Keep getting job done

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 highend starting pitchers to go along with a lot of big arms out of the bullpen that they’re good at matching up,” Yankees manager

YAaron 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.”

But the Yankees are not the only big-market team the Rays have slayed this season. It took seven games, but they also dismissed the team with the fourth highest payroll in the Astros ($82 million). They face the Dodgers, who have the second highest payroll ($108 million), in the World Series. ankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner, who lives in the Tampa Bay area and will have to hear about the Rays’ success (and likely the Yankees’ failures) this winter, also dismissed the payroll comparisons. Still, he made it a point to remind people that the Rays did it with the help of money from teams like the Yankees who pay a luxury tax.

“I’m glad you brought it up because you can’t take anything away from the Tampa Bay Rays. They were a very very good team with a very deep roster and very good baseball operations people, like we have very good operation baseball operations people,” Steinbrenner said last week on The Michael Kay Show. “No, I haven’t pondered (the payroll differences). I know that’s been a theme in the newspapers or wherever else but I have not pondered that. I only see the team, a very, very good team. And they’ve used the revenue sharing money well throughout the years and draft picks and everything else.

“Did I feel we were better than them? Yes,” Steinbrenner said. “Yes, but it just didn’t end up that way.”