Do Rays need to win a World Series to validate their success?

ST. PETERSBURG — Randy Arozarena can still vividly recall how close the Rays were to winning the World Series championship in 2020.

Having completed his mad dash home with the decisive run after Brett Phillips’ stunning down-to-their-last-strike hit in the ninth inning — in Game 4 against the Dodgers — Arozarena slapped his hand repeatedly on the plate in celebration.

And in anticipation of what he hoped was to come.

“We were tied 2-2,” said Arozarena, via team communications director Elvis Martinez. “We won Game 4. It was 50-50. I felt like we had a better chance than them back then because of the enthusiasm and the energy we had as a team.

“But that’s baseball. You take your wins, you take your losses.”

And the Rays took their losses the next two games — you may recall something about a controversial decision to take out pitcher Blake Snell in Game 6 — missing their best chance, so far, to win that first championship.

Since the 2008 launch of the Rays era, they have won the third-most games in the majors (behind the Dodgers and Yankees), earned nine playoff berths (including the last five seasons), claimed the rugged American League East title four times and made two trips to the Series.

But as they prepare to open 2024 play Thursday — and unveil a fifth AL Wild Card banner above Tropicana Field — there is an underlying question over whether they need a World Series trophy to validate all that success.

It depends on whom you ask.

Rays manager Kevin Cash is clearly on the “no” side.

“That’s stupid,” Cash said. “Anybody who says that, that’s stupid. That makes no sense to me. You have to be able to appreciate multiple things over the course of a season.

“There’s only one team that wins. Does that mean every other team in baseball is not successful? If you take that mindset, that’s what you’re saying? I just would argue that point.”

But several players — who tend to a take a shorter-term, smaller-picture view — would argue that the ring is the thing.

“The ultimate measure is winning it all,” reliever Jason Adam said. “I think the rest is just feedback in your process to see if you’re approaching things the right way. Then you have to find the way. I think there’s some intangibles in everything that it’s hard to quantify, but you have to find ways to get it done when it matters.

“To be like Tiger (Woods) back in the day on Sunday. There’s no measurable; he knew how to get it done. We need to do that. We need to hold ourselves accountable to that standard.”

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Since their run to the Series in the pandemic-impacted 2020 season, the Rays have been eliminated in their first round of postseason play the last three years, and have lost their last seven playoff games.

So while baseball operations president Erik Neander said they’re “very, very proud” of their success, there is a “but”.

“We win regular-season games because it puts you in a position to play in the postseason, puts you in a position to win a World Series. That’s ultimately what this is about. Does it get noisy in the postseason? Can anything happen in a short series? Sure. All of that is there,” he said.

“To me, is there a sense of validation that would come if we are able to bring a championship home? The answer is yes, without a question. That is ultimately why we do this. We want to go about it the right way ... but at the end of the day that’s what we’re after more than anything else on the field. And each passing year that goes by that that doesn’t happen, is a disappointment and makes it a little bit harder.

“But there is a very strong and consistent belief that it’s going to happen. And that’s why we’re all here and want to get it done and want to bring it home.”

Reliever Pete Fairbanks lived a similar experience growing up as a hockey fan in Missouri.

“I got to watch the Blues make the playoffs a lot and not win it for a while,” Fairbanks said. “At the end of the day, you give yourself a better chance to do (win a title) it by making it more frequently. ...

“It’s a weird thing to coexist the feeling of being in the playoffs with the feeling of not succeeding in the playoffs. So it is what it is on that end. Obviously, it’s frustrating to be there and then to go home. Especially after times when we won 100 games, you feel like you’re setting yourself up primed for a run.”

Others around the game share the Rays’ pain.

Rocco Baldelli (a former Tampa Bay player, executive and coach) has managed the Twins into the playoffs three times in his five seasons, but hasn’t gotten them past the Division Series.

“I think all of us in the game would say there is certainly a validation with winning the World Series,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that are in our hands; there are a lot of things that are not as quite in our hands as we want to believe. …

“It’s not that easy to win in the playoffs. And it’s not that easy to win or even to reach the World Series. It’s not. But (the Rays) are doing it right. … How’s this? Just keep getting to the World Series and find out how that’s going to work out. I think it’s going to work out pretty well.”

Competitive balance is a popular topic for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. He said the Rays’ success should be appreciated given how it has come despite limited resources, which often includes one of the lowest payrolls.

“I think a lot of organizations have strategies that they have employed that people see as valid whether or not they’ve actually won a World Series,” he said. “(The Rays) go to the playoffs. They did go to the World Series twice. They’ve had a really good record. A lot of people would trade for their record.

“I just think, given the resources that are available to them, you have to take your hats off to what they’ve accomplished.”

Arozarena said players are driven to want more, and seeing close friend Adolis Garcia celebrate the most recent championship with Texas only furthered his own desire.

“The trophy, that’s what everybody wants obviously,” he said. “That’s the main goal. All 30 teams start from scratch now. Everybody feels like everybody has a chance. I know we’re going to be there.

“The first thing is to make the playoffs. You can’t win the championship if you don’t make the playoffs. So we have to make the playoffs first, right? We’ve been trying to do that, and we’ve been doing that since 2020. And this year won’t be different. We’re just going to go out there and play.”

Do the Rays have to do anything different to make a deeper run?

“I really don’t know how to answer that,” Arozarena said. “I guess the answer is, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

Yandy Diaz, last year’s team MVP, had an idea.

“Win,” he said. “It’s just got to be our goal that we’ve got to get there.”

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