Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays vs St Louis Cardinals

The Tampa Bay Rays keep getting chances to revive their season and keep squandering it. After a .500 road trip, they returned home with a chance to make up some ground by taking on the New York Yankees in a two game series, only to be swept away. Meanwhile, the Rays competition in the Wild Card chase are enduring their own struggles, which means the Rays let a golden opportunity slip by.

Entering play on Thursday, the Rays are 61-66, 6.5 games back of the Mariners (5 game losing streak) and Red Sox

(3 game losing streak) for the 2nd/3rd Wild Card spot.

The Rays will now pivot their attention to the St Louis Cardinals who come to town for a three game set over four days as there will be an off day on Saturday to avoid a traffic nightmare with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. The Cardinals aren’t having a great season entering play with a 63-65 record, but they have better odds of making the playoffs than the Rays as they are 5 games back of the New York Mets in the Wild Card chase with only one team ahead of them.

Masyn Winn leads the Cardinals in fWAR, mostly due to his outstanding defense. He is currently hitting .260/.315/.381, registering a 97 wRC+ and has accrued 3.6 fWAR. Ivan Herrera has been the team’s top offensive performer with Wilson Contreras and Alex Burleson close behind. Veteran Nolan Arenado is having a year to forget as he is hitting .235/.294/.366 with 10 HR.

On the mound, Sonny Gray is having another excellent season and the Rays will have to face him later tonight. Meanwhile former Rays first round draft pick Matthew Liberatore will also make an appearance this weekend and he is having the best year of his young career thus far.

Frivolities

The top players according to Baseball Reference to have played for the Rays and Cardinals:

Randy Winn
Tino Martinez
Tommy Pham
Randy Arozarena
Colby Rasmus

The Rays best player offensively against the Cardinals all-time (min. 10 PA):
- Logan Morrison: .444/.500/1.222 with 2 HR over 10 PA
  - The next four are Corey Dickerson, Wander Franco, Jorge Cantu, & Johnny Damon
The Rays most previous transacation with the Cardinals:
- 7/30/24: Rays acquire Dylan Carlson from the Cardinals for Shawn Armstrong
The Rays first transaction with the Cardinals:
- 11/21/03: Rays acquire Tino Martinez from the Cardinals for Evan Rust and John-Paul Davis