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Rays Fans Welcome Randy Arozarena Back to Town With Classy Tribute

Longtime Rays star returns to town.

Kyle Koster

Randy Arozarena acknowledges the Rays crowd in his return.
Randy Arozarena acknowledges the Rays crowd in his return. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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Randy Arozarena spent parts of five seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays to begin his career, establishing himself as one of the more impactful dual-threat outfielders in the game. He wasted no time winning the American League Rookie of the Year award and collected an ALCS MVP en route to a memorable run to the World Series. His time there concluded last season when the Rays reached an agreement with the Seattle Mariners at the trade deadline.

Arozarena, who is having yet another stellar season with the playoff-hopeful Mariners, returned to town for the first time as a visiting player on Monday night and received quite a welcome.

The Rays put together a tribute video showing some of his best moments as a member of the organization that moved Arozarena. And then fans welcomed the slugger back with a standing ovation before his first plate appearance.

Arozarena would go 2-for-4 in his return as the Rays cruised to a 10-2 victory over the Mariners. The two teams will square off in each of the next two days.

With the loss, Seattle now holds a 1.5-game lead over the Texas Rangers for the AL's final wild card spot.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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