ST. PETERSBURG - Drew Rasmussen, who led the American League with a 0.91 WHIP and a 5.44 strikeout-to-walk ratio this season, will start Game 1 of the American League Division Series for the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night at Tropicana Field - the same pitcher who clinched both the Rays’ playoff berth and their division title in September.
Rasmussen went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA over 30 starts and 172 innings this season, adding to a career mark that includes a franchise-best 2.71 ERA and 15.8 bWAR, fourth most by a pitcher in team history. He started the Rays’ playoff-clinching victory and their division-clinching win, cementing his place at the front of Tampa Bay’s rotation when the stakes are highest.
“He’s the standard,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said. “He brings it all to the table, and I mean that. For me, he is the standard. If somebody wants to know what success looks like, you don’t have to look too far.”
Manager Kevin Cash drew a comparison between the 31-year-old right-hander and Hall of Famer Roy Halladay - a benchmark Cash called “the highest compliment,” given that he played alongside Halladay with the Toronto Blue Jays in the early 2000s. Veteran starter Nick Martinez called Rasmussen “the perfect pitcher you want to build a team around,” while President of baseball operations Erik Neander said, “He’s everything that we want to be about – and more.”
Rasmussen, a two-time All-Star who returned from a third major elbow surgery in 2024 to re-establish himself as a full-time starter last season, credits his preparation for his consistency. He watches at least six games from the previous two weeks of an upcoming opponent, focusing on at-bats against pitchers with similar arsenals, and said the advance scouting reports the Rays provide typically align with his own work.
“I wish I could say it’s just baseball, but obviously there’s just a little bit more to it – a little bit more excitement, a little bit more adrenaline,” Rasmussen said. “But, in all honesty, the preparation doesn’t change. There’s still a job to do, and then at the end of the day, all you’re trying to do is give your team a chance to win. If you can control the things that you can control, that gives you the best opportunity for success.”
Rasmussen traced his work ethic to his father, Mark, a longtime teacher he described as “one of the hardest-working people I’ve ever seen” - one who maintained a daily routine of early mornings, the gym, and arriving at school before the day began, and never missed one of his son’s games or practices. “Pitching every fifth day is not a whole lot different than taking a test,” Rasmussen said, “and to me, when I was younger and I had to take a test in school, I felt really uneasy when I knew I could have studied more.”
Saturday night’s start will be only Rasmussen’s fourth postseason appearance and his second playoff start, but his first at the top of Tampa Bay’s rotation. Game 1 of the ALDS is scheduled for Saturday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.