Garrett Cleavinger is back on the Tampa Bay Rays' World Series roster, giving the club another bullpen option as it opens the Fall Classic on Friday night in Milwaukee.
The move adds depth for a Rays team that reached the World Series with a lineup built in a non-traditional way. Tampa Bay mixed small-ball pressure with power from Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda, and it used Chandler Simpson in several different lineup spots along the way.
A roster built around flexibility
During the regular season, the Rays led the majors with 134 bunts and had the fewest strikeouts. That approach helped define the team’s identity over the course of the year, but it was not a one-note offense. Tampa Bay also had bats that could change a game with one swing, and that balance carried it through the American League.
Chandler Simpson was one of the clearest examples of that style. He led the Rays with a.306 batting average and 46 steals during the regular season, and he was moved around the lineup as Kevin Cash looked for ways to maximize matchups and keep pressure on opposing defenses. Simpson even hit fifth and in the No. 3 spot in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.
The Rays also leaned on Yandy Díaz in a way that reflected that same flexibility. Díaz was the team’s leadoff hitter for 120 games during the regular season, but he also batted fourth 34 times. In Games 4 and 6 against the Cleveland Guardians, he hit two-run homers in 7-3 victories.
What Cleavinger adds
Cleavinger’s return matters because a World Series roster is often shaped as much by pitching depth as by star power. Tampa Bay’s bullpen has to cover a lot of different game states, and having another arm available gives the Rays more options if the series turns into a matchup-heavy grind.
For the Rays, the broader story is the same one that got them here. They built a roster that can win in more than one way, blending contact, speed and power in a way that fit the personnel on hand. As Simpson put it, there is space for contact, getting on base, running and defense to complement power and help win games. That idea has been central to Tampa Bay’s run, and Cleavinger is now part of the group available to carry it into the World Series.
