Adames Apple

I honestly would have been fine if the Rays had stayed atop the AL East. This is an incredibly fun team, with some consistent performers across the board, and a core that's strong enough to excuse its initial weirdness last year.

Unfortunately, the Rays have come down with the same excessive injury issue the Yankees came down with. Tyler Glasnow, Yonny Chirinos, Blake Snell, Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe and Jose Alvarado are on the DL. And now Kevin Kiermaier is day-to-day. As much as I usually fear a challenger to the Yanks, the Rays deserve better luck. 3/4ths of their starting pitching staff is injured.

I mean, they really only have two active tried-and-true starters working innings right now, and thank god both of them are great- Charlie Morton's having a phenomenal year, and Trevor Richards has been stellar in his first two games since the trade from Miami. Everyone else who's started games recently is either an opener, like Jalen Beeks, Andrew Kittredge or Diego Castillo, or a reliever who's starting games because he should have been anyway, like Ryan Yarbrough. The Rays are making do, but it's got to be tricky. All three are set to come back in mid-September, so...if they can hold on til then, that'll be fine.

The lineup holes left by Diaz and Lowe are easy to fill. Joey Wendle's starting games again at 2nd and 3rd, and Eric Sogard has essentially become a starter at second. And Sogard has not dropped off from his Blue Jays numbers, hitting .310 with 8 RBIs over 23 games. Even Jesus Aguilar is hitting for average again. All this added to the already great core of Kiermaier, Willy Adames, Tommy Pham and Austin Meadows, and a lineup of guys who've all hit over 10 home runs, and you've got a strong Wild Card contender.

I do think of them, Cleveland and Oakland, they have the best chance of sneaking into the playoff matchups, but Cleveland has the better record and could be dangerous. If the Rays get their starters back by September, or even if they just pitch Morton in the WC game, they could be making waves in October.

Coming Tonight: He's broken 200 strikeouts for the third time, has 15 wins, and has been strong for the umpteenth season. Yet they're probably gonna be looking at his teammate when Cy Young season comes around.