Roses and thorns for Rays 2025 Opening Day

What a thriller! The Rays opened the 2025 season against the Colorado Rockies with a ninth inning walk-off blast. It doesn't get any better than that. However, we're going to do a deep dive into this first game because it wasn't all roses and sunshine.

Thorns:

We're going to start with the negatives because you can never start your meal with the dessert. There were certainly some disappointing aspects to the 2025 opener which likely led to the late-game heroics even being necessary. Let's analyze each one.

Defensive mistakes

The first thorn we're going to look at is the defensive mishaps from yesterday's game. The Rays have always harped on near-perfection in their fielding due to the lack of offense provided throughout the franchise's history. That wasn't the case in the home opener.

Rays phenom Junior Caminero made a drastic throwing error in the top of the 3rd inning that led to the Rockies first run. Doubles machine Ezequiel Tovar smacked his first extra-base hit down the third base line to score rookie Jordan Beck.

Those kinds of errors cannot happen on a daily basis if this club is going to go as far as they'd like this year.

Offensive struggles

The Rays went scoreless for the first six innings yesterday as Rockies ace Kyle Freeland threw an absolute gem. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher, but this wasn't necessarily the case. That's not to say that Freeland wasn't on top of his game yesterday, but Rays hitters weren't very aggressive. Kyle Freeland got ahead in the count against nearly every hitter which gave them little chance to capitalize.

Josh Lowe's injury

Injuries have been the Rays Achilles' heal for the past few seasons and this one will really impact the club if it's serious. During the 2024 spring training, outfielder Josh Lowe suffered a hamstring injury that ended up forcing him to miss the majority of the season. Tampa Bay missed his presence greatly in the clubhouse, the outfield, on the bases, and especially, at the plate. We're going to cross our fingers that this right oblique discomfort is something treatable and he can return soon.

Roses:

Pitching

The Rays have been known for their pitching for as long as fans can remember and yesterday was no different. The Rockies lineup isn't the best in the league, but they have few slouches. Ryan Pepiot was able to keep them off-balance very well, as he gave up only one earned run on six hits, while punching out eight opponents.

The dominant bullpen also showed their worth as they combined to allow only one hit and two walks across three innings of work. The stand-out hurler was certainly left-handed rookie Mason Montgomery, as he made quick work of the NL West club, touching 100 mph in the process.

Timely offense

It may seem like we're contradicting ourselves. Wasn't offensive struggles one of the thorns? Yes, but we can all agree that Rays hitters displayed their clutch gene on Opening Day. Some games only require a few hits in big spots. Those were produced by utility-man Jose Caballero and unlikely hero Kameron Misner. There were clearly other teammates that got the ball rolling as well and it was fun to watch this gritty team find a way to come out victorious.

Steinbrenner Field vibes

There were a lot of unknowns and a minor delay getting the Yankees minor league field prepared for the Rays to play on Opening Day. However, it was a massive success! Not only did the stadium look incredible with Tampa Bay Rays signs everywhere, but the fans were electric and very loud. The intimacy of the ballpark brought an amazing feeling that definitely fired up this club.