Over-Extend it Like Beckham

Yeah, that's a Daily Show-worthy title. I'm kinda proud of that one.

The Rays had me worried for a second. Yes, they're a great team, but...no, that's exactly it. They're a great team this year. For a little while, they were ahead of the Yankees in the standings. As if we needed anymore things to worry about as Yankee fans, besides the Red Sox' lead, now the Rays jump into high gear and decide to challenge us. Greeeeat.

The Rays actually have a nicely-assembled gang. The core is hard-hitters like Evan Longoria, Corey Dickerson, Logan Morrison and Steven Souza. The outskirts are filled with speedy devils like Kevin Kiermaier, Tim Beckham and Maliex Smith. Plus, people like Wilson Ramos, Adeiny Hechavarria and Trevor Plouffe are coming out of the woodwork and performing in smaller roles. The pitching staff is small but mighty. Alex Colome's pretty intimidating. This is a surprisingly great team, that's making big things come from small places.

And yes, their problem is that they have to be a good team in the AL East when two GREAT teams, the Yankees and Red Sox, are trying to establish dominance against each other. It's like Rocky vs. Drago being interrupted by a third challenge, that being Paulie. You just don't wanna see that.

Again, you can only hope for good things from the Rays, but with those big two teams on the horizon, it's hard to be too sure.

Coming Tomorrow- Hard-hitting catcher for a weak, but still fighting, NL East team.