Rays Can Clinch AL East With Win Against New York Yankees

With a win against the New York Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays can clinch the AL East.

Sep 20, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Victor Mesa (25) celebrates a run with teammate short stop Taylor Walls (6) during the fourth inning against Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off a good weekend in which they were able to win their series against the Boston Red Sox. With the win, Tampa Bay is now at 95 wins and is closing in on winning the American League East. 

As arguably the biggest surprise in all of baseball, the Rays are getting closer to winning the AL East and securing home-field advantage on their way toward the World Series. 

Tropicana Field has been very kind to Tampa Bay this year and the team has played fantastic back at their home. Winning the division and securing that advantage for the playoffs will be important, especially when they would be playing either the New York Yankees or the Red Sox in that scenario. 

The next time Tampa Bay will be at home will be in October, with the remaining seven games of the regular season being on the road. With a day off on Monday, the team will be back in action on Tuesday for a doubleheader against the Yankees on the road. 

Magic Number at 2 

Sep 20, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Ben Williamson (15) hits a fly ball during the sixth inning against Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With four games against the Yankees and two of them on Tuesday, the Rays’ fate could be determined soon. 

The upcoming series against New York obviously has extreme importance, and Tampa Bay will be deploying their top two pitchers for the doubleheader. To start game one, the Rays will be going with Nick Martinez, who will be followed by Drew Rasmussen in game two. 

Both of these pitchers have an ERA under 3.00 this season and have been fantastic. 

Furthermore, following the doubleheader, the Rays will be tested against the best two pitchers on the Yankees. Gerrit Cole is expected to pitch on Wednesday, followed by Cam Schlittler on Thursday. Ideally, if the Rays are able to win one game of the doubleheader, they won’t have to worry about going up against the best two pitchers for the Yankees to end the series. 

If things do go wrong against New York and they are unable to clinch the division against them, they will then be on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies haven’t played their best baseball of late, but those three games could still be very meaningful for them as they battle for positioning in the National League Wild Card. 

Overall, Tampa Bay will be heading into the Bronx in very good position and can clinch the AL East with just a split.