View from the Catwalks: A tribute to KK

This was a week to forget. Since the last View from the Catwalk, the Rays got swept by the Astros scoring 2 total runs. They then split the final home series vs the Blue Jays 2-2 and scored 10 runs twice (yay!) and 1 run twice (boo!).

Despite an uninspiring last homestand, the Rays did what they needed to do vs Toronto to secure the season series victory and a potentially very important tiebreaker.

And the Rays weren’t alone in their slumping. Seattle and Baltimore were unable to capitalize on the Rays losing, and the Rays will head into the final 9 games still in Wild Card 2 with a half-game lead over Seattle and a 4.5 game lead over Baltimore (with tiebreaker that puts it more like a 5.5 game lead)

Rays magic number for clinching the postseason is at 5.

Links!

On Saturday night, on Devil Rays day, the Rays paid tribute to Kevin Kiermaier

If this is the last season with the Rays, and all indications seem like it is, Kevin Kiermaier is getting his chance to say goodbye.

A huge impact addition at the very end of the season: Tyler Glasnow is set to return to the Rays and make his 2022 debut this Wednesday!

Speaking impacts, Randy Arozarena hit his 20th HR and now has back-to-back 20-20 seasons.

And now in an even rarer accomplishment, Randy is at 20 HR, 30+ steals, and 40 2Bs

A huge sigh of relief after Wander was seen feeling some pain in the opposite hand he had injured earlier this year:

Did the Rays play their last game at the Trop for 2022? If the Rays cannot overtake the Jays for the Wild Card top spot, they will need to win a Wild Card matchup on the road to return to their Dome sweet Dome.

• No place like home, but Rays could be facing a long, winding road

Team Awards were announced and given out this weekend as well:

Congrats to Miles Mastrobouni on both his debut and first hit (which turned out to be a multi-hit day!)

The Rays bullpen could use J.P. Feyereisen. And while it’s a bummer he’s going to be missing this year, it’s important to remember just how awesome he was in his shortened 2022 season.

• J.P. Feyereisen, Record-Setter

Pete Fairbanks has been a fierce and fantastic reliever for the Rays. This year he’s becoming somehow even better.

• ‘Intense Pete’ puts on quite a show for Rays

Fun Reads

It was a fun run rooting for late-season chaos ball

• A Requiem for Team Entropy

Around the League(s)

Albert Pujols has become only the 4th player ever to hit 700 HRs

Rays own Tricia Whitaker was on hand to witness history happen, as she was covering the game for Apple TV+

Aaron Judge is still sitting on 60 HRs and it’s been a week of endless, exhausting narratives and arguing over how much everybody else NEEDS to care about this

We have college football cutaways, hot takes over a game being broadcast on Apple TV+ that got (almost certainly some intern) in the New York AG’s office to tweet this madness

At the time of my writing this, the Yankees are in a very long rain delay. So I hope I go to bed, the Yankees resume playing, and Judge hits 61 at around 3:00 AM EST.

The Cleveland Guardians have won the AL Central. Nobody saw this coming, but in the past week, they have fully taken over and established dominance over the Twins and especially the pre-season favorites: the Chicago White Sox.

Many are already writing Cleveland off as the easiest team to face in October, but do so at your own peril. They have great pitching, pesky bats, are well managed, and do neat stuff:

• The Guardians Saved Their Closer

Despite the easiest remaining schedule of all teams, it’s not been easy to cross that finish line for the Seattle Mariners in their quest to break a 21-year playoff drought. Games like their loss on Sunday will surely have M’s fans starting to get nervous.

This Happened

Most sports fans have been where Ken Dorsey was at the end of the Bills v Dolphins game

If Philly wins, we all lose

Rihanna was selected to headline the Super Bowl Halftime show

Palate Cleansers!

A very fond farewell to two Rays greats!

One last road trip. It hasn’t been the most fun month, but there’s only so much baseball left and nothing is guaranteed in the postseason. Let’s finish strong, boys!