The Rays are 13-0 and on the verge of history … but how?

The Rays had been at all times going to be good this season, however historic? No person noticed that coming. Sitting at 13-0 to date, Tampa Bay is one win away from sitting solo atop the perfect begin to the season since 1900. A mix of nice play, stunning performances, and a good schedule have mixed to place the Rays on this place — however let’s dive deeper into what’s made this win streak tick.

It’s virtually not possible to fathom the payroll drawback the Rays handle to compete with every season. In 2023 they’re one of many most cost-effective groups in baseball, fielding a workforce with $73.1M. In the meantime, three of their AL East opponents, the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Pink Sox, have a median payroll of $222.6M. Cash doesn’t mechanically imply you’re higher, nevertheless it affords an enormous margin of error the place an underperforming star can simply get mitigated by a number of different gamers on a roster.

Tampa Bay is prospering despite this small margin and are legitimately unbelievable.

Why are the Rays so good?

Merely put: They’re completely dominating virtually each part of the sport. Because it stands Tampa Bay leads Main League Baseball in quite a few statistical areas.

• 1st in workforce batting common: .287
• 1st in RBIs: 99
• 1st in house runs: 32
• 1st in ERA: 2.23

It’s a fairly easy equation. Should you’re scoring at the perfect charge in baseball and permitting the fewest runs, you’ll win. Nonetheless, it’s a bit of extra granular than that. The most important query the Rays had getting into the season was Wander Franco. At all times tight-pursed, the Rays spent huge to maintain Franco — signing him to an 11-year, $182M contract. Spending over $16M a season on a participant once you solely spend $73M on a whole workforce was a serious gamble, particularly contemplating Franco has missed vital time with accidents over the past two seasons.

Maintaining Franco was a really un-Rays-like transfer, however to date it’s paid off in a serious means. Not solely is he batting .321 on the season with 12 RBIs, however his early season 1.0 WAR ranks him among the many highest gamers in all of baseball.

Franco is a part of the image relating to Tampa Bay’s bats. The opposite is Randy Arozarena, who has emerged as a power in his fifth season. At all times an excellent participant, Arozarena has exploded to date with 16 RBIs in 13 video games, and is on tempo to shatter each profession file he’s posted by late-July.

In the meantime the workforce’s pitching is on fireplace. Starters Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs, and Shane McClanahan are all averaging underneath 2.0 ERA — with Rasmussen and Springs particularly being completely unhittable to date.

There’s a likelihood that is idiot’s gold

Don’t get me fallacious, the Rays have been unbelievable — nevertheless it’s disingenuous to have a look at their file and efficiency in isolation, with out making an allowance for their opponents. Up to now Tampa Bay has opened the season with collection towards the Pink Sox, A’s, Nationals, and Tigers — simply 4 of the worst groups in baseball, with a mixed file of 15-36 this season.

That’s the peerlessly comfortable begin wanted to run up a file like this, and whereas it completely requires execution — the true check begins tonight. On Friday night the Rays head to Toronto to face the Jays, who’re 8-5 this season, second behind Tampa Bay within the AL East. It’s completely a winnable sport, nevertheless it must be famous that that is the one workforce with a profitable file the Rays have confronted this season.

What occurred to the opposite groups who had a 13-0 begin?

Proper now the Rays are tied with the 1982 Braves and 1987 Brewers, each of whom began 13-0 of their respective seasons. How this might undertaking for the remainder of Tampa Bay’s season is a little bit of a combined bag.

The Braves completed 89-73 on the season, profitable the NL West earlier than falling to the Cardinals 3-0 within the NLCS. St. Louis went on to win the World Sequence. The Braves didn’t handle to maintain their sizzling streak going, and started to say no instantly following their 1982 heroics.

In 1987 the Brewers ended up 91-71, however this was solely good for third within the AL East behind the Tigers and Blue Jays. They missed the postseason as a consequence of MLB’s restricted four-team playoff format. This was a routine drawback for the Brewers of the period, they usually stored ending third or fourth greatest within the division earlier than their decline within the early 90s.

Historical past will likely be settled tonight, beginning at 7 p.m. ET when the Rays face the Blue Jays.