Scanlon column: Rays-Yankees series is a small part of the big picture

ST. PETERSBURG — You'd like to think a four-game series at the end of May against the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field would be circled on the schedules of both teams.

With the Yankees in town, accompanied by sellouts and noise, you'd like to call these games crucial, pivotal, critical.

"Not for me it's not, no," declared Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash. "We've got to get closer to August or September and see where we're at. We know we're playing a very good team, arguably the best team in baseball."

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The Yankees brought a 32-13 record into the weekend, best in the major leagues. At 26-18, the Rays stood fourth in the American League, best among wild cards. Based on what we saw in the first quarter of the season, there is good reason to expect both teams to be playing in the expanded playoffs in October.

But it is difficult to grasp how long the season is, how much will happen between now and October, and how small a portion of it can take place in one series, as crucial as it may seem at the time.

A baseball team's success is based on the long haul, which is not to say each game is unimportant. The two extra-inning games the Rays blew in Baltimore last weekend might be remembered as coulda-beens that cost the Rays a playoff spot, or they might be completely forgotten, depending on what happens in the next four months.

Another thing to keep in mind for perspective is that this is not the same Yankee team we will see in October. The Yankees started this series with five or six key players on the injured list.

Veteran infielder Matt Carpenter started Thursday "on the street," as they say, having been released by the Texas Rangers a few days earlier. He signed with the Yankees on Thursday, showed up at the Trop in the afternoon and was in the lineup that night as a DH.

And regardless of how healthy they are at the time, the Yankees will surely add another player or two at the trade deadline because that's what the Yankees do.

Meanwhile, there are games to play almost every day, and many of them against each other. The Yankees now use the word "rival" in describing the Rays, something you never would have heard a few years ago.

Yankee manager Aaron Boone described the Rays as "obviously one of the game's best teams, and now doing it year in and year out, with an outstanding pitching staff, from their starters to the depth of their bullpen, and a position-player group that really compliments one another, and a lot of versatility and defensive flexibility . . . They're a load every time you play 'em."

The Rays have earned that kind of respect by winning division titles the Yankees were supposed to win, by winning the pennant in 2020 and winning 100 games last season. They are no longer intimidated by the Yankees, if they ever were.

"That team is very beatable, and we know we can beat 'em," Rays infielder Taylor Walls said. "We're here. We're gonna be here all year."

Cash summarized the first quarter of the Rays' season with something like a B-plus.

"A lot to like," he said. "We've found some things out with (Drew Rasmussen) and (Jeffrey) Springs on the starting side. Offensively, I don't know if we've quite gotten on the same page with everybody, one through nine, but I like the way we've picked each other up.

"The challenges? It's the same challenge we have every year. We're in a very tough, balanced division and you've got to play good baseball for a long period of time."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Scanlon column: Rays-Yankees series is a small part of the big picture