AL Series team is not the Yankees
NEWYORK— The Rays have been a constant pain in the Yankees’ behind this season. They dismantled their richer division rivals and got into their heads before finally putting an end to the Yankees’ 2020 season earlier this month in the American League Division Series. With a payroll that is merely a fraction of the Bombers’, a ballpark that is mocked throughout the game and a fanbase that has had to face the constant threat of the team moving, the Rays are pretty much everything the Yankees are not as an organization.
So Tuesday, when the Rays play Game 1 against the Dodgers in Arlington, it has to burn a little more that the Rays have done what the Yankees have failed to do for the last 11 years: They are playing in the World Series.
And they’ve done it at almost a quarter the price, but the Yankees say they’re not focusing on that.
“I don’t think it’s a payroll comparison in any way, shape or form,’’ Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last week in the postmortem for his team that had a $109 million (prorated for 60 games, according to Spotrac) payroll on Opening Day. “They’re forced to operate a certain way because of the market they are in, and we are permitted to operate in a different way because of the market we’re in, and both ways can have success.”
The Rays have done it by always being one of the best teams at exploiting market inefficiencies. Last year, going toe-to-toe with the Astros in the AL Division Series was a warning to the rest of baseball that they were on the verge. In this unusual coronavirus pandemic-shortened season, the Rays were the perfect team to pivot and adapt to the unusual circumstances. They have a “stable” full of relievers who throw hard to back up three solid starters. They have position players who may not be the household names of an Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton, but play solid, consistent baseball. They also have a group of position players who are versatile on defense — think a couple of poor man’s DJ LeMahieus — and give their manager Kevin Cash flexibility.
“They’re a really good team. Obviously, they’ve been very good at run prevention now for a few years. They have a few high-end starting pitchers to go along with a lot of big arms out of the bullpen that they’re good at matching up,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Then they’ve built a real versatile roster, as far as position players go, which they’ve kind of tweaked over the last few years to kind of have a lot of complementary parts.
“They got 14-15 guys that kind of complement one another with the different skill sets that they possess. So it’s just a well-built team and a team that does a lot of things well.”