EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsST. PETERSBURG, Florida -- Self-awareness is the Tampa Bay Rays' superpower. A natural disaster tore the roof off their home, and their franchise player torpedoed his career in the ugliest manner imaginable, and never did the Rays fall prey to doubt. Baseball can be brutal and unrelenting and unforgiving, but when the world seemed to conspire against them, the Rays found solace in the one thing in which they never stopped believing: themselves.Their trip to the 122nd World Series, booked with a rollicking 7-3 victory against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night, crystallized the power of Tampa Bay's method and delivered madness to the 40,230 who filled Tropicana Field. Over the past two decades, the Rays had built something meaningful. Competing in a comically moneyed AL East, habitually dispossessed by comparison, the Rays leaned on that acute understanding of exactly who they are -- an organization that deifies a culture of questioning, improvement and accountability -- as their great equalizer. They stuck to these principles even after the demise of the career of Wander Franco, around whom they planned to build their franchise, and when damage to the Trop from Hurricane Milton forced them to a temporary home for the 2025 season.And so through it all, the Rays did what the Rays always do, which is rely on a process honed through years of commitment to a single purpose: winning -- regardless of the impediments that exist."We have people that truly care about what they do," Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. "Staff and players alike with a prevailing belief that we can win a championship here. A relentless pursuit of improvement by way of respecting all our differences and finding the good in each and everybody involved in this organization."Neander leads a baseball operations department nearly 200 heads deep, and from it was born this group of 26, many of them misfit toys. Junior Caminero and Yandy Daz, acquired in separate trades with the Guardians three years apart, supplied a pair of late-inning two-run home runs that provided the margin of victory. Freddy Peralta, secured in a deadline deal with the New York Mets in August, contributed 5 13 innings of high-octane pitching en route to ALCS MVP honors. Fifty-four innings of error-free baseball in the series reinforced that the Rays did not win the most games in the league by accident. They know who they are, and they spend every day seeking validation not for that but rather for what it breeds.Which is a brand of baseball strikingly similar to that of their World Series opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, the best team in the National League. The Rays and Brewers are baseball Rorschach tests. Some see them through the lens of their payrolls, 26th and 19th, respectively, and the size of their markets, 19th and 30th. That's too simple, though. The Rays and Brewers are not what they spend; they are what they produce, and that happens to be wondrous displays of baseball, from their multidimensional offensive approaches to their parade of arms that propel baseballs in manners that stretch the limits of the human body to the pride they take in minutiae, from defense to bunting to base stealing.This World Series, in other words, is no accident, not some stroke of luck that will be painted as a battle of unlikelies. Doing so is a disservice to everything the Rays and Brewers are, which is proof that the power of money -- and suggesting it isn't an inherent advantage would be disingenuous-- has its limits. Namely, organizations that actively commingle the old and new, whether it's scouting and statistics or small ball and big flies. Without that ethos -- and without the certitude that it's right -- Caminero would not have been dancing on the field Monday night, holding a flag declaring the Rays AL champions.It was not the first time Caminero inspired the Trop to ear-splitting decibels Monday, urged on by what was unfolding on the field. Up in the seventh inning against the Guardians' impermeable closer, Cade Smith, Caminero saw a split-fingered fastball boring inside and unfurled the fastest swing in the major leagues. Smith had thrown 884 splitters in his big league career without yielding a home run, only to see the 885th clang off the left-field foul pole.Caminero went into showman mode, turning to his teammates and pounding his chest before touching first base. Nearly 40 seconds after his home run trot began, Caminero finished it by stopping a stride shy of home plate, turning toward the stands, pointing to one specific person and crossing his arms, full boss-mode.He was looking at Randy Arozarena, the former Rays outfielder who hit a record 10 postseason home runs the last time Tampa Bay advanced to the World Series in 2020 and