Welcome to the homestrech Tampa Bay Rays.
After being a couple innings shy of being right on the upper edge of the Wild Card standings, the Rays find themselves once again somewhere in the underneath the surprise-surprise Twins, the jaded Los Angeles Angels, the emerging Texas Rangers, and the bipolar Baltimore Orioles. Even though its four ballclubs that are better-built (with the exception of the Twins), the Rays are only 2.5 games back and have comeback history in its blood (They’ve pulled off bigger September miracles before). They also have the Twins, Orioles, and Yankees within the scheduling crosshairs, so they can definitely cover plenty of ground if they can manage to band together and win some games.
Now, the Rays technically should not be in this current position right now. They lost their GM, they lost their awesome manager (Any Joe Maddon doubters must be quiet now after seeing the Cubs’ incredible turnaround on Year One), and did lose a few players along the way. The Rays rank in the upper half on injured players and lost time to injuries. They are in a division with the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Orioles, offensive powerhouses that feed off of inexperienced pitching. The top American League teams have one thing in common: they destroy baseballs. The Rays are running an NL offense with small ball paving the way to their cluster of wins. The fact that they are in this position should make Rays fans proud and satisfied.
However, the Rays could be doing even better.
The close calls we keep losing are what kills us inside. Boxberger alone has cost the Rays 9 wins, and has blown several other games as well. The man has not been the same since the double intentional walk incident in South Side Chicago. The Rays are 2-10 in extra innings, and 21-22 in one-run games. If they would have won just half of their extra innings games and a few of those close matches we would be looking at them battling the Yankees/Blue Jays (depending on the week) in the Wild Card game. If the bullpen would just cling on to the leads that our starters have usually been dishing out, then we would be looking at a far better position right now.
Kevin Cash’s decision early in the season to never allow the opposing team to see the Rays’ starter a third time around was slightly revolutionary, slightly clever, and did help propel Tampa’s good start. But the situation gets complicated when the bullpen gets taxed, and the technique continues far deep into the season. His premature yanking of starters has been my biggest gripe of Cash, he has a rotation more than willing to dig deep, at least 7 innings. Chris Archer is one of the better pitchers this season, yet has been allowed to complete a game just once.
We need more from the starters, we need our backup to rest more often, not be utilized so much. Maybe even play with the cards and throw some starters to the bullpen. Matt Moore is coming back, why not shelf him to provide 3-4 good innings once in a while to allow for Boxberger, Geltz, Gomes and company to relax? Alex Colome is another decent pitcher that can survive more than just an inning. Him and Moore could potentially be a deadly middle-reliever combination. The Rays are 28th in quality starts, which means the bullpen has been utilized far beyond the norm, and really need some breathing space.
The offense is where we need to really pick up. 43 one-run games, 12 extra-inning games means when we separate, it’s never by too much. 24th in total bases, 29th in runs scored, 24th in batting average. The Rays have only won once when trailing after 8. These numbers are not pretty, no World Series contending team hits numbers this low. Our pitching has definitely kept us in, but now it’s time for the offense to rev up the pressure. The Rays are among the top 10 team in stolen bases---maybe it’s time to aim even higher. What they need to do is draw more walks, run the bases more often, make more sacrifices (19th in sacrifice hits), and quietly and slowly tack on the runs.With more runs will allow a longer leash from our starters, and more space for mistakes when the fatigued bullpen has to get involved.
We also need individual players to step up. Evan Longoria, sorry but you are my target. Longoria’s power numbers has been severely down (Just 13 homers so far in an “injury-free” season is slightly scary), but it’s his batting average I would like to see pick up. 270 is nothing to laugh at (career .271 hitter, .833 OPS), but in order for the offense to step up the leader and team MVP needs to rack up the numbers and get the team going. His home run, OPS, and RBI totals are far down from his early years. Maybe we’ve seen peak Longoria and it won’t come back, but I assure you if he manages to even slightly return to 2009-2011 form we will see more wins.
The 2015 Tampa Bay Rays are much better than we expected, playing in a division that is collectively playing much better than anticipated. Although it is a long way out of the woods, especially consider all that has been lost in the past 9 months, but rest-assured this franchise doesn’t quit, and will still make a deadly push. Even though the lack of free agency movement remains disgusting (I still cry about it from time to time), the Rays are still built and run decent enough to at the very most nab a Wild Card slot.
This organization has charted through rough waters in the past, and this insane Wild Card chase is no different. If the pitching can stop being so bottom-heavy (bullpen is clearly dying) and the offense can pick up the pace a smidgen, then we can see Tampa in playoff contention at this point next month.
P.S. The Rays are the only team yet to draw a million fans--while 11 teams have already hit 2 million. Some support for this team would be nice Tampa Bay....
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