The Tampa Bay Rays are in a great spot, sitting atop the American League with a 75-49 record, leading the New York Yankees in the AL East by six games, entering play on Aug. 18.

With each passing day, the Rays move closer and closer to clinching a playoff spot in the AL. But they are going to face plenty of challenges over the course of the next few weeks because of the current playoff picture.

There are only five teams in the AL with a winning record right now. Six teams are within two games of the final Wild Card spot, which is currently held by the 61-64 Baltimore Orioles, who took three out of four games from the Rays in their most recent series.

Another Wild Card challenger is coming to Tropicana Field: the Toronto Blue Jays, setting up a series that is a lot more important than people would realize. On paper, a team 26 games over .500 facing off against a team four games under the .500 mark won’t raise many eyebrows, but Tampa Bay needs to come ready to play.

Rays cannot underestimate Blue Jays in series

They just saw firsthand what a desperate team fighting to stay in the playoff picture can do. The Orioles won the first two games of the series in one-run games before blowing the doors off the Rays with a 10-2 victory on Aug. 16.

The Blue Jays did a great job of being sellers ahead of the MLB trade deadline, recouping some assets while also adding long-term pieces, such as starting pitcher Joel Soriano. He will be taking the mound against Nick Martinez for the opener.

Toronto just went through a gauntlet against the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox and Yankees, coming away with real momentum. They went 7-3 over that stretch, and now will look to take down another contender in the Rays.

The Blue Jays have fallen woefully short of expectations in 2026 after winning the AL Pennant last year. But plenty of pieces from that successful run are still on the team and know what it takes to win down the stretch.

Toronto cannot be overlooked despite their 61-65 record. This team is playing some great baseball and will be motivated to continue working its way up the standings.

Beating divisional opponents is hard enough, as the Rays just learned against Baltimore. Facing off against desperate rivals looking to keep their season alive makes this an even tougher task for manager Kevin Cash and company.