As the Tampa Bay Rays get set for the offseason, it is a great time to take a look back at how the team performed in 2025. With a record under .500, that indicates that it was a bit of a struggle for the Rays. However, the record doesn’t tell the whole story about the team. 

In the first half of the year, Tampa Bay looked like a legitimate contender in the American League East and a potential playoff team. This division ended up being one of the best in baseball, and it became just a bit too much for the Rays to keep up with during the summer. 

Unfortunately, with Tampa Bay being displaced from their home stadium, MLB had to frontload their schedule a bit with a plethora of home games early on. This resulted in the team having to play a lot of road games in the dog days of the summer, and that’s precisely when they started to struggle. 

Even though they ended up finishing eight games under .500, there were some positives to take away from the campaign, one of which was the production that they received from the first base position and the outlook for it going forward. 

First Base Has Become a Strength