Rays Unfairly Ranked Too Low After Long Road Trip in MLB Power Rankings

Where were the Tampa Bay Rays ranked in the MLB Power Rankings following a long road trip.

Apr 6, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; a general view of the stadium before a game between the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays have wrapped up their first long road trip of the season, and the results were definitely mixed. However, they are now heading home and will be back at Tropicana Field looking to build some momentum. 

Following the destruction of their home stadium last year, the schedule for this season was to start them on the road, allowing as much time as possible to make sure repairs could be completed. Now, Tampa Bay will be back at home hosting the Chicago Cubs in what will be a memorable home opener following a year of being displaced. 

With nine games already in the books for the Rays, the results have been mixed. In their three series, they were victorious in only one, against the Minnesota Twins this past weekend. 

They surely could have won a few more games against the St. Louis Cardinals, but their bullpen had some serious struggles early on. Those struggles certainly cost them a couple of wins, and that has led to a slight drop in how the team is viewed. 

Brent Maguire of MLB recently released his power rankings, and the Rays slipped one spot to 24th. 

Rays Undervalued

Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Richard Palacios | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

With Tampa Bay at 4-5 right now, ranked 24th, it feels a bit low, especially since they are second in the challenging American League East. While it certainly hasn’t been the start to the campaign that they would have liked, their win on Sunday against the Twins to get their first series victory was an important one. 

So far, there have been some positives and negatives for the team, as expected, with their record right around .500. Offensively, the team has seen excellent starts from key players like Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Chandler Simpson. Even though Junior Caminero hasn’t really gotten going yet at the plate, this unit is performing well. Also, they will be getting Taylor Walls back to help them with some of their defensive lapses to start the season.

Furthermore, the starting rotation was expected to be a strength for the team coming into the season, and that has been true so far. This is a fairly veteran group at this point, and they will soon be getting Ryan Pepiot off the injured list to further strengthen it. 

Overall, the ranking of 24th after a 4-5 start in all road games feels a bit too low for Tampa Bay. As they return home, they will undoubtedly be seeking more wins to build momentum.