Major League Baseball

Rays-Yankees, separated by mere feet over seven meetings, a playoff preview?

Updated May. 15, 2023 6:48 p.m. ET

NEW YORK — The Yankees were down a run against the division rival Rays. Two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Aaron Judge at the plate, Tampa Bay closer Jason Adam on the hill. An anxious 42,116 fans in attendance, most of them standing. Tension boiling with every pitch.

Only the pleasant spring weather and the Mother's Day paraphernalia were reminders that this series was taking place in mid-May, not late October. By all accounts, the four-game tussle in the Bronx felt like a sneak peek of the postseason. The final out on Sunday afternoon was no exception.

Judge connected on Adam's first offering to him, a 79 mph sweeper that dropped into the heart of the strike zone, directly in the slugger's wheelhouse. The pitch fell into the center quadrant of the zone where, last year, Judge lofted 14 home runs of his final record-breaking total of 62. The swing, the pitch, the loud reaction from the crowd … who could blame Adam for immediately believing he had just allowed Judge to tie the game?

As Judge watched the ball sail to the warning track in left-center field, Adam put his hands on his knees and exaggeratedly bent over, resembling a forward fold yoga pose. But there was nothing calm and relaxing about this moment. The game was on the line, as well as the series. If that Judge ball goes over the wall, the Yankees are a hit away from staging another improbable comeback versus the AL East's finest. For a few fleeting seconds, Adam seemed to believe that outcome. But 60 feet, six inches further away from the ball's trek, the mighty Judge knew better.

"I hit it good," Judge later said. "But off the bat, I just hit it too high. And especially how deep it is out there, kind of praying for a miracle."

The baseball gods sent that miracle for Tampa Bay. When Adam finally composed himself enough to stand up from his forward fold, he snuck a look into left-center field just in time to watch Jose Siri make the catch for the final out, a pace or two in front of the wall. Relief seemed to overwhelm Adam, as he put his hand over his heart and mouthed, "Wow." The gigantic grin that came next offered a glimpse of the tightrope he was walking.

The Rays won the Sunday afternoon finale, 8-7, and split the series with the Yankees to wrap up a nail-biting weekend full of twists, turns, home runs, incredible diving catches and hard-to-believe rallies. Down to the very last pitch, the very last moment, this Rays-Yankees series was playoff-esque entertaining.

"I thought it was 30 rows deep," Adam said of Judge's final out. "This whole series was a tough series. It was a battle on both sides."

The series was a dogfight because the Yankees (23-19) played with an edge that we haven't seen this season. The Rays, with a 31-11 record that represents the best in MLB, never let the Yankees' efforts thwart their own goals.

Randy Arozarena's antics on both sides of the ball, including his first-inning home run off ace Gerrit Cole on Friday, were a thrill to watch. Cole's response when asked about Arozarena's crossed-arms celebration — "He does that every time, right?" quipped Cole, "It's predictable." — brought another layer of spice to the fiery rivalry. Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe's five-hit, two-home run, four-RBI effort across 11 at-bats from Friday to Sunday aided New York's never-say-die attitude. Seven Tampa Bay hitters with an OPS of .875 or better made for a plethora of must-see at-bats.

The level of talent on each club made for a competitive series that had all of us aching for more.

"The Yankees were tough," said Rays infielder Taylor Walls, who crushed a grand slam off New York reliever-turned-starter Clarke Schmidt on Sunday. "Every time we got a lead, they would respond. They would either take it back by putting some runs up or match whatever we did that inning before. They are a good ballclub, especially with Judge back. Their lineup is dangerous. We didn't have a comfortable enough lead."

The Yankees live and die by Judge’s bat, which is at least partly why the New York-Tampa Bay matchup just didn’t have the same competitive energy only a week ago, when the Rays hosted the Yankees in St. Petersburg. That series, the Rays behaved like the better team because, well, they undoubtedly were. They took two out of three. A Judge-sized hole in the Yankees lineup put the Bombers in a pickle before that series had even started.

But with Judge back from injury — really back, with his swing returning to form and the noisy and passionate Bronx crowds working to his advantage — the Yankees got their groove back. Since Judge returned from the injured list on May 9, the Yankees have scored 45 runs and lifted their team slugging percentage from .394 to .415, as well as their team OPS from .695 to .723, all in just six games. In the 10 games that Judge missed due to a hip injury, the Yankees suffered their first four-game losing streak of the season and tallied a mere 35 runs. What a difference a Judge makes.

The Yankees’ identity is built around battling. With Judge, the Yankees are a threat to win even when they’re down 6-0, which is what happened in Saturday’s matinée. Judge homered twice and drove in four runs in a thrilling 9-8 comeback. Teammate Anthony Rizzo, who seems to perform better when Judge is hitting in front of him, went deep three times throughout the series, including twice on Friday to help overcome Cole’s grind of a start.

Which other team has a penchant for scratching and clawing? Ah yes, the Rays. Behind their stacked lineup and solid pitching, they erased deficit after deficit against the Yankees, both on their own turf last week and in the rowdy Bronx atmosphere this past weekend. Tampa Bay right-hander Drew Rasmussen continued his domination of the Yankees on Thursday with seven scoreless innings. Adam’s fifth save of the season in Sunday’s finale bookended the Rays’ pair of wins in the series. The back-and-forth battles this weekend would’ve been the best thing on television, if not for the NBA playoffs.

Again, it’s only May. But try telling these two cutthroat clubs that. The Rays and Yankees treated this series like their seasons would end if they didn’t come out on top. Alas, the four-game set was another reminder that, during this time of year, the fight can end in a tie, or a split, not a season-ending blow. Later, Judge said he was disappointed with the outcome; his Yankees would only be satisfied with a series win. On the other side of the stadium, the Rays were still riding high from Walls’ fifth-inning grand slam off right-hander Albert Abreu that put Tampa Bay on top for good.

"We’re facing the best," Judge said of the pesky Rays. "They’re bringing it every single night; we’re bringing it every single at-bat. There were a lot of gritty at-bats. It’s fun to be a part of."

And these foes are damn fun to watch, too. We just witnessed this Rays-Yankees rivalry go up another notch in intensity with these seven games. Is it too much to ask for seven more of them in October?

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for three-and-a-half seasons as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. She never misses a Rafael Nadal match, no matter what country or time zone he’s playing in. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.