punctuated his best moments with that signature pose. Though he'd since been traded to Seattle, Arozarena wasn't going to miss this game, nor was Tyler Glasnow, the former Rays pitcher who had left in a deal to the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of the past two World Series.Once a Ray, always a Ray isn't some platitude. It is, perhaps, the foremost explanation of who they are and why they find themselves four wins from the first championship in franchise history.Before the ninth inning of Game 6 began, Shane McClanahan found Yandy Daz in the dugout and told him exactly where Daz was going to hit a home run. The two are the most tenured members of the Rays, and even if dugout home run predictions are notoriously wrong, McClanahan felt something coming, a function of spending the last six seasons studying Daz's consistent excellence."From Day 1, we've instilled it in every single person in this clubhouse," said McClanahan, who started the 2022 All-Star Game but is out for the postseason with left forearm tightness. "We're a team-first group. We're no egos. We play for each other, and we play hard. That's why he gave me that bear hug in the dugout at the end. I called the shot, man."Losing a trade is painful enough -- and the Guardians unequivocally lost both deals with Tampa Bay. Caminero has turned from a rookie-ball flier into an MVP candidate. Daz has posted the 10th-best on-base percentage in baseball since joining Tampa Bay in 2019. Losing a season to those who left in trades, as Cleveland just did, is insult, injury and indignity. And yet Caminero and Daz comprise less than 8% of the Tampa Bay roster Neander and his band of dreamers constructed, so often via trades and unexpected signings.Take Nick Martinez. Three days before spring training, the 36-year-old right-hander was unemployed. Tampa Bay, looking to expand its pitching depth, considered the array of available talent: future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, veteran Chris Bassitt and right-hander Zack Littell, who, like many that go to the Rays, had demonstrably improved in his time there the prior two-plus seasons before being traded to Cincinnati at the 2025 deadline. When Neander reiterated the primary intention of any pitching signing -- "We are going to prioritize the one that's going to leave a lasting impression on their teammates," he told his group -- they kept gravitating back to Martinez.He was, it turned out, an archetypal Ray despite never having worn navy and Columbia blue. Up at 23. Out of the league four years later and off to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. Resurrected by four years in Japan before a return to the United States led to four solid seasons split between San Diego and Cincinnati. Because Martinez's fastball rarely exceeds 93 mph, teams let him rot in free agency until the Rays gave him a one-year, $13 million contract.Their read on Martinez proved fortuitous. Pitchers gravitated toward him, as did hitters -- rare for clubhouses traditionally bifurcated by position. He spoke English and Spanish. He had lived a rich baseball life, full enough to serve as the glue that kept the Rays together, whether it was at a cigar bar or on a golf course or at copious team dinners that drew more than 20 teammates without fail."These guys make it easy, really," Martinez said. "They wanna hang. I can throw team dinners every week, and if no one shows up, no one shows up. These guys showed up. Camaraderie matters. It's a big part of our formula. The more you hang out with someone, the more you get to know someone. The more you get to know someone, the more you root for that person. We played for each other the whole season. We have no egos here. We just wanna do what the game asks of us and play for each other and celebrate together. We play very selfless baseball."That manifested itself early. On April 18, the Rays faced Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes and looked helpless through four scoreless innings. A rain delay of nearly 2 hours followed, chasing Skenes and allowing Tampa Bay to chip away before winning 8-7 in 13 innings. In the aftermath of a long and perilous day, they stuck around in the clubhouse postgame, slugging beers, talking ball, a recurring theme throughout the season. The work of winning inside the white lines begins outside of them."This organization has a wonderful reputation of knowing how to win, how to get the best out of their guys," Martinez said. "They communicate the best I've ever been around. Tampa's always been on the list for me to come play for, and when they came calling, man, we ran with it."By June 27, they captured a spot atop the AL East that they would not relinquish on their march to 98 wins. New heroes emerged daily. Cam Booser didn't even join the team until June and wound up one of the best relief