(Photo credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images)

The Tampa Bay Rays will host their second straight American League East opponent when the New York Yankees travel south to start a four-game series on Thursday night.

It will be an unusual series for division-leading New York, as it becomes the visitor at its spring training home of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The Rays are renting it for the season with Tropicana Field left unplayable due to damage suffered during Hurricane Milton in October.

Regardless of the site, it should be another battle in a tight division.

The Rays learned that this week, losing their most recent series to the Boston Red Sox despite having rolled to a 16-1 Monday win. The three-game series ended Wednesday with a 1-0 victory for Boston, which surrendered just five hits.

'It's going to be a really, really close season,' veteran Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe said. 'There's really not a weak link in the East right now. So it's just play your game.'

As Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash sees it, the Yankees set the pace after their 2024 World Series run and an 11-7 start that gives them a half-game lead over the second-place Toronto Blue Jays entering play Thursday.

Like Lowe, though, Cash knows nothing will be easy.

'As we sit right now, the Yankees are the team for what they accomplished last year. A little bit different roster with them,' Cash said. 'But I expect that the AL East will be very difficult and that we will have a lot of good head-to-head matchups.'

Right-hander Taj Bradley (2-0, 3.71 ERA) will aim to continue Tampa Bay's strong starting pitching. Rays starters have an ERA of 3.30, good for fourth in the American League. New York's starters have a 4.96 ERA, ranking 14th in the 15-team league.

'I think coming out of spring we felt it was a rotation that was built to handle a lot of innings and pretty big workloads where we're not looking to be as aggressive in making those four-inning, five-inning decisions,' Cash said.

Bradley has seven strikeouts in each of his three starts this season. He is 1-1 with an 0.69 ERA in two career starts against the Yankees.

The Yankees visit Tampa fresh off sweeping the Kansas City Royals, finishing with a 4-3 Wednesday win in which Aaron Judge hit the deciding homer in the seventh inning to cap a 3-for-3 night.

If New York wants to duplicate its success from 2024, results such as this week's will be crucial.

'Big-time (sweep), especially at home,' Judge said. 'When you look around the league, the playoff teams, the teams that have deep runs, they play well at home.'

For now, though, a seven-game trip is on tap. The Yankees have played just six road games (3-3) compared with 12 at home (8-4).

In the first game of the series, right-hander Will Warren (1-0, 5.14 ERA) will look to build on earning his first major league win on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants. He struck out six across five innings of two-hit, two-run ball in the 8-4 game.

In a stint with the Yankees last season, Warren was 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA in 22 2/3 innings.

'Learned a lot, been through a lot of tough outings, but I think that's what makes this one even sweeter,' he said. 'You learn from it, move on and try to get better each day.'

Thursday will mark his first career appearance against Tampa Bay.

Giancarlo Stanton (elbow) is traveling to Tampa with the team, but a timeline for his return has yet to be determined.

'I know live at-bats could be in play here pretty soon, but I'm not sure specifically (when),' New York manager Aaron Boone said.--Field Level Media