Late nights with the Rays out West
A deep dive into the Rays West Coast trip against the Rockies, Mariners, & Athletics
RAYS BASEBALL
You hate to see it, a cross country journey mid-season. Battling jet lag, exhaustion, and the pressure of being the #1 team in the AL. A true test of a team being a contender....or pretender. So what did we discover?
Whats gone right?
Well a lot actually, the Rays Bullpen to start is posting an ERA 3.18 with 17 IP the last 7 days averaging less than 3 IP per game. This means the starters are going deep into games and lightening the load on the pen, and at this point of the season you love to see it. The Rays Starters are really getting into a groove, CG by Nick Martinez last night and 6 strong innings by Freddy Peralta in the sequel to his debut. Rasmussen doing what he does, throwing 5 IP and conceding 2 runs. The frontline rotation is doing work necessary to lighten the load on BP and yield successful result. Pair the elite pitching of the team with Caminero hitting 5 HRs in 9 games out west along with Liam Hicks raking with a slash line of .308/.438/1.091, the team is feeling good.
What worries me?
Jacob Lopez proved a very critical weakness for the Rays, left handed pitching. Admittedly getting ahead of myself, I carry a level of concern going into October with the prospect of facing Fried, Crochet, Rodon, Skubal, and Snell. TB have not produced as much facing LHP and have a clear lineup construction aimed at RHP with lefties in the majority. Secondly, with Jax on the IL for hopefully a brief stint and McClanahan hopefully returning Wednesday to travel with the team any injuries to the pitching staff would be a real detriment as Freddy Peralta still works things out. Around the time of writing, the Rays have obtained veteran Jorge Mateo, veteran shortstop with success against LHP.
Overall:
Many Rays fans including myself at the start of this season imagined this year a rebuild year when considering we traded off our All Star Brandon Lowe at the keystone position. In reality, it has been anything but. As typical for Rays baseball our pitching and staff are elite by maximizing potential and creating effective game plans. The surprise here is the offense specifically the cohesiveness of our big 3 and resiliency of 6-9 to not only get on base but bringing runners in by any means necessary. I am looking forward to the season playing out and see the mood of the clubhouse as we near the postseason and continue to fend off the Yankees and Red Sox.