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Playing in perhaps baseball’s toughest division, the Tampa Bay Rays were the class of the field this season.
The thrifty Rays clinched their fifth AL East title with a 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees in the second game of a day-night doubleheader 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 surpassed 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 the 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 single year. With this group we knew that from the beginning, but we still believed in ourselves every single way. So here we are in Yankee Stadium celebrating and we feel really happy that we got 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 with home-field advantage in the American League playoffs. The Rays are two games behind the 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 only had Aaron Judge for 66 games due to a fractured right rib and a sore right calf that likely will keep the slugger out of next week’s best-of-three Wild Card Series at home.
Tampa Bay initially moved into first place following an 8-5 win over the Chicago White Sox on April 14 but lost the lead despite winning 13 of 18. The Rays regained the lead following a 4-1 win at Boston on May 10 and stayed there until June 13 when they lost seven of 13.
“We played really good baseball up to this point,” said Rasmussen, who underwent elbow surgery in 2023. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start in April but to play as we have since the beginning of May, this group’s different. We have a lot of fun together. We love being together and we’re trying to spend as much time as we can possibly together.”
The Rays won their latest division crown after returning to Tropicana Field and going 55-26 at home this season. Last year, Tampa Bay finished 77-85 overall and played home games at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the Yankees, because the domed roof at the Trop was ripped off during Hurricane Milton in October 2024.
The Rays secured this AL East title after getting approval on a financing plan that will allow them to build a new stadium in Tampa, Florida, that is expected to open in 2029.
“Everything the franchise has been through, to have the Tampa Bay on the chest tonight, the staff, the players for Tampa Bay, all of it, just, it’s 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 near 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 champs. Once the party moved inside, the Rays sprayed bubbly and beer on each other while jumping up and down and dancing to loud music in their clubhouse.
“I’m very happy because this is a special group,” third baseman and AL MVP candidate Junior Caminero said. “When I (went) to spring training (the) first day, I saw this group and (thought), we’ve got a playoff team this year, and we did it.”
Rasmussen held the Yankees hitless until Heliot Ramos started the seventh inning with a double to left field. The right-hander exited after walking Jazz Chisholm Jr., but Kevin Kelly retired Austin Wells after allowing Lombard’s run-scoring single.
After finishing with three hits during a 2-0 loss in the opener, the Rays all but locked up the division title with a three-run seventh in the nightcap. Taylor Walls had a bunt single and Díaz lined a single to center field for a 4-0 lead. Díaz added another two-run single in the ninth for his AL-leading 175th hit.
