GameDay Preview: Rays Finally Get First Look at AL-Best Houston Astros on Monday Night
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays have played 146 games this season, and not a single one of them has been against the Houston Astros. That's all going to change in a hurry, though.
The Rays (82-64) open a three-game series with the Astros (96-51) on Monday night at Tropicana Field. They'll play three night games here, and then three more games next weekend — Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 — with a lot at stake still for both teams.
The Astros have the best record in the American League, and have already clinched one of the six playoff spots. It's the sixth straight year that they've made the playoffs. Their magic number to clinch the AL West is one, so they could be celebrating a division title on Monday in the Trop. The second-place Mariners are playing an afternoon game, so they could be division champs even before first pitch.
Houston would love to wrap up home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs, and are currently 7 1/2 games ahead of the New York Yankees. Their magic number there is eight.
The Rays are in good shape in the playoff hunt too with 16 games to go. They are six games behind the Yankees in the AL East race, but are solidly in the playoffs for a wild-card spot. The Rays are a half-game behind Toronto for the top wild-card spot — the No. 4 seed — which is big because the No. 4 seed hosts the No. 5 seed in every game of the best-of-three wild-card series. They are 1 1/2 games ahead of Seattle, the current No. 6 seed. The Baltimore Orioles are on the outside looking in, four games behind Seattle and 5 1/2 games behind the Rays.
It's odd that the Rays are seeing Houston for the first time so late in the season, but in a sport with such a daily grind, they don't really care, either.
"You've got to respect what they've done this year. They've really set the bar high,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "They can pitch, they can hit. They're the best team in the American League. It's a little strange that you're clumped into this two-week period, but that happens when you see the schedule. That's the way it shook out this year.
'The guys have done a good job of staying on the series at hand. We can appreciate who we're playing, and the challenges that are ahead.''
Rays reliever Jalen Beeks said the unfamiliarity with the Astros doesn't really matter, either.
"We have our meetings before each series starts, and we've done that with them,'' he said. "We haven't seen them yet, but our coaches, they get us ready. They really watch a lot of film, break down everything for us. We'll know what each hitter has been doing, the type of stuff they've been hitting lately, or the type of stuff that's been getting them out.
"But we look at the standings, too, and we know how good they are. But that's the challenge and we're excited about it. We're a confident team and we feel like we match up really well with them. We're playing on winning every night, especially with Drew (Rasmussen) and Shane (McClanahan) starting these first two nights. It's going to be fun.''
Houston won the series 4-2 a year ago, taking two of three both home and road. The Astros are 46-28 on the road this season, the best record in the AL. The Rays have been very good at home lately, going 16-3 since Aug 13. They have won six straight home series.
Here's how to watch Monday night's game:
How to watch Astros at Rays
- Who: Houston Astros (96-51) at Tampa Bay Rays (81-64)
- When: 6:40 p.m. ET, Sunday, Sept. 18
- Where: Tropicana Field
- TV: Bally Sports Sun
- Announcers: Dewayne Staats (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Tricia Whitaker (reporter).
- Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
- Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM; SiriusXM Channel 177
- Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills.
- Latest Line: Tampa Bay is favored at minus-124 on the money line according to the Fanduel.com website line as of Monday morning. The Astros are at plus-106. The over/under is 7.
Projected starting lineups
- Houston Astros: Jose Altuve 2B, Jeremy Pena SS, Yordan Alvarez LF, Alex Bregman 3B, Kyle Tucker RF, Yuli Gurriel 1B, Trey Mancini DH, Christian Vasquez C, Chas McCormick CF, Luis Garcia P.
- Tampa Bay Rays: Yandi Diaz 3B, Jonathan Aranda 1B, Wander Franco SS, Randy Arozarena DH, Harold Ramirez RF, David Peralta LF, Isaac Paredes 2B,. Christian Bethancourt C, Jose Siri CF, Drew Rasmussen P.
Projected pitchers
- LUIS GARCIA, Houston Astros: Luis Garcia is 12-8 with a 4.04 ERA for the Astros this season. He's never pitched in Tropicana Field before. Garcia, a Venezuelan in his second year in the bigs, finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting in 2021. RIght-handed hitters bat only .197 against him in his career.
- DREW RASMUSSEN, Tampa Bay Rays: Drew Rasmussen is 10-5 on the season with a 2.77 earned run average. He's one of three Rays starters with ERA's under 2.80. Rasmussen has faced the Astros once before, shutting them out over five innings in a start on Sept. 29 in Houston. Since the All-Star break, he's been fantastic, going 5-2 with. 2.17 ERA. He did lose his last start, however, falling to Toronto. Baby permitting, he's pitch in front of his newborn son Rhett tonight for the first time.
Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.