Rays Clinch AL East and Top Seed as Rasmussen Takes No-Hitter Into Seventh
The Tampa Bay Rays have clinched the American League East, beating the New York Yankees 6-1 at Yankee Stadium in the second game of a day-night doubleheader to seal their first division title since 2021.
The win also secured the top seed in the American League and a first-round bye, meaning the road to the World Series on that side of the bracket runs through Tropicana Field.
Rasmussen Almost Goes the Distance
Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before Heliot Ramos broke it up with a leadoff double. The right-hander struck out the side after that and finished with 11 strikeouts across six and two-thirds innings, allowing only the Ramos hit on a career-high 114 pitches. Manager Kevin Cash removed him an out later after a walk to Jazz Chisholm.
Yandy Diaz drove in four runs with a pair of two-run singles, the second arriving in the ninth.
Tampa Bay had lost the opening game of the doubleheader 2-0, so the celebration required a second effort on the day.
A Team Picked to Finish Last
The result is the fifth division title in franchise history, following 2008, 2010, 2020 and 2021. It is also the earliest the Rays have clinched a division, beating the 2021 side by three days, and the fourth time they have finished with the best record in the American League.
Little of it was forecast. After consecutive fourth-place finishes, Tampa Bay were widely tipped to finish bottom of the division in preseason projections, with the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays expected to occupy the top places.
"I don't think anything was handed to us all year," veteran starter Nick Martinez said. "Obviously, I think a lot of guys expected [the Yankees] to run away with it, and [it] probably to be New York, Boston and Toronto at the top."
The Rays had already been the first team in baseball to clinch a postseason berth this season, doing so on 11 September when Junior Caminero hit a walk-off two-run home run against Houston.
At 96-61 they hold a six-game lead over the second-placed Yankees with five games remaining.
Back Home After a Year Away
The season has also marked a return to Tropicana Field, after the club spent 2025 at George M. Steinbrenner Field while their own ballpark was repaired following storm damage caused by Hurricane Milton.
Tampa Bay join Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta as division winners, with the Brewers holding the National League's best record. The Yankees and Boston Red Sox have both secured wild card places.
The regular season ends on 27 September, with the Wild Card Series starting two days later and the Division Series on 3 October.
