The Tampa Bay Rays' 2026 season is over. Coming off a 98-win regular season, the American League East title, and their third-ever pennant, the Rays were eliminated in five games from the 2026 World Series by the juggernaut Milwaukee Brewers. There's pride to be taken in the Rays' overall body of work this year, but the prevailing reality is that they failed to achieve their ultimate goal. While the Brewers are celebrating their first World Series title, the Rays remain on the list of franchises that have never hoisted the trophy. 

This all means that the Rays now turn their attention to 2027 and whether they're likely to make another run at relevance, contention, and perhaps another bite at the championship apple. Let's explore that now by exploring three questions that will define the Rays' coming offseason and their 2027 campaign. 

1. Will ownership raise payroll?

The Rays, across so much of their history, have reliably punched above their weight. The foundation of that has been a level of support and investment from club ownership that's been entirely lacking. The present ownership group, led by Jacksonville real estate something or other Patrick Zalupski, took over in September of 2025, so this is almost wholly an indictment of former owner Stuart Sternberg. 

Since the Rays' current run of contention began with their 90-win campaign in 2018, the club has never ranked higher than 24th in Opening Day active roster payroll and never higher than 22nd in luxury tax payroll (basically 40-man roster payroll based on average annual value of contracts). Twice in that span, the Rays have ranked last in year-end 40-man payroll. Given that the current revenue-sharing structure gives small-market teams more than enough to cover cash payrolls, this is all a plain dereliction of duties on the part of Sternberg. One of the canniest front offices in all of sports and the rosters they have assembled deserve more buy-in from ownership. 

Maybe now that Zalupski's group is in charge and the Rays finally appear to have a new ballpark – heavily funded by tax dollars – across the finish line, things will change on this front. It'd be a fine time for that, given that the Rays right now are self-evidently capable of vying for a title. This winter, they have a number of key contributors due for arbitration raises, including Shane McClanahan, Jonathan Aranda, Griffin Jax, and Bryan Baker. Yandy Díaz in August triggered a $13 million vesting option for 2027, which, based on prior organizational behavior, might make him a trade candidate. There are also a number of investments needed in the rotation, which we'll get into below. 

There's also the matter of what the next collective bargaining agreement will look like once one is agreed to and the forthcoming lockout ends. Signs point to the next CBA being of benefit to teams like the Rays, and that may inform some of their offseason behavior before that owner-implemented lockout likely begins on the night of Dec. 1. 

2. What will the rotation look like in 2027?

The need for better stewardship from owners will be acutely critical to the makeup of the 2027 rotation. McClanahan's incoming arb raise – which will likely give him the highest salary of any Rays arb-eligible player this offseason — makes him a trade candidate. Freddy Peralta, their stabilizer after he was acquired leading up to the trade deadline, is a free agent. Drew Rasmussen has an $8 million option/$500,000 buyout for 2027. It should be a no-brainer to exercise said option, but, well, you know. There's also Nick Martinez, who has a $20 million mutual option for next season. That likely means he's headed for free agency, but the Rays should still pick up their end of it on principle. That's 80% of the rotation, at least as it was constituted after the trade deadline and before McClanahan's forearm injury. In all, that quartet of starters combined for a 3.03 ERA during the regular season and 42 of the team's 54 quality starts. They also combined for a WAR of 11.2, and that's despite getting just 10 starts from Peralta. 

The Rays will need to do a lot of retention work on this front if they're going to again be the best team in the American League next season. As it stands right now, the rotation is the biggest unknown going into the offseason. 

3. Has Junior Caminero reached his ceiling? 

The 23-year-old third baseman and emerging superstar is the lineup fulcrum for Tampa Bay. Since his rookie season of 2024, Caminero has improved his OPS+ from 105 to 130 to 144 this past season. His WAR has swollen from 0.7 in 43 games as a rookie to 4.3 in 2025 to 5.7 in 2026. 

He hits the ball exceptionally hard, and he has the fastest bat speed in the game. Additionally, Caminero in 2026 made impressive strides in terms of his plate discipline. Prospects these days, thanks to developmental and training advances at the lower levels, are arriving more ready than ever, and some start off at their peak. Caminero, though, has shown improvement on a number of forward-looking fronts, and that raises the compelling possibility that he still has some growth in him. Is a 50-homer season and an MVP award in the offing? That seems quite possible, and given the unbalanced nature of the Rays' lineup, they could use even more from their best player.