The end was as painful as the journey

TAMPA, Fla. –To the players, fans and the club’s management, this was not supposed to end this way.

Here’s a team only two years away from a level of success appreciated by major league baseball teams. The Tampa Bay Rays reached the postseason for five consecutive seasons (2019-2023) and accomplished this feat as a small-market team on a limited budget.

After failing to qualify last season for October baseball, the Rays embarked on a 2025 season and established the goal of rewriting the history books. With several unique challenges, the most severe was relocating to a new home. After hurricane Milton ripped the roof from Tropicana Field last October, the Rays were forced to engage in the 2025 season in George Steinbrenner Field, the spring home of the New York Yankees.

By season’s end, a consensus among players was that the hour could not be sooner for a return to Tropicana Field. Citing the high humidity, temperatures in the low to mid-90s, and the constant threat of rain, player thoughts beckoned back to the air-conditioned comforts of the Trop and its friendly confines.

Aside from this logistical issue, the Rays simply were not a very good baseball team.

Swept by Toronto to close out the season, Tampa Bay finished with a mark of 77-85 and the most losses since the 2016 season. That was manager Kevin Cash’s second season as skipper, and the Rays went 68-94.

In post-season remarks to FanDuel from Toronto, Cash cited encouraging seasons from Jonathan Aranda, Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe and Junior Camerino as a future core.

“I do think the experience of this past season will only help many of the younger players,” Cash said after the final game. “Overall, we just didn’t get it done. I’m right at the top of the list who did not get it done. Look, we want to get back to the post-season somehow, and everybody has that in the forefront in their minds.”

During most difficult times, comments tend to be general and universal. As the rigor mortis sets in and vultures begin to peck at the carcass of a lost season, a significant overhaul of this team should be prioritized.

At the trade deadline in late July, Erik Neander, the club’s president of baseball operations, appeared to believe the season was lost. The result was a plethora of trades and transactions that yielded little results. By the end of the season, these transactions did not improve the quality of play on the field and did not boost team confidence for a postseason run.

Throughout the season, players constantly cited the competitive nature of this team. If that was the case, the result was limited production and a future of uncertainty.

Cash could cite the achievement of Diaz, the club’s principal DH. Honored as American League player-of-the-week of Sept. 14-21 and in the period between Aug. 25 and Sept. 14, the Cuban-born Diaz hit .432 and finished the 2025 season hitting. .300 even with a career-high 25 home runs.

Brandon Lowe carried the Rays for parts of the season but was inconsistent. For the 2025 season, the 31-year-old slammed 31 homers and hit. 256. That was the second time in his career Lowe hit 30 or more homers.

Then, there was Junior Caminero, who, at 22-years-old, reached within one home run of tying the franchise record for most homers in a season. His 45 bombs fell one short of Carlos Pena, who hit 46 during the 2007 season.

Going into the off-season, several issues must be addressed.

Cash, for one, remains quite political and offers no direction. Still, Neander traded one-third of the starting rotation at the trade deadline. Righthander Zack Littell, who was dealt to Cincinnati, finished with a 2-0 mark for the Reds in 10 starts and a 4.39 ERA. The reward for trading out of central Florida was a trip to the postseason with the Reds.

By contrast, Littell went 8-8 in 22 starts for the Rays, posted a 3.58 ERA and one complete game during the 2025 season.

By season’s end, the rotation was in shambles and only Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz, and Drew Rasmussen stood standing. Also, the bullpen was a disaster, and Neander must work magic here to get this critical component of any baseball team efficient and productive.

In all, the off-season ahead is perhaps the most important for Tampa Bay in recent years. While goal is to return to October baseball, the path for this franchise is filled with roadblocks and mines, which will likely be difficult to navigate.

Elsewhere … Erik Neander, the team’s president baseball operations, was rumored to take a high-profile position in the Washington Nationals organization. Instead, he will remain with the Tampa Bay franchise. That’s because the Nationals hired Paul Toboni, assistant GM with Boston, as the Nationals’ head of their baseball operations department.

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