Rays Produced at Level Not Seen in 74 Years Against Cardinals

The Tampa Bay Rays offense has gotten off to a very productive start to the 2026 season.

Mar 29, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Yandy Díaz (2) hits a one run single against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning at Busch Stadium. | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The biggest question for the Tampa Bay Rays coming into the 2026 MLB season was how their lineup would produce offensively.

Outside of designated hitter Yandy Diaz, first baseman Jonathan Aranda and third baseman Junior Caminero, there was a lot of uncertainty with this group. That trio was the only returning players from 2025 who produced above the league average.

However, through the team’s first series of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals, offense was not their problem. The Rays scored seven, five and 11 runs in their three games, but disappointingly came away with a 1-2 record as the bullpen experienced some woes.

But the offense got the job done, beating the Cardinals with their version of death by 1,000 cuts. 41 total hits were recorded, with 17 apiece in Games 1 and 3.

Rays rack up singles against Cardinals

Mar 28, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Carson Williams (7) hits a two run single against the St. Louis Cardinals during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

However, it wasn’t being done with extra-base hits and home runs. The Rays epitomized small ball, hitting 35 singles over their first three games.

As shared by CespedesBBQ on X, that is the most singles for a team over the course of their first three games since the Brooklyn Dodgers hit 38 in their first three contests of 1952 against the Boston Braves.

The Tampa Bay Rays hit 35 (!!!) singles over their first three games.

That's the most singles in a team's first three games since the 1952 (!!!) Dodgers hit 38 across their first three games.

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) March 30, 2026

Leading the way, unsurprisingly, is Diaz with nine hits, eight of which are singles, and Aranda, who has six hits, five of which are base knocks.

The only players who didn’t record a hit against St. Louis in the season-opening series were Richie Palacios, who went 0-for-6, and Ryan Vilade, who was 0-for-3.

As shared by Codify on X, the Rays are lapping the field thus far when it comes to singles hit this season. The next closest team to their 35 is the Milwaukee Brewers, who have recorded 24 singles thus far and are Tampa Bay’s opponent for their second series of the season.

How Many Singles They've Hit So Far:

35 TB
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24 MIL
23
22
21
20 LAA PIT STL
19 ATL NYM TOR
18 BOS HOU NYY TEX
17 MIA
16 BAL DET WSH
15 CLE SD
14 CIN
13 CHC COL KC MIN PHI
12 LAD
11 ARI CWS SEA
10 ATH SF pic.twitter.com/7fqCZrqjgf

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 30, 2026

That season-opening series against the Cardinals epitomizes what the Rays are. This is a high-contact team that will put the ball in play, putting pressure on the defense to make plays.

Alas, while the sample size is small, it also highlights an area of concern: this lineup doesn’t have much pop. Home runs are going to be hard to come by, which was a risk the front office knew they were taking.

It has to be disheartening for some fans to see Brandon Lowe record three in his first series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

To combat the lack of extra-base pop in the lineup, it would be nice to see Tampa Bay get aggressive on the basepaths. They attempted only one steal against St. Louis and Jonny DeLuca was caught stealing.

Ramping up the attempted steals will help compensate for their lack of pop once they find the right lineup combination.