MLB WORLD SERIES: RAYS VS BREWERS

October 26, 2026

Kevin Cash

Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay Rays

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Back in 1996 the New York Yankees were the last team to come back from a 2-0. What do you guys need to do to do the same?

KEVIN CASH: We need to win tonight. I think that's a big step. Focus on tonight, understand we have the challenge of being down 2-0. But I think we can pull some positives where we've been one swing of the bat away in the ninth inning of tying it or possibly taking the lead.

That's not good enough right now. We've got to find a way to win a game tonight.

Q. I think it's kind of obvious you guys haven't been playing, as you said, your cleanest games. Why do you think that is? Was it just circumstances, just a random series of events that happened in the first two games?

KEVIN CASH: I think more of that probably. We've been a very good defensive club all season long. It's kind of showed up certainly in Game 2 where we didn't play our cleanest baseball.

To their credit, they had a lot of traffic on the bases, a lot of long at-bats, but confident we'll bounce back and make the plays we need to make tonight.

Q. The lack of clean baseball was really the big factor or a big factor in the game. I'm wondering, we're not privy to all the information, but Bryan Baker has been so fantastic and he's been used liberally and done so well in the playoffs. Looking back on it, I know you didn't have a perfect situation and the winning run was scored in the seventh inning, not even the eighth or the ninth. But as a manager, do you look back and think I wish I could have gotten him in one of those two games or certainly the second game?

KEVIN CASH: I wish he would have pitched both games, which means we probably would have won them. Saying that, I think he's going to play tonight for sure. We have committed to Bake in our discussions leading into every postseason series. We really wanted to operate with Bake like we did throughout the course of the regular season, and that was basically locking him in in the ninth inning.

I do think now we've probably -- there's probably different discussions on the table. He's got to be ready to go a little bit earlier than normal.

Q. Tie game too as well?

KEVIN CASH: He was going to pitch in both of those games. Had we tied them up, he was coming in in the ninth inning in both.

Q. I was curious with Ian Seymour, he's a guy who during this postseason has been so steady; during the last two games maybe not so much. How do you get him back to his right self in a series where the bullpens are this important, where you need everyone to be on their best?

KEVIN CASH: Ian is a very confident guy. I can totally appreciate where the confidence can get shaken a little bit in the big moments he's been in. Part of us getting here was his contributions in the DS against the Yankees. We're not going to lose sight of that. We'll continue to remind him of that.

He's got a lot of teammates that are supporting him. He's got a huge coaching staff that is full support. And know for us to get back in this thing, Ian Seymour has to got to be the guy we've seen all season long, getting some big outs and certainly some big strikeouts.

Q. After Game 2 a couple of your players talked about just how they can get momentum back in their favor. Outside of picking up a win tonight in Game 3, in your mind, what needs to happen for momentum to swing back your way?

KEVIN CASH: Early runs and get the crowd behind us real quick. We saw the benefit in Milwaukee how that crowd -- Game 1, Yelich comes and hits a ball in the gap, and the crowd really got involved. We're capable of doing the same thing, and our fans are certainly capable and probably raring to go to do that.

Q. When Bauers first came up, he was here, you were his manager. Can you talk about did you always have a feeling -- I know right now you're not hoping he does well, but did you always have a feeling he would have this ability? Obviously the last couple of years he's come back.

KEVIN CASH: We had a lot of confidence in Jake. He had one of the best Spring Trainings and did not make the club. He was really young at the time, and he wasn't happy about it. I remember that conversation, kind of like the what else do I have to do? Very fair for a 20-year-old to say that with no Big League time.

I don't know if we had the best answer. We had guys that were penciled in, more locked in to break camp with us. But I think we all felt -- I certainly felt Jake's a very talented player on both sides of the ball. I'm really happy for him because it sounds like from afar he's had his ups and downs. And where he's come out on the other side of this, it just shows the type of player he is and the type of mentality that he's carried or continued to develop throughout his career.

I'm excited for Jake Bauers. He's a big fan of many in this organization.

Q. Do you know the story? He was thinking of quitting, the wife gets pregnant, medical insurance, all that. Did you find that story a bit touching? Have you had other players who have had the frustration and you kind of talked them into try it one more time?

KEVIN CASH: I didn't know the whole story, but I just know that when you go -- I do know personally from being up, down, up, down, that can be very mentally taxing. As taxing as it is on you, the player, if you're married and you have kids, it's way more taxing on your family. Moving to different ballparks in different cities, Triple-A to Big Leagues and up and down.

So what Jake was going through maybe, I can appreciate. I don't think he's going to have to be worrying about playing in any Triple-A ballparks any time soon.

Q. Obviously this game is so important tonight, but do you have a Game 4 starter plan? And also will Martinez be out there tonight?

KEVIN CASH: We will be all hands on deck tonight. And then once we get through tonight, then we'll have a lean of which way we're going to go for Game 4.

So no, I do not have a Game 4 starter, but I would expect every pitcher on our roster to be available in some capacity tonight.

