Tension headache: Rays expect series with Yanks to be fun — and tense.
Rays expect Yankees series to be fun, competitive — and tense
“At this point of the season, regardless of who you play, the stakes are going to be high, and the emotions are going to be high.”
— Mike Brosseau,
Rays first baseman
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — So much has happened between the Rays and the Yankees already this season.
Complaints about the Rays throwing inside too often. Chirping from the Yankees dugout, and the Rays’ response. A sweep in New York that keyed the Rays’ 8-2 season-series win. Hit batters, hot tempers and harsh words. The Aroldis Chapman 100 mph pitch at Mike Brosseau’s head. Kevin Cash’s stinging criticism, introducing “The Stable” to the lexicon (and T-shirt industry). And Brosseau’s powerful reply the next day.
All part of a new chapter in an increasingly rancorous rivalry that already includes a Tampa turf war, Elliot Johnson, Shelley Duncan, Game 162, “Derek Cheater,’ CC Sabathia (and his crotch grab), and more.
And now, for the first time in the Rays’ 23 seasons, they are playing each other in the playoffs.
The initial reaction from both sides about advancing to a showdown in the best-of-five American League Division Series that starts Monday in San Diego was that events of the past few months will stay there. Or at least that’s their story for now, and they’re sticking to it.
“At this point of the season, regardless of who you play, the stakes are going to be high, and the emotions are going to be high,” Brosseau said Thursday. “Having an opponent like the Yankees, an in-division rival and a team we know very well and kind of have a history with this season, it’s going to be a really fun series.
“It should be very entertaining. It’s going to be two competitive teams playing a really good series, I think. We’re excited as a team. I’m excited personally. San Diego should be a fun time.”
“Fun” could be a relative term. Just like saying your team isn’t going to do anything different, or consider the opponent more concerning than any other.
“I think everything that happened in New York, hopefully, is in the past,” Brosseau said. “The way that we pitch is the way that we pitch. If (pitching coach Kyle Snyder) and Cash think we’re going to attack hard in and that’s the best way to get their hitters out, then that’s what we’re going to do.
“As far as having anything carry over from past experiences, at least from our end, I think we’ve put in the past. And our focus is pretty much on getting past this round and moving on.”
Chapman, speaking after the Yankees’ wild 10-9 series-clinching win in Cleveland early Thursday morning, offered a similar take.
“You’ve got to understand we have a rivalry, we play in the same division and we’re trying to do the same thing, which is win,” he said via a team translator. “I’ve got to say whatever happened, happened. That’s in the past. We’ve got to put that aside and focus on the series ahead. Especially Game 1, we want to go and get a win.”
After completing their firstround sweep of the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field, Rays officials on Thursday were just starting their deep dive into the Yankees. They present many challenges, with ace Gerrit Cole already slated for the opener and an offense that posted seven homers and 22 runs in beating the Indians twice.
Neander also expects the focus to be in the right areas.
“We played them 10 times this year, they’re a really good team, those games were tense,” Neander said. “I think as far as the noise and all that, our guys are ready to go, they’re ready to compete, and they understand what’s at stake. I think our players have demonstrated time and time again that they’re able to channel their energies and their focus in the right direction, and expect this to be no different.”
Team MVP Brandon Lowe, who said Brosseau’s buzzing on Sept. 1 made him the angriest he has ever been on a baseball field, also seems willing to let the past go — for now.
“I feel like if you’d looked a couple weeks ago, you’d have known we were going to play the Yankees at some point in the postseason,” he said. “So as far as we’re concerned it’s just another team we’ve got to play to reach our end goal.
“We’re going about this like it’s another game we’ve got to go out there and win. There’s nothing to add on to it. We’re going to go out there and play our game.”
There will be other storylines and subplots over the next few days, such as how the Rays don’t get enough respect nationally and how much better the Yankees are now with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in their lineup than when the Rays beat them earlier. Also, that both teams will be sharing the same (albeit large) hotel in San Diego.
About that little bit of “history” that Brosseau mentioned?
“I think it’s just two really competitive teams that know they have a lot of on their sides and want to win. I think that’s pretty much how any divisions rivalry starts and kind of unfolds from there on out,” he said.
“They know that we’re a really good team. We know they’re a really good team. We know what we have. They know what we have. When you’ve got two really competitive and really talented teams going head to head so many times, especially in a condensed season like this year, tensions are going to be raised a little bit. Going into this postseason, I would expect those same tensions, if not even more.”
So there may yet be more to the story.