pitchers in baseball and the personification of Tampa Bay's ability to help rescue what once was lost.After five injury-riddled seasons in which he didn't advance past High-A, Booser retired in 2017 and went to work in construction. Four years later, when coaching kids in Washington, Booser realized he was still throwing in the high 90s from the left side and joined the independent Chicago Dogs, where he was scouted by Rays executive Kevin Ibach. While that gig didn't lead to a job in affiliated ball, Booser surfaced with the Boston Red Sox in 2024 and debuted at 32 years old before kicking around the last two years and finding a home in St. Petersburg."They make you feel special here, no matter who you are," Booser said. "They treat you all the same no matter who you are. If you're here, you're important. They take the time to invest in every single player, and they just believe in you. More than maybe you believe in yourself at the time. And that's infectious. They're consistent every single day. It's how they work. They trust the process no matter what, and you start to believe that."Booser's belief came from the cluster of players he saw improving, compounded by the Rays' specific suggestions for his optimization. They wanted him to double down on the cutter he had thrown far less frequently the previous season. Booser knew Drew Rasmussen, the staff ace, and Griffin Jax, who arrived in a trade with Minnesota at the 2025 deadline. They couldn't say enough good things about the Rays."I understood they do things very differently here, in the best way possible," Booser said. "And I wanted to be a part of that."He's not the only one. A common refrain throughout baseball is how many things the Rays do well, from scouting to drafting to international signing to player development. At the top of the list is taking an unlikely group and turning the players into productive big leaguers. Evaluators thought Jonathan Aranda was positionless with a bad body. He was an All-Star last year. Coming into this season, Ryan Vilade had played 28 big league games with four teams. The Rays recognized he crushed left-handed pitching and leaned on him in 96 games this year as a platoon specialist. The Guardians cast aside Richie Palacios after taking him in the third round of the 2018 MLB draft. He resurfaced with the Rays and batted .500 in the ALCS with a two-run double in Game 6 that staked the Rays a 2-0 advantage."They have a unique way of making guys feel very comfortable with who they are," said Rays shortstop Taylor Walls, who, despite poor offensive performance, maintains the starting job because the Rays so deeply value his defense. "When guys enter the organization, they can sense that people really have their back, that they can really be themselves and not be afraid to make mistakes, to really just be great at what they're great at and not try to do anything else outside of that. And I think it really allows guys to find out who they are, to give themselves an identity and just to buy in."Buying in wasn't a problem for Peralta, who joined catcher Liam Hicks and Booser's co-setup man, Tyler Wells, as the Rays' deadline acquisitions. Peralta, 30, spent his first eight years with the Brewers until they dealt him to the New York Mets over the winter, one season before he was due to hit free agency. As the Mets crumbled, so did Peralta. After Tampa Bay snagged him at the deadline for three minor leaguers, coaches and other staff sat with him in Colorado and "were very clear with me. They told me, 'We know who you are. We know what you have done and your whole career. We're not looking at the last three months of your career. We know who you are, and we're gonna help you to get your confidence back.' And, you know, in the moment, I believed them."The belief was warranted. The Rays wanted Peralta to throw his devastating changeup more often, and with it came an uptick in his fastball velocity. In his last six regular-season starts, he posted a 0.79 ERA in 34 innings. In 12 innings spread over two starts and one relief appearance in the ALCS, Peralta allowed one run, winning Games 2 and 6, capturing the hardware to match his NLCS MVP counterpart, Jake Bauers -- who the Rays traded in 2018 in a deal to get Daz. Offering substantive advice, scraping for marginal value, endlessly trying to get better -- the Rays' way was familiar, and comfortable, to Peralta for good reason."It's very similar," he said, "to Milwaukee."Self-awareness is not just about knowing what you are. It's recognizing what you aren't, and, in that respect, the Rays and Brewers are kindred spirits. The same inequities that limit the Rays constrain the Brewers, and it's what makes this World Series so tantalizing: The parties occupy similar ground.The Brewers have not made the World Series in 44 years and have not captured a championship in their 58 