Key Players Set for IL Return, Keeping Tampa Bay Rays' Playoff Chances Afloat
The Tampa Bay Rays, to this point in the 2025 season, are an enigma. They have not been outright bad, but they have also not been astoundingly good. They have simply existed.
It has led to a 20-23 record entering Friday, good enough for fourth in the American League East, 12th in the American League and 23rd in MLB.
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A big part of their mediocrity to this point has been the number of injuries they have faced. Four major players have missed most or all of the season, and without them the Rays have floundered.
A recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report took a look at each team's playoff odds through the first quarter of the season and ranked them from most likely to least likely. For the Rays, thanks to the players who will be returning from injury at some point this year, their chances are still pretty solid.
"The Rays could get interesting if and when they get healthy, though," Miller wrote. "The Rays lost Josh Lowe on Opening Day, Jonny DeLuca about a week later and they've yet to get either Shane McClanahan or Ha-Seong Kim on the field in 2025. Those are major absences, but Lowe is almost back and the hope is the other three will be in the mix when July begins. If they all return and the Rays start getting more out of young stars in the making Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero, look out."
Josh Lowe did make his return on Thursday night, coming back with a bang. Lowe went 3-for-5 in his return with a home run, an RBI and three runs scored in the team's 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
It has been an interesting year in Tampa Bay, to say the least. With 119 games left to play, they are nowhere near out of the playoff race, and the players still set to return from injury will be another major boon to their chances.
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