For a while, we started to get a little sleepy. At the end of the seventh inning, the Tampa Bay Rays led 3-1 over the Cleveland Guardians: a lead, but not insurmountable. Each of their three runs came from attacking the Guardians relievers – the Guardians were reduced to a bullpen play to avoid elimination – in the second and third innings. Then Junior Caminero arrived with a runner. Afterwards, it was impossible to doze off.
The home run numbers themselves aren’t very impressive, and the timing wasn’t particularly special either. Caminero has just missed the foul post; Statcast says it would only be a home run in Houston, New York and, of course, Tampa. Speaking purely in terms of home run quality, it pales in comparison to teammate Yandy Díaz’s dagger in the next round. But without the aesthetic appeal of an indisputable or the narrative influence of a winner, what made the Caminero circuit incredible was Junior Caminero.
Most pimp jobs, because they center around swinging the bat, require complete confidence that the ball will leave the field. Caminero, who was already halfway to the first base line by the time the home run was confirmed, had to innovate. He ran backwards and, before touching first base, thumped his chest and roared at the home crowd, who responded in kind. He paid some attention to each play of Rays Stadium as he circled the bases and slowed down again just before hitting home plate. There, he made sure to point toward the dugout and cross his arms. Sarah Langs had the numbers: At 38.66 seconds, Caminero turned in the slowest circuit trot since Statcast began tracking in 2015, behind Junior Caminero a month ago.
The Rays would go on to win the game 7-3 and the series 4-2. It was fitting that they won the series the way they did, with a game that summed up the entire Rays affair. Freddy Peralta, Game 6 starter and ALCS MVP, was an acquisition at the trade deadline; he had been very good with the Brewers, then pretty bad for the Mets, then fixed again by the Rays. In the top of the ninth, the Rays brought out closer Bryan Baker, who never had an ERA lower than 3.49 until 2026, when he accumulated 41 saves and a 1.44 ERA. Even in a no-save situation, he caused a ground-out, a ground-out and a pop-out.
Alchemy is nothing. The Rays have been transmuting lead into gold for over a decade now; the Dodgers have their process and the Rays have theirs. It’s just that unlike 2020, where games were still played in empty stadiums, the fundamental “if a tree falls in the forest” aspect of the team is at least temporarily suspended. Caminero’s slow trot around the bases allowed the spectator to fully appreciate the roar of the Rays fans, returning home to their dilapidated stadium with its re-roof. (Caminero also provides an easy, necessary guy for a team whose most notable recent characters have been the Homophobic Bullpen.) Market size hardly matters if the stadium is packed; the Rays and their World Series opponents proved that with their respective playoff runs. Someone is watching.
Rays-Brewers is a surprising matchup. History has already been made: One of these teams will walk away with the first World Series victory in team history, the first such victory since 1980, when the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals. It sounds like underdog taking on underdog, but unlike, say, 2023, it shouldn’t. The Rays won 98 games and had the best record in the American League; the Brewers won 103 games and had the best record in all of baseball. Here’s a rare case of regular season success entering and then coming out of the MLB playoff wringer completely intact.
If Rays – Brewers feels like an underdog going against an underdog, it would be because of their—forgive me for saying this word, but it has to be said with a lockout on the horizon—their payroll. The Brewers had the 19th highest payroll in MLB this year, the Rays the 28th. The Rays currently have no actual payroll committed to 2028, which is just two years away. Their official payroll of $454,545 for 2028 reflects Wander Franco’s suspended signing bonus.
This is not to praise stingy ownership – I much prefer the Texas Rangers’ strategy – but simply to note, as memory is short, that for all the talk, the sport of baseball itself ensures its own parity. It’s a sport built on fine lines, sequences, moments. You can have a process, but sometimes you just have to play the game. And if you play this game, anyone can win, whether they’ve done it before or not.
Gn sports
