Rays' Upcoming Series Against Yankees Will Be Important Early Test

The Tampa Bay Rays will have a very important series coming up against the New York Yankees.

Apr 6, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan (18) throws a pitch against the Chicago Cubs in the second inning at Tropicana Field. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

After losing their series at home to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays will be getting set for their biggest test of the year so far against the New York Yankees. With the Yankees performing well early, this will be a good indication of where the Rays stack up in the American League East. 

Coming into the year, the AL East was expected to be the best division in baseball. Over the winter, pretty much every team besides Tampa Bay spent a lot of money to improve, and this had the makings of a division that was going to send three teams to the postseason once again. 

So far, the division has had some struggles with both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox struggling. While it is still very early, it would behoove the Rays to try to make the most out of the opportunity in front of them, with two playoff teams from last year struggling. 

While some of the other teams in the division might be struggling, one team that isn’t is the Yankees, and this series could tell everyone a lot about Tampa Bay. 

Big Test Coming Up

New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried | John Jones-Imagn Images

With New York coming to town, the Rays will be getting set to face some of the best pitchers in the AL East. On Friday, it will be a matchup between two southpaws with Steven Matz facing off against Max Fried. While Matz has done well so far, Fried is one of the best in the game, and that will be a challenging matchup. 

For Saturday, the Yankees have yet to announce their starter, but Sunday is going to be their talented right-hander Cam Schlittler. The excellent young starter for New York will be facing Shane McClanahan, in what should be a really exciting matchup. 

Despite performing very well as a team so far, the lineup hasn’t really even gotten going yet. Aaron Judge is off to a bit of a slow start for his standards, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is also struggling a bit. 

The Yankees being in first place with their lineup not living up to expectations so far is a bit scary and shows how good their starting rotation has been. For Tampa Bay, even though it has only been 12 games, they are 5-7 and have lost three of their four series so far this year. With this being their first series against a division opponent, it would be a great time to build some momentum and get important wins.