years of existence. The Rays lost in both of their previous World Series appearances -- falling to Philadelphia in 2008 and Los Angeles in 2020 -- and are title-free for 29 seasons. There will be a first-time World Series winner this year, amplifying the stakes -- and the crowds at American Family Field, where Game 1 begins Friday with Brewers ace and soon-to-be NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski against Rasmussen.For all of the narrative to come about the grand meaning of the Rays and Brewers facing barely a month before the league is set to lock out the players who won't agree to a salary cap the league has positioned as necessary to help small-market teams, this World Series is, as much as anything, a pure display of the game, a collision of the present with the past.It already was evident with the Rays, even as they clinched. They wore Devil Rays jerseys, a vestige of their early years. The Caminero-Arozarena exchange was generational aura. Even the team's past leadership was present, with former team president Matt Silverman joining Patrick Zalupski, Bill Cosgrove and Ken Babby, the new ownership group that bought the team in September 2025 and intends to replace the aged Trop with a new stadium in Tampa.The Rays' stability, in part, has come from their ability to complement their longtime employees with new faces to replace those who left the Tampa Bay machine and eventually took over other baseball operations departments: Andrew Friedman (Dodgers), Chaim Bloom (Boston and St. Louis), Peter Bendix (Miami), James Click (Houston), Taylor Smith (A's) and Matt Arnold, who runs the Brewers. The Rays' fingerprints are everywhere in baseball."Since I was drafted at 17, every coach that I've been with, the players they drafted, you could tell that everybody was just a straight-up A-plus human being," Walls said. "And if they weren't, they got out. You've got to be a good person to be in this organization. You gotta care about winning. Winning has to be your only priority. And if it's not, they sniff you out real quick and you're probably not here long."Plenty do stay. Scout Mitch Lukevics joined the Rays three years before they debuted in 1998 and hasn't left. As teams across the industry have cut scouting jobs, Ibach has bulked up the Rays' department with trusted pro personnel specialists Mike Brown, Max Cohen, Jason Cole, Jaosn Grey, Nate Howard and Mike Langill. They're the rare big league organization featuring multiple women in high-ranking baseball-operations positions, with assistant GM Chanda Lawdermilk, director of position player programming Dani Dockx and director of baseball operations Sammi Bireley, who has been pulling double duty to graduate recently from law school. Jon Daniels, the general manager of two Texas Rangers World Series teams, found refuge with Tampa Bay. Super-scout Bobby Heck did the same after Houston whacked its scouting department. Jeff Sullivan, the longtime FanGraphs wordsmith, is eight years into a multipurpose role with the organization. The Rays this year hired three former big leaguers -- Mike Ford, Beau Sulser and Joe Hudson -- to seed the next generation of front office talent. The pipeline doesn't run dry because Neander and his other deputies, Hamilton Marx and Will Cousins, refuse to let it.All of them, and plenty more, deserve to be named because, as Booser said, "all our success is just a credit to our front office." And to Kevin Cash, the manager who guides the fruits of that labor with pitching coach Kyle Snyder and hitting coach Chad Mottola. They are the ticking heart of Tampa Bay's operation, the ones who made playing in a minor league park in 2025 palatable while the Trop was undergoing Extreme Makeover: Stadium Edition, the ones who have brought calm no matter the challenge.Now Caminero and Diaz are swatting balls for the Rays instead of against them, Walls is picking balls no other shortstop would reach, and Chandler Simpson is burning around the basepaths faster than anyone in the big leagues. Rasmussen did snow angels in the confetti strewn about the Trop's turf after Hicks squeezed the final out of the ALCS, secured by All-Star closer Bryan Baker, who was acquired from Baltimore for the 37th overall draft pick in a 2025 trade. It was a proper celebration for a proper team that knows exactly what it is. How the rest of the world sees it will depend on the next 11 days, but after Monday, at least one thing is no longer in question: The Rays are, as they've been for most of the year, the class of the AL.As for all of baseball, the 103-win Brewers might have something to say about that. They'll get a chance to on the field. The Rays' self-awareness extends to the World Series, and they understand just how good their opponent is, but that doesn't disabuse them of a core tenet that won't go away anytime soon.They believe.
