Off Day Thoughts — a Little Perspective

No one will question that the Rays have played well below their standard, and well below their expectations over the first 12 games of the season. Especially for a team that won 90 games in 2018, and 96 last year before being knocked out in game 5 of the ALDS.

And that’s in all phases:

1. Defense: The usually sure-handed defense has committed far more mistakes than plays made, ranking near the bottom in terms of defensive efficiency through 12 contests. That’s beyond the 12 errors made, which are second most in the American League
2. Pitching: the ERA if 4th in the American League, but as a group, they still haven’t performed at expectations. In 8 of 12 games the team has allowed five runs or more. Yes starters haven’t been fully stretched out, but in only four games has a starter gone five innings or more and allowed two runs or fewer.
3. Offense: Yes, they scored four runs or more in the first six games, but since then the team has slumped, doing so twice in the last six games, and was held to one run or fewer three times over that stretch. Of course not scoring runs leads players sometimes to press, and that can result in base running errors too, which hurt in Saturday’s game at Baltimore.

Brandon Lowe has been on of he bright spots in the first 12 games/Tampa Bay Rays Will Vragovic

However, what is often forgotten is that the teams that won 90 games had considerable struggles too. Even last year, in winning 96 contests, the tough moments were there:

June 11–20: the Rays went a woeful 2-and-8, and if you extend that run to the 26th, it was 4-and-11 before and 18-inning win at Minnesota started to turn the tide.

July 16–23: mind you as the Rays closed in on the trading deadline, the team lost 7 of 8. That came after a dramatic win at New York where Travis d’Arnaud hit three homers. The losses included home games against the White Sox and Red Sox, neither of whom made the playoffs.

August 16–28: even as the Rays made a playoff push, the team had a 5-and-8 stretch, including games at San Diego, at home against Detroit and Seattle, at Baltimore (sound familiar) and at Houston before a big one-run win at Minute Maid Park over the Astros. That stretch against those teams also included three walk-off victories.

That’s not to excuse the 5-and-7 record or the poor play. Certainly the club has not played well to this point in any phase. To play poorly and still be 5-and-7 is fortunate. Probably of greater concern would be if the team was 5-and-7 and playing well. Hopefully a day off allows this group to catch its breath and start playing the game its capable of.

Last year when the Rays bounced back from that 5-and-8 run, they went 20-and-8 down the stretch. There’s still 48 games left this year, and the core of that talented group, albeit under unique circumstances, is still in place. Plus playoffs are expanded. Despite the tough stretch, the Rays are a half game behind Baltimore and Toronto.