Late in the Even-ing

 

48-48. That is Tampa's record going into the All-Star Break. The Rays have, from 2019 to 2023, had such overpowering teams, that have been comfortably over .500, and now here they are, 48-48. To put it into comparison, in 2018, the year before the Rays officially got 'good', they were 49-47 at the break. 

I was looking around at that team, and even if this is a strategy the Rays have used ever since, it's still wild. 2018 was the year of the opener for the Rays, and seeing so many pitchers, like Ryne Stanek, Diego Castillo and Sergio Romo, with starting credits, is pretty wild. I know that people still use openers to this day, the Phillies used one earlier today [and he got out easy honestly], but the Rays were just LEADING with that strategy. Like they were that desperate to just not use any starting pitching whatsoever.

But also looking at the 2018 Rays team, even comparatively the strategy seems different. There's actual stars on this team. People like Tommy Pham, C.J. Cron, Kevin Kiermaier, Matt Duffy, Wilson Ramos, and, of course, Blake Snell, who won the Cy Young that year. I don't think many of these guys were stretches to call 'stars' in 2018, there were several All-Stars, or people who'd had big years before, or were in the process of having one. Cut to 2024, and what stars are on this team? Randy Arozarena, yes. I suppose Yandy Diaz. But like...there's nobody else, really. 

Also very important, there's only one player on the 2018 Rays who's still on the team now. And that's Brandon Lowe, who's still the starting 2nd baseman. Lowe is now the longest tenured Ray, and though he's never quite managed to live up to his killer 2019 season, he's still been useful at certain points. This year he at least has 8 homers, despite continuing to fail to stay either consistent or healthy. His contract will be up after this season, and if you think they're gonna pay money to keep him around, you have to remember that he's neither a homophone nor a sexual predator, which seems to be the only two types of people the Rays sign to large contracts. 

Now, even if this is not a great Rays team, and there's a large space between the Rays and the next competitive team, the Red Sox, you're still seeing breakthrough performances. Taj Bradley took his sweet time to really figure out the majors, but something clicked a month or so ago because now he's one of the most valuable players on the Rays. He's got a 2.90 ERA and 95 Ks in 12 starts, that's much more confident than last year. Ryan Pepiot is similarly dominant this year, though it'll be interesting if Shane Baz can finally get on that level in the majors without breaking down again. This has also been a great season for Isaac Paredes, and he's confirming his star presence with this ASG nod. 

I don't know if the Rays have much else to do this year. I don't know if they'll sell at all, or if they'll sneak back in and compete, or if they really have much to factor into the race with. I don't think they'll do things completely quietly this August, that's not really how they roll, but if they miss the playoffs it'll be wild to see the Kevin Cash system finally lapse. And whether it'll lead to any long-term changes in the interim.

Coming Tomorrow- The first half couldn't end without an appearance from one more rookie titan.