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The clock is winding down for the Rays and B.J. Upton, who will be a free agent. But before it does, they both have some unfinished pennant race business.

With Joe Maddon at the helm, the Rays are one of baseball's most progressive teams and consistently go against the grain. As FanGraphs' Wendy Thurm writes, homers are increasing and stolen bases are decreasing in baseball -- except for the Rays.

Story | Conversation | April 29, 2012

Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year awards Wednesday -- one for overseeing a worst-to-first turnaround that lasted all season, the other after a frantic playoff push in the final month.

Ben Zobrist hit a two-run homer off Jon Lester on Saturday to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox and trim Boston's lead in the AL wild-card race to three games.

James Shields struck out nine in a four-hitter and the surging Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Tuesday night for their seventh win in eight games.

They've put their offseason losses behind them. The rebuilt Rays really believe they can compete in the AL East.

Life in the American League East poses a major challenge to the well-being of Joe Maddon and the Rays.

Dan Szymborski uses the ZiPS projection model on Carl Crawford and Desmond Jennings for the next five years to help Tampa Bay in one of its biggest decisions ever.

Story | Conversation | October 07, 2010

Matt Joyce hit a two-run triple and eight pitchers combined on a shutout, leading the Tampa Bay Rays past the Kansas City Royals 4-0 Saturday night and pushing the AL East race to the final day of the season.

Evan Longoria scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error by shortstop Yunel Escobar in the ninth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-8 Friday night after blowing a seven-run lead.

Matt Garza pitched into the sixth inning to earn his 14th win, Carl Crawford had three hits and an RBI and the Rays cruised to a 4-1 victory over Orioles.

They're one of the best and most exciting teams in baseball, but you wouldn't know it by the size of the crowds in Tropicana Field. The Rays are in trouble.

Reid Brignac hit a three-run homer that helped Wade Davis remain unbeaten in July, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians 4-2 Sunday.

Jason Bartlett's sacrifice fly in the seventh inning snapped a tie and Tampa Bay rallied from a four-run deficit against Daisuke Matsuzaka to beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 on Monday night.

Willy Aybar's single off Matt Guerrier gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 10th-inning lead in a back-and-forth 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.

Center fielder B.J. Upton was not in the starting lineup against Boston on Tuesday night, and Rays manager Joe Maddon said it was not because of Upton's confrontation with teammate Evan Longoria in the dugout Sunday.