Steve Carney The Game Plan interview on the Rays and Kucherov

In the Steve Carney The Game Plan interview, the Rays Insider writer told John Carlo Alino that the Tampa Bay Rays need a deeper lineup after losing the 2026 World Series to the Milwaukee Brewers. He also weighed the Tampa Bay Lightning’s risk of losing Nikita Kucherov for nothing and explained why Salt Lake City looks better prepared than other candidates for MLB expansion.

What did Steve Carney say about the Tampa Bay Rays’ 2026 World Series run?

Steve Carney said the Rays exceeded expectations by winning 98 games and reaching the World Series, but the Brewers were the better team when they met. He saw Tampa Bay’s run as a step toward 2027 rather than a failure defined by its ending.

From preseason doubts to the World Series

Carney said many pundits had picked the Rays to finish fifth in the American League East. Instead, they finished with the American League’s best record, swept the New York Yankees in the division series and beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games to reach their third World Series.

He was struck by how the roster came together without the number of household names associated with teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers or Yankees. In Carney’s view, Junior Caminero may have been the Rays’ one widely recognized player entering the season, in part because of his showing in the 2025 World Baseball Classic.

Why Carney favored Milwaukee

Carney said he had considered the Brewers baseball’s best team since watching them host the Rays early in the season. He saw a lineup without an easy stretch for opposing pitchers, backed by strong starting pitching and a bullpen. In the World Series, he said, Milwaukee hit, fielded and pitched better.

The Rays still had chances. Carney thought they could have won Game 1 and should have been able to protect a four-run first-inning lead in Game 2. Milwaukee’s comeback reinforced his assessment that the Brewers were stronger across the series.

What does Steve Carney think the Rays need on their 2027 roster?

Steve Carney said the Rays need more production near the bottom of their batting order to build on the World Series run. He praised the contributions of several players but argued that a deeper lineup would give opposing pitchers fewer opportunities to ease through an inning.

Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls often occupied the eighth and ninth spots, Carney said. Chandler Simpson did not provide much power, but Carney credited his batting average and the pressure he created on the bases, citing 46 steals. He contrasted that part of Tampa Bay’s order with Milwaukee’s strength from first hitter to ninth.

At second base, Carney thought Palacios had earned a chance to compete for an everyday role after filling in alongside Ryan Valade. The position had initially been intended for Gavin Lux, he said, but Lux injured his shoulder in spring training and did not play for the Rays. Carney also wondered how much stronger the lineup might have been with Brandon Lowe’s ability to drive the ball.

Looking ahead, Carney identified center fielder Jacob Melton as a possible addition after an injury-disrupted year. He did not expect Walls to be valued primarily for his bat: Walls had just won a Gold Glove at shortstop, and Carney saw his defense and ability to advance runners as reasons to keep him in the lineup.

Why does Steve Carney favor a 162-game MLB season?

Steve Carney prefers the 162-game regular season and said it could still work if MLB expanded to 32 teams. Although he acknowledged discussion of a return to 154 games, he outlined a schedule that would preserve 162 while letting the league realign into smaller divisions.

His proposal uses four divisions of four teams in each league. Each club would play its division opponents seven times at home and seven times away, face other teams in its league in three-game home and road series, and play three games against each club in the other league. Interleague visits would alternate by year.

Carney saw a trade-off for Tampa Bay in a more geographically focused alignment. The Rays might share a division with the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins rather than the Boston Red Sox and Yankees. He said losing frequent games against Boston and New York would hurt attendance because those teams draw crowds on the road.

Which MLB expansion cities does Steve Carney consider viable?

Steve Carney said Salt Lake City appeared to be the best-prepared MLB expansion candidate, while Montreal would need a stadium solution before a team could play there. He also discussed Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Portland and Vancouver, with ballpark space or funding shaping several of those possibilities.

Salt Lake City and Nashville

Carney pointed to the Miller family’s interest in bringing baseball to Utah and said the state had set aside $900 million for a new ballpark. That made Salt Lake City stand out to him as a candidate with more pieces in place.

