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GDT: A new age of commenting at DRB!

2025-08-04T16:45:00-04:00

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Some updates to DRaysBay’s commenting system explained herein!

DRaysBay is migrating to a new home for comments starting today at 5 PM EST! That’s why this thread is so early today. Due to the move, the site will be temporarily down starting around 5 PM, and will last until sometime Tuesday. Ideally this will be around 9 AM EST on Tuesday but that’s subject to change.

Once the site comes back online, you may notice some differences in the commenting, but we are hopeful (and fully expect) the changeover to go smoothly. Keep an eye out for an article on Tuesday morning that will hopefully answer all of your burning questions.

In the meantime: go rasy

Player of the Series: Yandy Diaz

2025-08-04T13:30:33-04:00

Photo by Kelly Gavin/Getty Images

Big Guava saves us from a series sweep.

It was supposed to be Chris Brown’s night in Tampa — but hours before the R&B star could Take You Down at his sold-out concert, it was a Rays slugger who stole the spotlight and left the opposing pitchers gasping for No Air.

With first pitch moved up to an early afternoon slot to accommodate the postgame concert, many wondered if the bats would be sleepy in the Florida sun. But the Big Guava came ready to Turn Up the Music.

Yandy Diaz homered not once, but twice — a Don’t Wake Me Up I must be dreaming kind of performance — sending two baseballs into orbit like they were destined to Run It.

The first blast? A laser into the right-field seats that had fans in the stands hollering “Gimme That!”

The second? A majestic moonshot that felt like it belonged on the Wall to Wall highlight reel.

With Blake Snell on the mound, it was clear this wasn’t just any game — this was a Look at Me Now moment. Many Rays fans regretted they had to Say Goodbye to the Cy Young winner, and the sellout in the Florida sun made it clear the fans wanted to let Snell feel the love, but it was Yandy Diaz who got to Kiss Kiss goodbye and make the fans Go Crazy.

Diaz has also had to return to the field with Jonathan Aranda’s wrist sprain, but you would have thought it was Freaky Friday with how Diaz was channeling Aranda’s glove.

The Rays have been in a scoring slump, but this kind of statement game surely did Turn Up the Music for the fans who showed up early and stayed loud.

DRAYSBAY PLAYER OF THE SERIES

1st: Kameron Misner
2nd: Jake Mangum
3rd: Brandon Lowe
4th: Jose Caballero
5th: Joe Boyle
6th: Shane Baz
7th: Chandler Simpson
8th: Christopher Morel
9th: Chandler Simpson
10th: Mason Englert
11th: Taylor Walls
12th: Yandy Diaz
13th: Travis Jankowski
14th: Brandon Lowe
15th: Drew Rasmussen
16th: Curtis Mead
17th: Junior Caminero
18th: Zack Littell
19th: Zack Littell
20th: Junor Caminero
21st: Christopher Morel
22nd: Yandy Diaz
23rd: Junior Caminero
24th: Brandon Lowe
25th: Yandy Diaz
26th: Shane Baz
27th: Brandon Lowe
28th: Yandy Diaz
29th: Joe Boyle
30th: Jonathan Aranda
31st: Taj Bradley
32nd: Yandy Diaz
33rd: Junior Caminero
34th: Ryan Pepiot
35th: Jonathan Aranda
36th: Yandy Diaz

DRaysBay is moving to a new platform tonight!

2025-08-04T10:00:00-04:00

Photo by Kelly Gavin/Getty Images

Here’s what you need to know about SB Nation’s scheduled maintenance tonight.

Hello friends!

There are some changes coming to the MLB sites at SB Nation, as we will be following the NFL’s lead and switching over to a new platform (driven by Wordpress) that will update the site’s layout and commenting system. Here’s what you need to know!

1. We will not have a recap for tonight’s game until the site is live tomorrow morning

The Game Day Thread will be active, but we will lose the ability to post this evening, so expect a game recap tomorrow AM — if you’re awake, that is, it’s a late on!

2. How to comment on the new

First, there will be a new login system. Details on how to log in via the new system are here. You’ll have to do this in order to comment using the new version of the site.

3. The layout will change slightly

The site will look different, too, now emphasizing a closer look at community posts. I hope you enjoy this change and feed encouraged to post more often!

Cheers

Shut out again. Rays 0 Dodgers 3

2025-08-03T16:35:14-04:00

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

While this game had many inflection points, and at least a few scoring chances, I think the final score was largely determined by this fact: The Rays hitters could not figure out Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Their inability to create any sort of offense for five innings made this a very hard game to win, and they fell to the Dodgers 3-0 to lose this series.

Yamamoto got the Dodgers into the sixth inning, walking no one and scattering five singles. Mostly he got a lot of players to hit the ball harmlessly into the ground. Jake Magnum managed to beat one of these out for a single, but otherwise those ground balls were entirely unproductive.

The Rays had a few more scoring opportunities against the Dodgers bullpen, included bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. They failed to get that clutch hit, however, and in fact I believe it was only in that last inning they actually had been able to string together two hits in the same inning.

There were a lot of disappointing at bats today, but I think the most disappointing of all was Yandy’s 0-5, simply because in Aranda’s absence Yandy’s our main hope to get consistent hits. Twice Yandy came up with runners in scoring position and twice his outs ended the inning.

