With the focus set firmly on reaching the postseason in 65 days, as well as social justice, the Tampa Bay Rays are set to take the field tonight for Opening Day 2020. The Rays will play host to the formerly nomadic Toronto Buffalo Blue Jays.
The Rays and Rowdies, and Social Justice
On June 2, the Rays announced that they would make grants and share resources to advance the goals of equity and social justice in the greater Tampa Bay area after engaging in conversations with community leaders.
Today, the Rays followed through on their promise by releasing a resource guide for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) owned businesses — which is similar to Greenbook of Tampa Bay — as well as announcing the four recipents of their racial equity grant program.
The ball club made its mission clear via a tabbed page on their website:
The Tampa Bay Rays, and our Diversity & Inclusion Committee, understand words are not enough. It is our responsibility to help fight systemic racism. Utilizing our platform, we seek to amplify the important, ongoing work being done by those on the front lines of this effort.
This resource guide is an evolving document intended to help educate and spread awareness around what each of us can do in our community. Our goal is to be part of a meaningful, community-wide effort to create positive change.
The ever-evolving resource guide is broken up into four main sections — Racial Equity Grant Program,BIPOC Businesses in Tampa Bay, Educational Resources, and Social Justice & Community Development Organizations in Tampa Bay.
All of the pages are highly informative and stand as an effective “how-to” guide (of sorts) in combatting racial injustice in the world around us. You are highly encouraged to click the links above and learn more about the Rays initiatives.
Meanwhile, the team will be part of a league-wide measure, with the letters BLM stenciled on the back of the pitching mound along with a reversed MLB logo that has the batter in black.
Before the start of the game, players from both teams will stand on the field, then hold a black cloth and kneel as a social justice video is played prior the anthem.
The New What Next
Charlie Morton will take the mound, pitching opposite of Hyun Jin Ryu.
Charlie Morton threw 31 of 51 pitches for strikes (61% strike rate) in his final tuneup before Opening Day. Morton fanned five and walked one while allowing three hits across 2-2/3 innings. If the right-hander is efficient, he will probably be able to go five-plus innings on Friday. Morton, who is slated to make the first Opening Day start of his 13-year big-league career, is 2-1 with a 2.39 ERA in six games against the Blue Jays, and 8-6 with a 2.85 ERA in 20 starts at the Trop.
Hyun Jin Ryu is set to make his second consecutive Opening Day start. The southpaw is coming off a great season with Los Angeles, where he ended the year with a 2.32 ERA. In his final intrasquad game in Toronto, Ryu threw five innings and nearly 80 pitches, saying he felt ready to take on a regular workload. Given that Ryu limited left-handed hitters to a .199 batting average and a .225 wOBA last season, while righties hit .245 against him with a .275 wOBA, expect Cash to stack as many right-handed options as possible. Last season, Ryu relied primarily on an 80 mph changeup with natural sink and a 91 mph four-seam fastball (which also has natural sinking action), while also mixing in an 87 mph worm-killer cutter, a 90 mph sinker with sharp downward bite, and a 73 mph curveball with sweeping glove-side movement.
You can read about the Opening Series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 7/24/20 Starting Lineup
- Yandy Díaz 1B
- Hunter Renfroe RF
- Yoshi Tsutsugo 3B
- José Martínez DH
- Manuel Margot LF
- Mike Brosseau 2B
- Willy Adames SS
- Kevin Kiermaier CF
- Mike Zunino C
- Charlie Morton RHP
Noteworthiness
— Tampa Bay will be without RHP Diego Castillo, who has been placed on paternity list. INF Daniel Robertson has been recalled, so 15 pitchers and 15 position players. Rays skipper Kevin Cash said how long Castillo will be out is TBD based on how things go with his wife and baby.