He would like to see MLB in Nashville but questioned whether money would be available for another stadium after spending on a new Tennessee Titans venue. He also said the Nashville Sounds’ ballpark could not be expanded much further. Charlotte presented a similar space problem in his view, while he considered Raleigh another possible North Carolina market.

Vancouver and Montreal

Carney saw Vancouver’s proximity to Seattle as a chance to build a rivalry with the Seattle Mariners. He also named Portland as a city with longstanding interest in MLB. For Montreal, his concern was where a club would play a full home schedule; he did not think returning to Olympic Stadium for 81 games was a workable starting point.

That view informed his opposition to the former proposal to split Rays home games between Tampa Bay and Montreal. Carney compared it to the NBA Kings’ past arrangement involving Kansas City and Omaha: he believed a team needed one clear home city.

What did Steve Carney say about a Nikita Kucherov trade?

Steve Carney said the Lightning must decide whether they would risk losing Nikita Kucherov without a return if they cannot keep him. He treated a trade as a decision Tampa Bay might eventually face, not as an outcome he knew was coming.

Stamkos’s departure and Kucherov’s value

Carney recalled the disappointment when former captain Steven Stamkos left for Nashville, with the salary cap limiting what the Lightning could offer. He drew a distinction between that departure and Kucherov’s situation, citing Stamkos’s injury history while emphasizing Kucherov’s value as a playmaker.

According to Carney, Kucherov is now Tampa Bay’s all-time points leader. He singled out Kucherov’s ability to anticipate where a teammate will be on the ice and said that talent gave him reason to seek pay proportionate to his value.

The decision facing Tampa Bay

Carney discussed a report attributed to Elliotte Friedman about Kucherov’s intentions and said Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois had ruled out trading him. Carney did not claim to know how that conflict would be resolved. Framing the question he believed the club would have to answer, he asked:

are you willing to lose him for nothing?

He raised Dylan Larkin and Connor McDavid only as hypothetical subjects for trade calls, saying a deal involving top offensive players would surprise him. His central concern was whether Tampa Bay could retain Kucherov rather than repeat the experience of Stamkos leaving without a return.

What did Steve Carney share about movies, food and life in Tampa Bay?

Steve Carney named The Shawshank Redemption as his favorite movie and The Newsroom as his favorite television show. Away from sports coverage, he said he seeks out Cuban food when traveling from St. Petersburg to Tampa and usually drinks iced coffee in Florida.

Carney recalled that when he served in the Navy, work seemed to stop whenever The Shawshank Redemption or Full Metal Jacket came on closed-circuit television. His preference between the two remains The Shawshank Redemption. He also praised Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, describing its fictional cable-news setting as part of its appeal.

For lunch, he favors a Cuban sandwich or ropa vieja with black beans and yellow rice. He recommended a Cuban restaurant near Raymond James Stadium and said he often looks for Cuban food when heading across the bay. His usual Florida coffee order is iced espresso with sweetened condensed milk.

Why was the Rays’ 2011 Game 162 Steve Carney’s greatest live sporting moment?

Steve Carney chose September 28, 2011, at Tropicana Field as the greatest sporting moment he witnessed live. He watched the Rays come back from seven runs down against the Yankees while tracking the Baltimore Orioles’ game against the Red Sox, whose loss helped send Tampa Bay to the postseason.

Carney remembered Mark Teixeira hitting a grand slam off David Price as New York built its lead. The atmosphere changed when the Rays began their late comeback. Meanwhile, a television near Carney showed Boston playing Baltimore, forcing him and others to divide their attention between two consequential games.

He said people inside the stadium noticed staff celebrating before the Orioles’ result appeared on the scoreboard. When the final score went up, the crowd erupted. Carney recalled B.J. Upton telling him afterward that the sudden reaction disrupted his concentration while he was batting.

Shortly afterward, Evan Longoria homered and the Rays went to the playoffs. Tampa Bay had entered September nine games behind Boston, Carney said. The combination of that month-long comeback, two games unfolding at once and the reaction inside Tropicana Field made the night unforgettable for him.