One of the smartest teams in baseball and headed by young stars Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena, there were high expectations for the team going into the 2022 season despite their low payroll. To the great disappointment of Rays fans, however, the team regressed in 2022. Having several key players miss time due to injury, the team’s lineup saw a decrease in performance in several hitting categories and struggled to provide runs for their stellar pitching staff. The Rays ended the season with an 86-76 record for third best in the AL East which earned them the final Wild Card spot in the AL and a sixth-place seeding, leading to low expectations for the heavily-injured squad.
The team somehow still managed to underperform expectations. The Rays were swept in the AL Wild Card series by the third-place-seeded Cleveland Guardians. Just like in the regular season, the Rays pitching shined, giving up only three runs during the series. However, they could do little behind the terrible performance of their batting lineup, which scored only one run over the two games.
Postseason Grade: C+
Despite falling far short of their regular season expectations, the Rays somehow managed to triumph over their endless number of setbacks and receive a bid to the playoffs. Even though their postseason run was short, having one in the first place made it somewhat of a success.
Regular Season MVP: Shane McClanahan
The first-time all-star pitched 166.1 innings, the most of any pitcher on the Rays, and finished the season with a 2.54 ERA. McClanahan decimated lineups boasting a 10.5 K/9 and was clearly the best pitcher on the Rays this season.
Postseason MVP: Tyler Glasnow
Glasnow went five innings deep in Game 2, striking out five and giving up zero runs on two hits. In his return from Tommy John, Glasnow did everything in his power to keep the team in the game. He had the best overall performance of any Rays player in the series and clearly deserves the award.
Prominent Free Agents:
Kevin Kiermaier (OF), Corey Kluber (SP), David Peralta (OF), Mike Zunino (C)
