GameDay Preview: Yandy Diaz Ready to Provide Spark to Rays' Offense

After dealing with a tight left shoulder for a couple of weeks, Tampa Bay third baseman Yandy Diaz said he feels better and is ready to go when the Rays take on the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the wild-card playoffs on Friday. The Rays' lineup is better when Diaz is in it.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Tampa Bay's batting order is much better when third baseman Yandy Diaz is in it, and he said he's feeling good and is ready to go when the 2022 playoffs begin Friday in Cleveland.

Diaz played in 137 games this year, hitting .298 with nine home runs and 57 RBIs. He's the Rays' best clutch hitter, and when he's not around, they seem to struggle. He's been bothered by a a left shoulder injury that hurts when he swings, but the Rays have managed his time off well in the past week and he said he's full-go for Friday's opener.

“I feel good, thankfully,” he said, via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “It’s still a little bit of a bother but for the most part a lot better. Of course, 100 percent I’m ready to play three games (in a row) and then some.

Diaz has only had three at-bats in the past week as he rested the shoulder and got treatment. He's got enough work in to be ready on Friday, he said.

The postseason is different, and he's not about to miss it, especially after experiencing it every year since joining the Rays in 2019. He played two years in Cleveland prior to that, before being traded to Tampa Bay in December of 2018.

"It'd definitely a different season. You have to play together, have to play collectively, and if you do that, you'll hopefully get a victory. Giving advice to my teammates, it's still the same game, and we have to do the same things. When I came here, I've been very fortunate to make the playoffs all four years.

During the Rays' postseason run, Diaz has played in 21 games. He's hit .209, with two home runs and five RBIs. Both homers came in the one-game wild-card matchup with Oakland in 2019. Last year, he was 3-for-15 against Boston when the Rays were knocked out 3-1 in the division round. 

Catcher Francisco Mejia is back with the team as well. He went home for the birth of his third child, and was placed on paternity leave. He's expected to be added to the 26-man playoff roster when it is released at 10 .a.m. on Friday. 

Here's how to watch the afternoon game, which is televised by ESPN only.

How to watch Rays at Guardians

• Who: Tampa Bay Rays (86-76) at Cleveland Guardians (92-70)
• When: 12:07 p.m. ET, Friday, Oct. 7
• Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
• TV: ESPN
• Announcers: Jon Sciambi (play-by-play), Doug Glanville (color commentary) and Jesse Rogers (reporter).
• Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
• Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM. SiriusXM Channel 175 (Rays broadcast), SiriusXM Channel 80 (ESPN national broadcast)
• Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills (local radio); Dave O'Brien and Marly Rivera (national radio)
• Latest Line: Cleveland is favored at minus-118 on the money line for Game 1according to the Fanduel.com website line as of Friday morning. The Rays are at plus-120. The over/under is 5.5, the lowest number of any Rays game this season. For the best-of-three series, Cleveland is favored at minus-124, with Tampa Bay at plus-106. As an underdog this season, the Rays are a surprisingly good 38-20.

How they got here

• Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays finished third in the American League, and earned the sixth and final playoff spot with their 86-76 record. They finished three games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles to earn their fourth straight postseason berth. They won the AL East in 2020 and 2021.
• Cleveland Guardians: The Guardians were the surprise winner of the American League Central after being picked to finish fourth in the preseason. They finished 92-70 and beat Chicago by 11 games. Cleveland was the only team in the AL Central with a winning record. It was their first division title since 2018.

Rays-Guardians series

• Cleveland won the season series 4-2 this year, winning two of three games both in St. Petersburg in July and more recently from Sept. 27-29 in Cleveland. All three games in Cleveland were one-run games. The two teams have met once in the postseason before, with the Rays winning the 2013 wild-card game. Cleveland holds a 101-77 edge all-time.

Projected starting lineups

• Tampa Bay Rays: Yandy Diaz 3B, Wander Franco SS, Randy Arozarena LF, Harold Ramirez DH, Ji-Man Choi 1B, Manuel Margot RF, Christian Bethancourt C, Taylor Walls 2B, Jose Siri CF, Shane McClanahan P.
• Cleveland Guardians: Steven Kwan LF, Amed Rosario SS, Jose Ramirez 3B, Oscar Gonzalez RF, Josh Naylor 1B, Owen Miller DH, Andres Giminez 2B, Austin Hedges C, Myles Straw, Shane Bieber P. 

Projected starting pitchers

• SHANE McCLANAHAN, Tampa Bay Rays: Shane McClanahan has had quite a 2022 season. The 25-year-old from Cape Coral, Fla, is 12-8 with a 2.54 ERA. He started on Opening Day for the Rays, started the All-Star Game for the AL and has also missed two weeks with a shoulder injury. He has better in the first half of the season than the second, but he's fresh and ready for the postseason. He made his Rays debut in the 2020 postseason, with mixed results, and pitched twice last year in the division loss to Boston. He faced Cleveland in July, allowing a season-high five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
• SHANE BIEBER, Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber was 13-8 with a 2.88 ERA during the 2022 regular season. The 27-year-old from Orange, Calif. has been one of baseball's best starting pitchers during his five-year career, posting a 54-26 record with a 3.17 ERA and he has 831 strikeouts in 703 innings. He has faced the Rays twice this season, pitching seven innings of one-run ball in a win in July, but giving up four runs in six innings on Sept. 27 in a game the Rays won in extra innings. He has pitched one playoff game, getting shelled by the New York Yankees in 2020 when he allowed seven runs in just 4 2/3 innings.