The Tampa Bay Rays say they are drawing inspiration from the Toronto Blue Jays for their World Series run this fall.
The Rays will battle the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2026 World Series, with the winner being crowned a first-time champion in the sport.
It’s been an incredible season for Tampa Bay, which won 98 games to lead the American League, bouncing back from winning just 77 games in 2025.
Now, they are headed to the World Series, and it’s reminiscent of the Blue Jays, who won just 74 games in 2024 before winning 94 games in 2025 and making it all the way to the World Series, though they ultimately fell in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rays Drawing Inspiration From Blue Jays
Speaking to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander admitted that the team is drawing inspiration from the Blue Jays’ 2025 World Series run for their own playoff run this year.
“They had 74 wins (in 2024), returned a lot of similar personnel, kind of leaned into the culture, leaned into connection, got that snowball building and they rode it to the World Series. We’ve used that a lot with our guys, ‘Hey, I know we won 77 last year but we didn’t do that in our home park, we’re getting home, we’re getting normal.’ We’ve got guys that can put a ball in play. We’ve got power at the top of the lineup. We’ve got pressure running throughout. There is a team in our division that showed what is possible. I don’t want to say we copied the blueprint, but it was a source of inspiration to see a team be able to do that,” Neander said.
Rays Underdogs to Win World Series
Just as the Dodgers were the favorites to win the 2025 World Series over the Blue Jays, the Brewers are favored to beat the Rays in the 2026 World Series.
The Blue Jays did ultimately come up short, but the Rays are hoping that they can do what Toronto didn’t do, and that’s upset the favorite to capture the World Series.
It all starts Friday night at 8 p.m. ET with Game 1.
Rays Drawing Inspiration From Blue Jays 2025 World Series Run