I won’t count Tristan Gray’s 9th inning strikeout as disappointing, because to be disappointed implies having some hope of success, and in that case I didn’t.

On the other side of the ball, Joe Boyle had much better results than he had in his previous start; he pitched five shut out innings. The deciding runs came against Englert who pitched two innings.

Freddie Freeman scored the Dodgers first run, and I’m still very surprised he scored from second on the hit. Watching the play in real time, Freeman seemed to be lumbering around third as the throw was hitting the cutoff man who then fired pretty accurately to the catcher. Maybe it all took just a few seconds too long, or maybe catcher Feduccia was too slow to get down a tag, but that run did seem preventable.

On the other hand, the Rays few highlight plays were on defense, with both Jake Mangum and Johnny De Luca making spectacular catches, all of which kept the score from getting to be even more lopsided. Nothing like outfielders who can take efficient routes.

Final note: Catcher Feducci recently came to the Rays in a trade from the Dodgers, where the main knock on him was his poor throwing arm. So it’s no surprise that the Dodgers decided to take advantage of that arm, with 100% success on their four stolen base attempts.

The Rays now embark on a long west coast road trip. Get ready for some late afternoon coffee for all those 8:40 pm starts.

GDT: If you squint you can see a top 5 starting rotation for this Rays team

2025-08-03T11:45:00-04:00

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

And that starts with Joe Boyle coming into his own!

Go Rays!

Rays Your Voice: Rays make flurry of moves before trade deadline

2025-08-03T10:49:22-04:00

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Is the roster improved for the rest of the season?

While the Rays made several trades ahead of Thursday’s deadline, shipping off Zack Littell, Jose Caballero, and Taj Bradley, the more important story is who is still on the team. Erik Neander opted to hold on to the long-tenured Rays like Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, and Pete Fairbanks.

On this episode of Rays Your Voice, we discuss each trade and how it impacts the roster this year and beyond.

If you love what we do and want to say thank you, consider becoming a Patreon member for as little as $1/month. Also, if you’ve been a podcast listener from the jump, subscribe to our YouTube channel as well! We go live on YouTube for almost every single episode. Make sure to turn on our channel notifications so you can join us when we go live.

Snell gets Porch’d! - Rays 4 Dodgers 0

2025-08-02T22:37:30-04:00

Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Rays utilize the Stein’s dimensions and excellent pitching to blank the Dodgers.

Against one of the toughest, most complete teams in baseball, facing an old friend, a vintage Tamp Bay Rays performance of pitching, slick glove work, and timely hitting got the Rays their first August win.

Rays jumped out with a much needed early lead. First batter of the game facing the former Rays Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, Yandy Diaz took full advantage of the dimensions of Steinbrenner Field and short porch’d Snell for a HR to RF for a quick 1-0 lead.

With the way Drew Rasmussen was throwing today, that would end up being the game winner because Rasy was simply dominant.

Rays have desperately needed a starter to take over a game and put up blank after blank. Rasmussen stepped up like a true ace and leader. 5.1 IP 4 hits 0 walks, and 6 Ks would be his final line, but that doesn’t quite showcase just how impressive he was against a fearsome lineup.

After a 1st inning lead in what seems like forever, the Rays would add on to their lead with another Yandy Diaz opposite field homer, this time of the 2 run variety. But that was the only change, because Yandy deposited that bomb to almost the exact same spot. Snell would be seen shaking his head in disbelief after getting short porch’d twice by the big Guava.

Rays wouldn’t get much vs Snell with the way Blake was throwing. 19 whiffs, no walks, looking like vintage Snellzilla, it’s extremely encouraging to me to see the Rays somehow come away with a few runs today. All season has been a struggle against any lefty, let alone a former multiple Cy Young winner who clearly had his A stuff working.

When you are not getting a ton of hits, you have to be at your best with run prevention. Rasmussen was doing his part, but would give way once the lineup turned it over to Shohei Ohtani for a 3rd time. With 1 on, 1 out, two of the best left handed hitters in the game, Ohtani and Freeman, would step up and the Rays would go to their pen.

Oh we’ve seen this play before. No need to read the Playbill. heartbreak and horror await. And when Garrett Cleavinger, who did not get traded at the deadline, stepped in and proceeded to give up back to back absolutely torched hits to the aforementioned lefties, Rays fans everywhere were feeling that sinking feeling.

But perhaps August is indeed different. Without a doubt the play of the game, with the bases loaded Cleavinger would get Teoscar Hernandez to hit sharply into an inning ending double play for what would end up being the last threat of the Dodgers.

The following inning, Snell would depart, and Caminero would provide some instant insurance with a solo dinger also opposite field to push the score to 4-0.

2 dominant innings from Edwin Uceta, who has completely turned his whole season around in the 2nd half. In the 9th Pete Fairbanks would wipe out Ohtani, Freeman, and Teoscar with 3 Ks swinging and secure a much needed win to even the series 1-1.

The Rays will have a chance to start August with a series win on Sunday, and more importantly leave all the bad vibes of July in the rear view mirror.

GDT: Well check out this familiar face!

2025-08-02T12:45:00-04:00

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Blake Snell starts for the first time in a while, just our luck!

Go Rays!