‘We’ll See Those Guys Again’: The Yankees and Rays Wanted This Series

SAN DIEGO — This much is clear heading into the American League Division Series beginning Monday at Petco Park here: the Tampa Bay Rays and the Yankees are not fond of each other. The Yankees’ rivalry with the Rays, which for now has supplanted their more traditional one with the rebuilding Boston Red Sox, is littered with hit batters, close games, ejections, suspensions and testy words.

So it was a bit awkward when Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, before a team workout on Saturday, ran into a few members of the Rays at the hotel both teams are staying at in Carlsbad, Calif., about 35 miles north. As part of Major League Baseball’s controlled environment for the postseason amid the coronavirus pandemic, both teams are in quarantine in separate sections of the same resort but can still stumble across each other in the lobby or certain outdoor areas.

“I just said, ‘Hey’ and kept walking,” Gardner said. “It’s not ideal.”

Make no mistake: This matchup is one both sides have been dreaming about for some time. On Sept. 2, the Yankees fell to the Rays, 5-2, giving them a 2-8 regular-season record against Tampa Bay. The Yankees were also in the midst of their worst stretch of the season, dropping 15 of 20 games and losing their grip on the top spot in the A.L. East to the Rays.

“The hope is we’ll see those guys again in October,” Gardner said at the time.

So here they are, seeing each other again, in a best-of-five series with the winner earning the right to face either the Houston Astros or the Oakland Athletics in the A.L. Championship Series, also to be held in San Diego.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/sports/baseball/yankees-rays.html