Predicting the Rays 2025 season

The Rays are facing mounds of uncertainty off the field; will they be at Tropicana Field next year?

What about looking beyond 2028; what do their plans entail regarding their stadium situation?

On the field, the Rays have a lot of promising players making up their team, with a wide range of outcomes for the season.

If things go well enough, they could be competing for a pennant in a very light American League.

If things go poorly, they could be looking up at what is a well-balanced AL East that features 5 teams who could theoretically make some noise and win the division.

But let's focus on the Rays: what will their record and division standing be at the end of the season? How about those unpredictable playoffs?

And for individual players, who will be their MVP? Cy Young? Rookie of the Year?

All will be answered below, starting with the team success.

Record: 87-75

Division Finish: 2nd

Playoff Finish: ALDS Exit

Now, these are all incredibly difficult to nail right on the head, and a more accurate way to say my record prediction is that I think they'll win 85-90 games, but not picking a specific number can be considered cheating.

The playoff finish is even more unpredictable, as with their loaded pitching staff they could easily make it all the way, but with an uncharacteristically bad start here or there from one of their elite rotation members could knock them out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round.

So, I'm going to hedge my bets and say they advance to the ALDS but can't avoid getting knocked out.

This would be a respectable and welcome finish, as the Rays are still reeling from losing what was thought to be a cornerstone player, the hurricane forcing them to play games in a minor league park that will certainly bring about countless rain delays and cancellations, and the ever-present threat of Stu and the Boys making severe financial decisions that would greatly affect their roster.

All of those sound like excuses, but it's also just the reality of the Rays' 2025 season, making this finish not only ideal but one that falls on the higher end of possible outcomes.

Team MVP: Junior Caminero

Team Cy Young: Ryan Pepiot

Team Rookie of the Year: Mason Montgomery

Ok, it's a bit of a cheat to pick Monty for ROTY, as he made his debut last season, but he still maintained his rookie status due to only playing a little under a month's worth of games, so I'm going to let it slide.

Monty could end up being their closer by season's end, especially with Pete Fairbanks' contract being what it is (more expensive than the Rays can "afford") and his dominant stuff.

Junior as MVP is sort of an obvious pick, as he has the biggest upside of anyone currently on the roster and has the most secure footing in terms of not being traded or replaced.

Yandy Diaz or Brandon Lowe could also easily qualify for the title if they're kept around, and with Diaz' new extension that seems more likely than not, but it's still the Rays and they both are making more than the league minimum, making them expendable.

Dark horse candidates like Josh Lowe or Christopher Morel could also very well play into this discussion, but Junior has too much promise to ignore.

Pep is the Opening Day starter now with Shane's injury, and I'd expect him to take that vote of confidence (even if it's only due to an injury) and run with it all the way to a tremendous 2025 season.

Pepiot has that filthy change-up and pitched pretty well last year despite missing significant time due to some strange injuries, so he's my pick for the team Cy Young.