The good, the bad, and the ugly from Rays' opening series against the Cardinals

The Rays opened the 2026 season on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were coming into the season with little optimism as they sold many of their key players including Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado and ace Sonny Gray. However, this opening series went their way in terms of wins and losses as the Cardinals came out with two victories. It was a hard-fought series and every game came down to the wire, but let's look at what the Rays did right and what they did (very) wrong to begin the year at the bottom of the AL East standings.

"The Good": Offense

We can't believe this, but the offense was actually one of the bright spots of this painful series. After losing key hitters Brandon Lowe and Josh Lowe, the Rays still managed to put up runs in a big way. They are averaging about eight runs per contest so far and even more impressively, almost 14 hits per game. This likely won't continue all season, but let's step back for a second and look at how the Rays executed this type of elite offense.

It always starts at the top with our 2025 All Stars. Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda are on an absolute tear to start the season as they're hitting .563 (Diaz) and .462 (Aranda) respectively. Diaz practically carried the Rays with a remarkable 5-hit performance in their first victory on Sunday. Aranda is currently the only Ray to homer so far as he took the lefty Liberatore deep in the first game of the series.

The youngsters Carson Williams and Chandler Simpson are also having electric starts. Williams' .250 average won't blow you out of the water, but he's finding ways to drive in runs at the bottom of the order. Yesterday, the top prospect executed a beautiful sacrifice bunt to give the Rays a huge 9th inning insurance run. Simpson is hitting a cool .455 as he continues to torment infielders with his amazing speed.

"The Bad": Defense

The Rays are currently averaging 1.3 errors per game as they had at least one in each contest of this series. Junior Caminero committed two errors on Opening Day as he continues to struggle out of the gates. No, this didn't cause them to lose the series, but it needs to cleaned up if they want to get back to Rays' baseball.

"The Ugly": Bullpen

We were going to mention the pitching in general, but the starters have actually been pretty lockdown. Drew Rasmussen, Joe Boyle, and Steven Matz combined to give up seven earned runs, and they kept Tampa Bay in the games early on. However, the bullpen has been atrocious. The relievers have allowed an unacceptable 15 runs which ended up being the difference maker in both losses. The lone bright spot has been former Orioles relief pitcher Bryan Baker. He tossed two perfect innings and looks impressive. His fastball-changeup combo looks deadly so far as it has an difference of 12 mph between the two pitches.