Sep 19, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Richie Palacios (1) celebrates with third baseman Junior Caminero (13) and teammates after he hit the game winning walk off RBI single during the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
The New York Yankees did themselves no favors over the weekend in Phoenix. Two losses to the Diamondbacks have put them six games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East standings.
They need to sweep Tampa in this week’s four-game series to have any chance of reclaiming the division title. Even if the Yanks rattle off four straight, the Rays would still control their own destiny; their current magic number of two would be unchanged heading into that final series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
As things stand, Carlos Rodon and Max Fried will take each leg of Tuesday’s doubleheader, with Gerrit Cole getting the ball on Wednesday and Cam Schlittler on Thursday. Tampa will throw Nick Martinez Tuesday afternoon, and Drew Rasmussen will get the nightcap. The Rays’ Wednesday and Thursday starters are not yet confirmed, but Ian Seymour and Freddy Peralta are in line to get the ball barring any changes.
Peralta has found his form since being traded to the Rays from the Mets; he has a 3.60 ERA in nine starts and 50 innings with Tampa Bay, and has been especially sharp lately. Peralta has only given up two runs in his last 16.2 innings pitched.
Both teams have come into the series hitting well; the Bombers are averaging 5.4 runs per game in their last 10 – even with Aaron Judge going back on the injured list – while the Rays are averaging 5.7. There are still some milestones to watch out for even if most attention will be on the playoff implications of the series. Ben Rice is one dinger away from his first 40-home-run season. Rice has annihilated Rays pitching this year; five of his 39 homers have come against Tampa Bay. Paul Goldschmidt is sitting at 18 home runs; if he reaches 20, it will be his 12th career season eclipsing that plateau.
While Junior Caminero has historically struggled against the pinstripes, the MVP candidate isn’t the only threat in Tampa’s lineup. Yandy Diaz isn’t only rocking an .807 OPS this season, but he’s hitting .301 in his last 20 games against the Yankees.
Assuming the Yanks don’t pull off a historic late-season comeback to steal the division from Tampa Bay, this series doesn’t have much impact on the final standings. The struggling American League Central and West divisions have ensured that whoever comes out of the East will take the League’s top seed. Tampa Bay is currently ahead of Cleveland (who holds the AL Central lead and the second seed in the Junior Circuit) by 14.5 games. As for the wild card, unless the Yankees lose the remainder of their games and the Boston Red Sox run the table, New York will host the wild card series, most likely against their hated New England rivals.
The Yanks have an improbable mountain to climb if they want another division championship, but even if they come up short, a potential Division Series preview in the season’s final week never hurt anyone.
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