{"id":594331,"date":"2026-02-26T16:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/594331\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:44:17","slug":"rays-announce-lineup-starting-pitcher-for-spring-training-matchup-against-red-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/594331\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays Announce Lineup, Starting Pitcher for Spring Training Matchup Against Red Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">With spring training underway, the Tampa Bay Rays will be facing off against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon, looking to build some momentum against a division rival.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">Even though it is early in spring training, there have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rays\/onsi\/news\/5-notable-performers-from-rays-blowout-win-over-twins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">some good things<\/a> for the Rays so far. A lot of their young talent has been on display, and that is certainly what the franchise wants to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">This winter, it was a bit of a balancing attack for the team trying to compete in 2026, while keeping an eye on the future. If some of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rays\/onsi\/news\/rays-new-prospect-turning-heads-quickly-during-spring-training\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">young talent continues to develop<\/a>, it will undoubtedly make this campaign a better one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">On Thursday, Tampa Bay will be playing the Red Sox with some of that young talent on display and veteran Steven Matz taking the hill. Here is the starting lineup for the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Starting Lineup for Thursday <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Rays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Rays<\/a> lineup at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RedSox?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#RedSox<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6abYNx3Pti\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/6abYNx3Pti<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TBTimes_Rays\/status\/2027010375254769930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">This is a pretty good lineup for the Rays in this one, and it is worth noting that top prospect Carson Williams will be batting leadoff. With Taylor Walls still a bit banged up, it is the talented prospect getting some more chances to impress.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Furthermore, both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rays\/onsi\/news\/rays-should-not-be-concerned-about-road-struggles-of-star-player\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Junior Caminero<\/a> and Jonathan Aranda are in the lineup on Thursday as they continue to prepare for the World Baseball Classic. All eyes will certainly be on Matz in this one, and it will be imperative for him to have a good spring transitioning back to being a starter. The southpaw will be going against his former team and trying to set the tone for Tampa Bay in this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With spring training underway, the Tampa Bay Rays will be facing off against the Boston Red Sox on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,4,297,2550,68,2551,2549],"class_list":{"0":"post-594331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rays","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabayrays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116137942363302001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}