Q. If I told you right after Hurricane Milton that there would be a World Series game in The Trop this week, would you have believed it, or would you not know what to think?

KEVIN CASH: I probably wouldn't have believed that. I didn't believe they were going to be able to get The Trop fixed quick enough for us to be playing in it at the beginning of this season. Just the timeline and seeing it kind of sit open there with no roof on it for a long time, I became more and more skeptical.

But to their credit, the company that did it, certainly St. Pete and all of the Rays officials that collaborated with the construction company to get this done, pretty remarkable.

Q. Did you think last year with all that uncertainty, if we ever make the World Series, where would we play it?

KEVIN CASH: While we were playing at Steinbrenner? No. I was probably more focused -- we put together a really solid month in 2025, but one month isn't going to get it done. I don't think my thought process was World Series at the moment.

Q. You talked about setting the tone at the top of the lineup. How important is Yandy Diaz to that, and could you tell me what he means to the clubhouse as a veteran leader?

KEVIN CASH: For many seasons, he goes, we go. I think everybody knows that. The quality at-bat, the hard contact, the energy that he brings to set the hitting there and getting the most at-bats of anybody. That's why he sits up there. We want him to hit more than anybody as many times as possible.

The leader that he has become and evolved into, it's taken -- it seems like, year by year he makes more progress as being a leader. This year has basically been his best work. He's probably at the brunt of most jokes in that clubhouse. They like to fire at him because he takes it so well, receives it so well, can dish it back to the guys.

But they respect him so much because of, I think, the stability that he shows. I know he hasn't hit the way -- or hasn't had the results early on in this postseason, but Yandy's confidence doesn't ever waver.

And there's a trickle effect to that for young players to see that this is a great hitter, an elite hitter, and when things aren't coming easy for him, he's not changing anything. He's staying consistent and true to who he is. I think the players see that.

Q. A few times in this postseason, you mentioned how you feel like you guys have built a home-field advantage here at The Trop. But that's not just this year. Over the last decade, it's .602 winning percentage, and good teams are a part of that. But why do you think it's tough for opponents to come into this building and win?

KEVIN CASH: Some opponents are here frequently enough where I don't even know if it is. Some opponents are not. The Brewers have not played here very much. There's no doubt when a pop-up goes up, it's a little different. You don't see that type of visual at any other ballpark, the 29 other ballparks.

I don't know. I don't have the best answer. I've heard Mark DeRosa talks about where everyone goes and enjoys the breakfast burrito and goes and has a cocktail, maybe one too many, after the game on a Friday night and they're not ready to go Saturday, Sunday. Hopefully that's taking place.

Q. As much as you try to make Steinbrenner feel like home last year, was there a certain comfort level this year back at The Trop that you think contributed to a Major League best home record?

KEVIN CASH: We like playing at home. Steinbrenner was not home. Steinbrenner was incredibly nice for us to be able to stay in the bay area and play, but there wasn't any player that walked into that stadium and said, oh, man, this feels like home.

You walk back in here on Opening Day or after that road trip, everybody felt this is home.

Q. Looking back to October of '24, when was the first day you saw the devastation at The Trop?

KEVIN CASH: Oh, when the roof came off? I think I saw it in the middle of the night. We were getting texts going back and forth. I did not think it was real. Then the next day I drove down from Gainesville, my in- laws' place, because we had left, evacuated, and saw it. Kind of speechless.

Q. Walk in or just from the outside?

KEVIN CASH: I just drove around the outside. There were branches and trees and tarp. It was a mess.

Q. With Shane McClanahan and Ryan Pepiot -- they've been such great cheerleaders in the clubhouse, in the dugout, on the road trips -- does their support and presence kind of characterize the culture that you have established here: the great team, the teammates, the supportive group. How do they fit into the whole culture you want to create here?

KEVIN CASH: Shane McClanahan, we're here because of his contributions this season. It's very easy. Pep, unfortunately, injury coming out of Spring Training, wasn't able to compete this year, but he did a lot of good work the two years prior to that.

I think they are part of that culture because of the way they've gone about their craft, the way they've gone about their rehab, and how committed they are to being the best possible teammates even though they know that they're not able to contribute right now.

So they're very much embraced by everybody, and they are -- they're at times the loudest guys in the dugout cheering and supporting their guys on.

Q. Joe Maddon is throwing out the first pitch tonight. You were a first-time manager hired to replace him. How much do you appreciate the job he did, and how much did he help you?

KEVIN CASH: I think it's awesome that Joe Maddon is going to be here and doing that. I know the fans are going to get stoked. I'll be stoked to see him walk out there. I appreciate the heck out of Joe.

It was odd maybe the first year he's going elsewhere, but it was nice to be able to pick up the phone and call him, that he had lived this for nine, ten years, whatever it was, and had a lot of relationships with the people that I was just trying to build relationships with.

So appreciative of our relationship. I look forward to giving him a handshake and a big hug, and hopefully he throws a strike.