Rays Should Be Worried About AL East Being Top Division in Baseball

Will the Tampa Bay Rays be able to contend in the American League East

Dec 8, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash speaks with the media during the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings at Signia by Hilton Hotel. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

With the World Baseball Classic set to wrap up soon, Opening Day is right around the corner for the Tampa Bay Rays. This spring training has been a busy one as always, and the roster looks to be taking shape. 

This winter, the Rays were a very active team as always. Due to their low payroll, they moved on from some veterans in order to restock the farm system a bit and try to keep an eye on the future. 

However, with contending in 2026 still being a goal, they did address a couple of areas of need in the outfield and the starting rotation. Despite finishing eight games under .500 in 2025, they did have a positive run differential, indicating that they could have had a better record. 

Now, with snapping a playoff drought being the goal, the team will have their work cut out for them in a division that is shaping up to be extremely challenging. 

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently ranked all of the divisions in baseball, and the American League East came out ranked the best. For the Rays, they should be concerned about this. 

Rays Could Be Outmatched

United States right fielder Aaron Judge | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Even though Tampa Bay has some good talent on their roster, the AL East looks fantastic on paper. Starting with the Toronto Blue Jays, they were the division winners last year and nearly won the World Series. Even though they reshaped their roster a bit, the argument could be made that they will be even better in 2026. 

Following the Blue Jays, the New York Yankees will also undoubtedly be in the mix. Even though they might not have made too many changes to their roster, they are expected to get Gerrit Cole back from injury this coming year and might have one of the best starting rotations in baseball. 

Furthermore, the Boston Red Sox are the team with some exciting young talent and were also active in adding to their team. Also, despite not spending much in free agency, the Baltimore Orioles now have new ownership and were very aggressive in free agency as well. 

Including the Rays, all of these teams can be considered as contenders, but there are only going to be at most three teams from the division that can make the postseason. With the rest of the division having more financial assets, Tampa Bay is likely behind the eight-ball a bit going into the season.