hunter Renfroe, whose identify seems like that of Clemson hero and present Raiders extensive receiver Hunter Renfrow. Renfroe acquired so many messages after Renfrow had 88 receiving yards within the 2016 nationwide championship sport that he reached out; the 2 at the moment are pleasant.
If you happen to like childhood goals: Your favourite Ray is lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who grew up 60 miles east of Tropicana Subject, in Lakeland. When the Mariners traded him to Tampa Bay in 2017, he dug via his dad and mom’ home and located his previous Scott Kazmir jersey and ’08 World Sequence gear.
If you happen to like heteronyms: Your favourite Rays are Brandon Lowe (rhymes with now) and first baseman Nate Lowe (rhymes with go). It’s very complicated, and likewise very pleasant!
If you happen to want a yoga instructor, you need: lefty Ryan Sherriff, who grew up in Los Angeles and conforms to a few of that metropolis’s stereotypes. “He’s a non secular sort of man,” says Glasnow. “He meditates,” says bullpen coach Stan Boroski. “He talks about his blessings—which I believe is fantastic.”
If you happen to want somebody that can assist you transfer, you need: righty Aaron Slegers. “He could be the nicest particular person on the face of the earth,” says Boroski. “He would do something for anyone at any time. He’s that man you name once you’re caught within the mud on Christmas Eve in a snowstorm and he says, ‘The place are you?’”
If you happen to want somebody to affix you in a foxhole, you need: righty Diego Castillo. He grew up the youngest of 10 siblings in Cabrera, Dominican Republic, and didn’t signal till age 20—positively historical in a rustic the place many prospects are on groups’ radar at 13. He’s listed at 6’3”, 250 kilos, however he smokes most of his teammates in agility drills. “He’s the caballo,” says Glasnow. “He’s a grownup. In a combat, I need Diego Castillo with me.”
If you happen to want a associate for bar trivia, you need: the aid quartet of Slegers, righty Ryan Thompson, righty John Curtiss and righty Peter Fairbanks. (Particularly Curtiss, whose teammates name him the Physician as a result of he graduated from Texas in three years with a double main in historical past and English.) The Rays’ coaches every day notes record obscure Rays info, and Boroski poses the inquiries to his relievers as they idle within the bullpen. Final 12 months, Morton had the bottom opponents’ batting common with runners in scoring place within the league (.179). Which two starters in Rays historical past had a decrease opponents’ batting common with runners in scoring place?* Typically he offers them clues, however typically these 4 determine the reply.
*Victor Zambrano, 2004, .157
Jeremy Hellickson, 2011, .167
If you happen to want somebody companionable to speak your ear off, you need: righty Oliver Drake. He owns the document for many groups pitched for in a single season, with 5 in 2018 (the Brewers, the Indians, the Angels, the Blue Jays and the Twins). Possibly he discovered his garrulousness there, or possibly he picked it up as a child in Worcester, Mass.; in any case, he retains the dialog going. “Something from politics to palm timber to which benches are most snug within the bullpens to sunsets,” says Boroski. “You carry up a topic, he’s acquired an opinion on it. The loud New Englander who goes on and on—that’s Oliver. He’s a satan’s advocate, counterpoint man. You’ve gotta have a type of.”
If you happen to want to strand some runners, you need: Thompson or righty Nick Anderson. Thompson was one in every of three pitchers this season to inherit not less than 10 runners and strand all of them; Anderson inherited 14 and stranded all however one.
If you happen to want some two-strike magic, you need: infielder Yandy Díaz. He had a .351 on-base proportion with two strikes this season, fifth-best within the AL.
If you happen to want a clutch hitter, you need: Brandon Lowe, who will get higher because the stakes get larger. When video games weren’t late and shut—which Baseball Reference defines because the seventh inning or later, with the batting workforce both tied, forward by one or with the tying run on deck—Lowe slugged .522. Once they had been late and shut, he slugged .706.
If you happen to hear uproarious laughter: DH Yoshi Tsutsugo could have simply weighed in. His English is enhancing however nonetheless restricted, so he typically shocks his teammates by cracking a joke when they didn’t understand he understood the dialog. If it’s not Tsutsugo riling everybody up, it’s in all probability Brosseau, who likes to stare at a teammate till he notices, then faux the teammate has been watching him. He can even often greet a buddy by trying him over, then shaking his head. “No,” he’ll say. “I don’t prefer it. I’m out on you at this time.” Says Glasnow, “He’s the mojo maker.”
If you happen to hear a sound you don’t instantly acknowledge as uproarious laughter: Somebody has instructed proper fielder Brett Phillips a joke. Phillips, for whom the Rays traded shortstop prospect Lucius Fox on the deadline, has lengthy been well-known in baseball for his uncommon, multi-stage chuckle, which transitions from a screech to the sound a duck may make because it expires to silence. “He really locks up when he laughs,” says Brosseau, sounding a little bit nervous. “He can’t transfer. There are tales about instances he’s driving and his buddies make him chuckle and it’s actually harmful. So I don’t know if we should always make him chuckle, as a result of he’s paralyzed for 2 minutes.”
If you happen to hear screaming coming from the house clubhouse after a win: Heart fielder Kevin Kiermaier is concerned. Kiermaier, the longest-tenured Ray, appointed himself chief of the post-win celebration earlier this 12 months, and the ceremony has turn out to be progressively extra absurd because the season has gone on. In opposition to a backdrop of strobe lights and loud music, he begins by congratulating everybody who pitched that day. Then he runs via defensive gems, which he calls “present performs.” He acknowledges every participant who hit a house run. He crowns a participant of the sport. After which he begins a freestyle, call-and-response chant. If somebody hit a dinger to offer Tampa the lead, for instance, he may yell, “He’s acquired that GAP!” “What’s that?” his teammates refrain. “That’s that go-ahead pop!” he shouts. He improvises just a few extra strains, then leads the workforce in a cheer of “We ballin’” on three. “I didn’t do it justice,” Brosseau says apologetically, “However it’s really actually enjoyable.”