BRONX, NY — Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. hit a ball Wednesday night in the Bronx that would ultimately send Tampa Bay to the American League Championship Series, the franchise’s third-ever trip to the ALCS.
And once the 25-year-old out of Havana, Cuba, had connected on a first pitch 78-MPH sweeper from Yankees left-hander Max Fried up in the zone in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the American League Division Series, with a runner on, Mesa let all of 48,865 packed in Yankee Stadium and the millions watching globally know about it.
How?
Following his swing, Mesa, dropping his bat and watching it fly, knew he had gotten all of it to break the tie up at two and provide the Rays with a 4-2 advantage.
Vic's turn 💪#ForTampaBay | #Postseason pic.twitter.com/HJARp3l7YI
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 8, 2026
“That is the best feeling in baseball, besides winning,” he said of his clutch home run swing after the 4-3 ALDS Game 3 clinching win over the Yankees. “When you are at home plate, I feel that that’s the stage that you always dream of so I just want to thank God for letting me live these moments. Once I hit it, I knew it was going out. When you don’t even feel the bat, that means that you got good contact.”
“That was probably the biggest home run he’s ever hit in his life,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said as Tampa Bay had picked Mesa up this past February after he had been designated for assignment by the Marlins.
Miami signed him and his older brother Victor Victor Mesa as international free agents in 2018, a time when Yankees legend and Cooperstown Hall of Famer Derek Jeter was one of the head honchos in Miami’s front office, the Chief Executive Officer with a minority ownership stake.
"All kind of sassy" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/am1pEBO0eM
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 8, 2026
“So I totally appreciate how you want to enjoy that. In today’s game, there’s a fine line of what’s okay and what’s not and Victor was really excited for what he just did for his team.”
Tampa Bay’s president of baseball operations Erik Neander, who had a role in Mesa becoming a Ray ahead of spring training, said: “I don’t know where we’d be without him.”
Victor Mesa Jr.’s father Victor Mesa Sr. is widely regarded as a baseball legend and “baseball royalty” in Cuba, spending a majority of his life in the sport by playing for the Cuban National Team and then doing his part just as much through coaching and managing – Image Credit: Roberto Carlo/Baseball Ahora
Eight months later, as he, his teammates and coaches were popping bottles in the visitors clubhouse on 161st Street and River Avenue late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, the credit to Mesa did not stop.
“No one better, no one better,” shouted Rays third baseman Junior Caminero, with his arm around the left-handed hitter while the two were soaked in champagne and beer.
Soon after Caminero, Tampa Bay right-hander Nick Martinez said: “He’s the man, that swing and many others from him this year just go to prove it.”
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